Cover shot by Carter Edwards

Ski: Chronic 101

Reviewer height/weight: 6’2” 160lbs

Ski weights (per ski): 2027g/2033g

Length skied: 186

Actual length (with straight tape): 185.9cm

Dimensions: 130-102-124

Mounted: True Centre

Bindings: Pivot/FKS 18

Locations: Sunshine Village, Lake Louise & Mammoth

Conditions skied: Park, Slush, Hardpack/Icy, Dust On Crust Spring, Dirt.

Days Skied: Too many to count

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Intro:

The Chronic has been a staple park for Line for many years, going through a few iterations the latest being in 2018. For this ski line gave the Chronic a much more all-mountain surfy shape than the previous more dedicated park width. See Twig’s review here. This season the Chronic has been split into two beasts, a 94 and a 101. Splitting the more all-mountain-oriented aspects of the ski into separate entities rather than trying to do too much with one ski, perhaps. The 101, fits in the lineup much like a stiffer blend, with a focus on durability (safe to say something the blend isn’t known for) and being a more stable all-around option in the 101 width, the Blend being 100.

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Shape/Flex/Construction:

The new Chronic has a fairly modern park ski shape, 101 underfoot, camber underfoot with a decent amount of splay in the nose and rails. It feels to me like it borrows ideas from many popular skis of the last few seasons, reminding me somewhat of the old Prodigy 2.0 shape in terms of splay. Looking near to, but less severe than an ON3P, although with reminiscent squared-off noses. The flex in hand is soft but not noodly in the tips and tails with some stiffness underfoot and an overall poppy feel. Line made a commitment to durability with the new Chronic series, so the ski features a full sidewall and slightly milled-out tips to prevent massive delamination and reduce swingweight. The sidecut sits at an average of 16.6m as, like many modern skis, the Chronic has a 5-radius sidecut. This is on the tighter side of things, making the Chronic fast to turn.

The new Chronic is more rockered and has longer sidecuts and blunter tips than its predecessor. Line have added a new Bio-Resin to the ski, aimed at both sustainability and durability upgrades. This is supposed to increasing bonding - to help with that pesky delam - and cold weather toughness. The new thin tip works to protect from delamination that has plagued previous Chronics, the core runs to the extremes of the ski and the milled-out areas in the tip are designed to create a buffer zone so delamination doesn’t engulf the whole tip. This is also designed to reduce swingweight. On top of this, a thicker, vertical sidewall is aimed at improving durability and power transfer.

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Hello MTV and welcome to my crib.

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On Snow

The Chronic 101 performs really well on snow for how soft and playful it is, the tightish radius for such a ski combined with the surfy rocker/splay profile makes it very manoeuvrable all around. The Chronic is a poppy ski, giving it plenty of energy out of the turn although this subsided as the skis broke in - more on this later.

On good, firm, groomed snow the Chronic holds an edge well despite the rigorous detune I put on them underfoot. A carvey fun ski for your dad turns when the park is hard or you’re not skiing too aggressively. The softness in the nose and tail, plus some taper meant the ski is easy to engage, disengage and throw sideways, something I look for in a ski personally. As such, as a ski that’s just for skiing around this was insanely fun. At higher speeds, they would get a little flappy but I never really found them to get squirrelly on me, they seemed to hold up to all the resort bashing I could throw at them. They did have a tendency to fold in the noses somewhat, especially noticeable in heavier snow or really driving the noses through the turn. I find this generally happens with centre-mounted skis and is more noticeable on the softer ones, part of the trade-off of mounting points.

When the days got warmer and the snow got slushier these skis really came into their own, at 101 underfoot this is the perfect slush-busting platform. The flex in the noses kept them above any soupy snow and the profile rocker was perfect for surfing around in soft stuff. I rode these for the whole week at Superunknown XX in Mammoth and I can’t think of many other skis I’d have rather been on.

We also had a guest tester on these skis, who goes by Deaf Tom, this is what he thought of the Chronic 101:

"Snappy but smooth. Playful but stable. I really enjoyed this ski, especially on rails. I found that they lock in easily making switch-ups, and spins on and off rails effortless. On the jumps I found it soft enough to butter and have a good time but stiff enough to be able to hold your ground while landing. I also spent a lot of time riding these skis all over the mountain and I will say they did turn great on groomers but I was not particularly impressed with their performance in deeper snow or more challenging terrain. I found them too soft in the tail and hard to depend on for cliff landings . If you don’t land bolts you’re going to wash out. If you’re looking for a fun piste/park oriented ski that does well on rails and smaller jumps I would recommend this ski. If you ski some park but also enjoy skiing the mountain or are looking for a “one ski quiver” or whatever the fuck they call it I would consider looking elsewhere."

Thanks, Tom, insightful as always!

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Park

The park is, naturally, where this ski is designed to be used. Duh. It’s a Chronic. It might already be evident I loved these skis. Once they broke in they were my daily driver that saw me through the rest of the season at SSV and for good reason. As above they perform excellently all around the mountain and they were near perfect as park skis.

While some people I know who’ve ridden them, or held my set, seem to think they’re heavy (the pivots don’t help) I found them to be perfectly light and snappy for pretty much any trick I wanted to throw. The usual caveat of me not being the techiest rail skier should fit in just about here yet for swaps and 2s on, I felt the swingweight was light enough, the 94 - which I also spent a good chunk of park laps on is, of course, a more out-and-out park ski and is light all round and less playful for those more serious park riders.

