Dakine Fall Line Ski Roller Bag – Test and Review

The Dakine Fall Line Ski Roller Bag is large enough to carry 2 pairs of skis and poles or 1 pair of skis, poles and ski boots. It can fit almost all your other ski gear like helmets, gloves, and outerwear as well. It is a sturdy bag with rollers making it easy to travel with. It works great for carrying skis for a couple. It makes a perfect all in one ski bag and boot bag for a solo ski traveler.

Specifications

Size – 12 x 8 x 74 inches
Volume – 116L
Features – Removable boot bag, rollers, sinch straps, can hold skis and boots

Dakine Fall Line Ski Roller Bag Review

A roller ski bag makes carrying your skis around the airport, rental car facilities, bus stations, and train stations a lot easier. Why carry everything when you can roll it around? You can roll the ski bag with one hand and have one hand free for rolling another large bag or anything else you need to do. I have been using an older Dakine roller ski bag for about 15 years now. When it came time to replace it, I picked up the Dakine Fall Line Ski Roller Bag.

The Fall Line is large enough to hold 2 pairs of skis next to each other. It can hold 1 pair of skis laid flat. You have to rubber band up the brakes on the skis. It can fit a set of ski boots on top of the laid flat skis. A tarpaulin boot bag is included for putting the ski boots inside the bag.

The bag is large enough to fit ski poles, ski jacket, ski pants, gloves, base layers, a helmet, goggles, and other items in with a pair of skis and boots. The rollers make it easy to roll it around.

1 – Bag Size

The Fall Line is available in 2 sizes. 175cm and 190cm. I ski on skis that are 185cm long so I picked up the 190cm version. The overall dimensions of the 2 bags are:

• 175cm – 12 x 8 x 74 inches
• 190cm – 12 x 8 x 80 inches

2 – Bag Construction and Recycled Materials

The bag is made with recycled 600D Polyester ripstop with a water repellent finish. The bag is padded all around with a tarpaulin layer on the inside of the bag. They use YKK zippers everywhere.

The bag has some plastic reinforcements around the bottom corners. There are plastic rails where the bag will hit rolling over curbs.

All the materials are bluesign® approved. This means that the materials are produced in a sustainable manner.

3 – Storage Compartments

The bag has 1 large zipper compartment for the skis. This compartment is tarpaulin lined so it won’t get damaged by water and is easy to clean. The lid and sides are padded. This compartment is large enough to fit skis and almost all of your ski gear for a few days of skiing. The zipper for the main compartment has lock loops on it so you can hold it shut with a small TSA approved padlock. This makes sure it won’t unzip when the baggage handlers throw it around.

4 – Removable Boot Bag

Dakine includes a removable tarpaulin material boot bag for keeping your boots separate from your skis. It also keeps them from scratching each other. The bag gets held into the main ski bag with a few loops and hooks. It won’t slide up the bag.

4 – Tips for Packing this bag

I used my prior Dakine roller ski bag for about 15 years and have had a lot of practice packing it for air travel and road trips. The goal is to get everything padded and keep the ski’s edges and brakes from damaging anything. Here are a few tips.

• Use rubber bands to hold ski brakes closed. This will let the skis lie flat in the bag and keep the brakes from damaging the bag.
• If you are packing 2 pairs of skis in the bag. Use some ski wraps on each pair of skis to keep the skis from rubbing against themselves.
• Use your base layers and mid layers to pad your skis. I put one base layer or mid layer over each ski tip and ski tail and slide them as far up the skis as I can. This keeps the skis edges from rubbing against each other.
• Use your sweaters and fleeces to pad around your ski helmet. Wrap your helmet in something heavy to keep it from getting dented or dinged. I set the helmet between the ski bindings so it doesn’t slide around the bag.
• Put some heavier items like sweaters or pants and jackets on the top half of the bag. This makes the bag somewhat balanced if you have to pick it up it by the middle handle. The old Dakine bag had a boot pocket at each end so the bag balanced. This made it easier to carry with the handle. Having all the weight at one end makes it easier to hold it vertically to pick up into rental car shuttles and elevators.
• Use a small TSA approved padlock to hold the main zipper closed. On my first trip with my old Dakine bag I arrived and discovered that the zipper was about 2 feet unzipped. If you put a lock on it, the TSA agents have to relock it which means they have to make sure it’s zipped all the way. This bag will get opened and inspected almost every time it flies anywhere.

Recommendation – Buy or No Buy?

I have been using a Dakine roller ski bag for a long time and find it the best solution for carrying gear through an airport. The Dakine Fall Line Ski Roller Bag is well made with recycled materials. It can hold a lot of gear. The wheels make it easy to carry around an airport and parking lots.

See our guide to the best ski boot bags for other good boot bag options.

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Ryan Craig
Chief Editor

I am a total gear nerd and love learning how things work and thinking about how they could be improved. Nothing excites me more than trying out new gear. I’d rather spend 3 hours taking my bike apart and learning how to change something than go to a bike shop. These days, I reside in Michigan by the Great Lakes and go skiing, biking, and boating as much as possible. Visit our About Us page and learn more.

ryan@greatlakesbikeskiboat.com