Featured Image: Dustin Satloff, skier Meredith Drangin
Over the last 15 years, Liberty Skis has become one of the industry’s largest independent ski manufacturers, developing skis for the front side, backcountry and everything in between. Having its headquarters in the middle of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, the company uses its backyard for design inspiration as well as a grueling testing ground to create exceptional products for an incredible ski experience. Every year, the Avon, Colorado-based ski company hosts an athlete retreat to test out next season’s skis. This year, Team FREESKIER was lucky enough to tag along for three glorious days of ripping around nearby Vail Mountain on the never-before-skied planks.
Kicking off on Tuesday, January 21, the Liberty Athlete Retreat was met with six inches of fresh to get the stoke started and Mother Nature hardly ever let up, dumping another insane 15 inches of blower pow on the final day–undoubtedly one of the deepest days in the past few years. To say it was perfect testing weather would be an understatement, as heard by the non-stop hootin’ and hollerin’ from the entire Liberty team. I had the chance to ride the updated women’s freeride ski, the Genesis 106, which could not have been a more perfect plank for the deeper-than-deep conditions.
The newly-updated Gensis 106 is an all-mountain dream ski. PHOTO: Dustin Satloff. SKIER: Ingrid Stensvaag.While the Genesis 106 is not new to the brand’s lineup, the updates to the rocker profile and top sheet make this one of the hottest skis for hard-charging women who shred the entire mountain. For 2019-20, Liberty reduced the rocker in the front of the ski by almost 50 percent for more ski-to-snow contact. Combine that with Liberty’s X-Core carbon construction–a combination of bamboo, poplar, paulownia and carbon fiber–and you’ve got a big-mountain ski with exceptional carving capabilities, so whether you’re warming up on a groomer, sending it deep into the backcountry or plowing through crud, this ski will stand up to all that you ride on the mountain. And if your skiing doesn’t catch peoples’ attention, the top sheet certainly will. Inspired by the red rock features found throughout the state, Liberty’s graphic designer, Sydney Elliot, took the brand’s signature top-sheet styling and punched it up a few notches.
After all was skied and done, the 2019 Liberty Athlete Retreat was a great success. The stoke was high throughout the week and the snow just kept getting deeper and deeper. Hats off to the Liberty crew for an absolutely ridiculous three days in the Rocky Mountains. Stay tuned for plenty more coverage of Liberty’s new line from the 2019 Outdoor Retailer + Snow Show, taking place next week.
