2012-2013 LINE Stepup

Where the Stepup performed best, in my opinion, was in remaining stable on landings. During the testing period, Park City’s snow conditions were reminiscent of riding parks in the East. Utah was in the middle of a dry spell, and jump landings were growing more and more bulletproof each day. Even in these conditions, though, the Stepup remained rock solid. If I took too much speed into a jump and took considerable impact when putting down the landing gear, not once did the ski waver or wash out. In these types of situations, the ski managed to recoil properly and keep me on my feet. In this regard, the Stepup performs similarly to the Moment Reno Jib. I felt like I could trust the Jib on larger jumps, and not once did I doubt the Stepup in this context.

When I was finished testing and returned to my own park ski, the Bluehouse Antics, I genuinely missed the steadiness and solidity of the Stepup. The reason I enjoyed riding the Stepup so much was that it took the positive qualities of both of the skis I was most recently riding, and ran with them. The Stepup incorporated the stability of the Moment Reno Jib with the fun, poppy flex of the Bluehouse Antics without feeling like a wet noodle, as the Antics sometimes do.

I’ll be perfectly honest and say that when it comes to judging a park ski, a ski’s performance on groomers and in the bumps typically doesn’t matter to me. I was shocked, however, to find how exceptionally well the Stepup performed in these two areas. On the corduroy, the ski initiated tight-radius turns with a certain snap that would make a slalom ski envious. This quality carried over into the zipper bump lines and made skiing moguls in a park ski manageable. Typically, I equate skiing bumps in a jib ski to walking with cinder blocks attached to my feet, but the Stepup felt rather agile.

The Stepup’s single distinct drawback is weight. At 1,920 grams per ski, this Stepup is heavier than most comparable park skis on the market. I noticed this aspect most when spinning on or off rails and when doing larger-spin tricks on jumps. For example, when doing a 270 on to a high down rail, the pop of the ski will allow you to get up on to the rail, but the swing weight of the ski will make it excessively difficult to whip the rotation around quickly. On jumps, I found the additional weight to be a hindrance during bigger spins like cork 900s or switch 1080s because the skis would almost resist spinning with the rest of my body, and lag behind.

Even with this shortcoming, I was impressed with the Line Stepup. The ski has tremendous pop, but remains stiff and stable. Accordingly, I would recommend this ski to the serious competitor and the recreational park rider alike. It performed well around the mountain and on all of the eclectic variety of terrain park features that Park City and Northstar-At-Tahoe had to offer—the big, the small, the weird, and the conventional.