Lest anyone wonder how little Liberty earned a place near the top of the most competitive field in the women’s market, they did it the old-fashioned way: they earned it. I had the opportunity to ski both the Horizon 92 (in a 167cm) and its unisex template, the Radian 92 (179cm), and both delivered a limo-smooth ride with an unshakable edge in every circumstance. Despite skiing on a much shorter length in the Horizon, security through every phase of the turn remained unperturbed by clumpy crud or slick hardpack.
While almost all models in the AME genre are part of a larger clan of off-trail-oriented skis with a wider footprint, double-rockered baselines and tapered tips, the presumption underlying the category’s out-sized popularity is that it will perform equally well on-trail or off. The shorthand for this on-trail/off-trail dual aptitude is “50/50;” on this scale, the Liberty Horizon 92 is temperamentally closer to a 60/40 groomer/off-piste ratio, with a particular penchant for short-to-medium radius arcs that don’t stray too far from the fall line.
One of the inherent perils of a fat ski in a short length is that just as it crosses the fall line and the ski begins to flatten out, it will lose its tenuous edge hold and spin out, making a mess of the turn transition and knocking the legs out from under the lower-skilled skier’s confidence. Despite the considerable handicap of supporting a skier some 50 pounds over its target load, the Horizon 92 stayed on trajectory through every turn. Skiers who love the sensation of a clean, unwavering carve will appreciate its capacity for spooling out an endless string of short-radius turns that never lose their intimate connection with the snow.
If pressed to pigeonhole the Horizon 92 in a pithy profile, I’d call it a Power ski with excellent manners, like a personal valet. It’s preternaturally calm and composed, never calls attention to itself, does exactly as instructed and is always there when summoned.
Little Liberty first popped up on my radar when they introduced a stellar new technology I hadn’t seen before: instead of using flat sheets of Titanal in the horizontal plane, Liberty inserted a vertical aluminum spine running the length of the ski. The year was 2018, the same year Rossi launched Line Control Technology and Blizzard introduced Carbon Spine, both of which also featured a central, vertical strut. Liberty’s Vertical Metal Technology (VMT) embarrassed the big boys, keeping the 3 V-Series models that used it pinned to the snow. It was a stunning debut.
This year, VMT as we knew it is gone, replaced with Variable Metal Technology in a new, 3-model series, the Radian 92 and 100 for men and a women’s model, the Horizon 92. The new VMT consists of a single, horizontal laminate that is tapered at both ends, so the tip and tail are looser and therefore better suited to irregular, off-trail conditions. (That was one of the problems with Vertical Metal Tech; it was too good at nailing the full length of the ski to the snow surface.)
Liberty calls the niche category to which the Radians and Horizon belong, “Precision-Guided Directional Freeride,” which sounds a bit contrived, but it’s actually a succinct summation of their essential character. These aren’t goofy twin-tips or loosey-goosey barges, but they are meant for Freeride terrain, i.e., anything but groomers. It’s what skiers with refined Frontside skills would prefer to take off-trail. They’re able to translate technical skills into effortless off-road skiing by constructing an off-trail shape and baseline and filling it with on-trail innards.
Jim Schaffner, whose knowledge of the state of the art in ski technology borders on the encyclopedic, calls the Radian 100, “An impressive entry in the 100mm-waist width category. This ski has a very stuck to the snow feel that is confidence-inducing in terms of speed control and resisting the earth’s gravitational pull while turning. Very predictable and at the same time versatile in turn shape and speeds.”
Overview Every mainstream ski brand can trace its roots to a founder, a visionary who nursed a fledgling idea to life. If we’re aware of a brand’s history (a big if), we’ll associate the brand’s formative years with the sepia-toned photos of its first factory. But...
Little Liberty out of Avon, Colorado distinguished itself from scores of other small-batch brands when it made two momentous decisions a few years ago, one commercial, one technical. On the brand-building front, it opted to establish a viable network of specialty shops, despite all the hassle and expense compared to selling direct to the consumer. On the technical, ski-building side of the business, it created a new design that used vertical aluminum struts, in lieu of horizontal sheets of Titanal, to dampen vibration and maintain snow connection.
Vertical Metal Technology was first applied in a dual-strut format to a 3-model V Series for the 18/19 season. For a brand that had built a following for its lightweight, bamboo and carbon cores in fat, freeride dimensions, the slender V skis with their hard-snow, fall-line orientation were a considerable departure.
Leaping forward to this year, VMT is still an important part of the Liberty line, which is more than can be said for the V Series. While the pioneer VMT series had several admirable qualities, the market never embraced Liberty as a carving ski provider. So, the savvy lads who run Liberty applied a 3-strut VMT to the already established all-mountain series, evolv. The evolv 90 sits in the middle of the 3-model evolv series (the other evolv models are the 84, 100 and 110) where it serves as the centerpiece, literally and figuratively, for the evolv family.
When you put the evolv 90 through its paces, its carving characteristics predominate. In a category chock full of skis with disconnected tips, its VMT struts keep it glued to the hill for nearly every cm of its length. If you look closely at its shape, its sidecut is very similar to that of the Kästle MX88, another AME anachronism that would rather carve than drift.
Small-batch producers like Liberty have a tough row to hoe. Aside from zero name recognition, they have to either work with an established factory or try to start their own facility, both of which have their disadvantages. Their other two biggest problems are how to differentiate themselves from the pack and thereby generate a sense of mission when it’s highly unlikely they’ll have unique materials or processes, and how to make a consistent product when limited demand dictates they work in short production runs.
Liberty broke from the pack with Vertical Metal Technology (VMT), just at the same time that industry powerhouses Rossignol and Blizzard introduced vertical struts in some of their top race-class models. Stunningly, the Liberty version with two aluminum struts seemed to deliver the glued-to-the-snow sensation this design is meant to deliver at a level at or above the big boys. Very impressive.
As is often the case with new technologies, Liberty has spent the last couple of years trying to find the best formula for VMT’s deployment, settling two seasons ago on a three-struct configuration in its all-mountain evolv series. The vertical strips of alu are encased in bamboo stringers within a bamboo and poplar core that’s reinforced with carbon and glass. It’s a very rich and sophisticated construction that rises well above the norm among indie brands.
As executed in the evolv 100, VMT accentuates its carving traits, tipping its on-tail/off-trail ratio towards rocking groomers over ripping up crud. In a category in which most models can’t wait to smear, the evolv 100 prefers to carve, slicing long arcs (19m@179cm) that don’t deviate far from the fall line. To tighten your turns, apply a higher edge angle.
Over the past five seasons, our experiences with Liberty have illuminated a point we tend to brush over, namely the vital importance of base prep. All brands, big and small, struggle with ex-factory finish. To loosen up the evolv 100’s tight grip, consider using a grind like a thumbprint or chevron that will improve its willingness to drift and move laterally, a must in tight quarters off-trail.