Yet this finds a nice balance of stability, playfulness and a light enough swingweight to not be limiting at the very least. I would choose a wider more versatile ski than something super light 99 times out of 100 but if you’re looking for something to do mad switch up combos and 6s on you might want something lighter, for me I didn’t care.

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Having far too much fun in Mammoth!

Credit: Laura Obermeyer

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On jumps, these held up well both landing forwards and switch and I found the 101 underfoot platform created a nice level of stability for jumping. This most certainly feels like a park ski on jump, which may feel redundant but often to me that’s what it comes down to. I’m no jump jock but never felt limited by the flex on these. I’m light and I don’t go insanely big so bear that in mind, this isn’t a pipe/big air ski but is way more fun than those anyway.

What made these excel for me in the park is how much fun they are, super poppy and buttery, light and surfy. The average radius of the ski is 16.6m this made for a really turny ski when the parks at Sunshine & Mammoth had lots of close features with many line options this made for a ski that was nimble and I felt it was pretty agile when you wanted it to be.

When it comes to buttering and performing jibby tricks, these skis really excelled. They are stiff enough in the tails that I found I had to work them a decent amount to get them to flex - although with better technique, loading the ski further back they may have flexed more easily. That being said they offer a great platform for playfulness and I learnt and got comfortable with a few new tail butter variations. On the noses, my more proficient butter zone, they entered manoeuvres easily. They maybe lacked some energy out of presses due to the softer nose which took some getting used to but this quickly became one of my favorite skis to butter and press with.

Here are some clips from Superunknown last spring, sorry they're vertical, 'tis the way of the world...

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https://www.newschoolers.com/videos/watch/1077292/593234DA-854F-491D-B9D0-18BB3FD05CF9-MP4

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Durability

Line has emphasised durability with the new Chronic lineup. I skied these a lot towards the end of the season and probably abused these skis more than any in the quiver… okay my Revolt 104s got the short end of the stick early season. That being said, these held up fantastically. I think they have 2 small edge cracks and some topsheet chipping in the tips and tails which by all metrics is pretty standard for a park ski in my eyes. I did give these a heavy detune underfoot as per usual and that is usually a factor in edge durability I find. For me, Line has done something right with their durability changes. As always with park skis, your mileage may vary.

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Comparisons

Chronic 94 v 101

Probably the most important comparison to make here is between this ski and its skinnier brother, the 94. I rode both and my Roofbox Review of that ski will be out soon, or depending on our publishing schedule you've already read it. The 94 is a skinner, lighter and stiffer ski that fits more into the out-and-out park ski category where the 101 has that more all-mountain, surfy, playful freestyle ski feel. When it comes to deciding between the two skis, for me it is fairly simple. If you want a ski that is going to be fast to perform switch-ups, be perfect for learning those new jump tricks on big booters and is going to spend 80% of its time in the park the 94 is for you. I got into park skiing too late to have a big bag of tricks and prefer to do the tricks I can with style and also ride the mountain like as much of a pest as I can. Therefore, I preferred the 101 for its versatility and performance in slushy conditions. Being softer it also has a significantly more playful feel, not that that the 94 isn't playful I just found it more sturdy than the 101. I did ski the 101 more than the 94 so it definitely got a chance to break in more which accounts for some of the softer feel. The 94 is a better park ski and the 101 is a better everyday freestyle tool in my opinion.

Blend v Chronic 101

Though I've not skied the Blend for many years and it has taken a few changes since then. it feels worthy to note here as it's a Line park ski that comes in at 100mm underfoot. Therefore, is the nearest comparison ski to the new Chronic from Line. essentially, the Chronic at many times felt like a stiffer, more durable, more versatile ski than the Blend. As I continue to ski a greater variety of skis in my role for NS I am learning that generally prefer a stiffer ski over a softer one, I'm not big or heavy but I am tall and ski fairly aggressively (or at least I think so) and really soft skis just don't do it for me. If you've wanted to ski the Blend but, like me, are put off by it being a bit too soft the Chronic 101 is for you!

Prodigy 2.0 v Chronic 101

The Prodigy 2.0 is probably one of the closest comparisons to this ski I have knowledge on. It flexes more through the full length of the ski than the Chronic which does soften in the tips and tails with most of its stiffness underfoot, the Prodigy line-up definitely runs a more progressive flex. It also has an earlier taper and is a more symmetrical ski than the new Chronic. While Line and Faction durability are often uttered in the same sentence, I found the Chronic to be more durable than my Prodigies (I rode the 1.0 more but have skied the 2.0 - they are basically the same ski). I think the Prodigy beats the Chronic on all-mountain performance and the Chronic wins out on park fun and durability, if you're after more all-mountain performance the Prodigy 2.0 is likely to tick more boxes for you. I preferred the Chronic but it just felt 'right' immediately on my feet and i can't argue with that.

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Conclusion

Honestly, this was the best ski I skied all season. That's no exaggeration. If you're looking for a mid-width, playful yet reasonably stable park/all-mountain ski. the Chronic 101 is the ski for you. I loved it and took it out skiing every day I got the chance to. Whilst we didn't have a season at SSV that would have had me reaching for wider skis often, this proved to be my daily driver and never failed to put a smile on my face and never left me wanting. It will never be your true all-mountain ski but take it out on park days or low snow days and have a blast. It is also a favorite of both staff members @Twig and @curt_ and performed very well at our 2023 ski test so don't just take my word for it!