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Lib Tech Apex Orca 2021-2022 Snowboard Review

Tested and selected for our top 100 snowboard products of the year: the Lib Tech Apex Orca

  • Price: £890 / €1,000
  • Category: All-Mountain / Freeride + Powder
  • Sizes: 153, 156, 159
  • Flex: 7/10
  • Shape: Directional
  • Profile: Combo
  • 3D: No
  • Base: Sintered

Why we chose the Lib Tech Apex Orca Snowboard: The Climax did the dirty with the Orca and had a turbocharged baby.

When we first heard about Lib Tech’s new Apex Orca, we immediately thought of Dr Ian Malcolm’s famous quote, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” But in this case? Yes, yes they should. Well played Lib Tech, this one is truly something special. The Apex Orca is a look at how far we can push engineering and tech-wizardry in snowboarding and as such it don’t come cheap, but then again, this isn’t a snowboard for everybody.

Using the very best materials at their disposal and bult around the chassis of their modern classic Orca, Lib Tech and Travis Rice have created a supercharged Franken-board that’s sure to make a splash.

“A powder board that isn’t just for powder days, hallelujah”

MORE INFO:
LIBTECH.COM

Who Is The Lib Tech Apex Orca For?

You appreciate the finer things in life, be it a succulent Japanese Kobe steak or outerwear that’s actually waterproof, and you’re not afraid to part with a wad of cash to ensure you get the very best.

Amateurs need not apply, with its ultra-light carbon construction this is a snowboard that packs a serious punch, but if you’re an experienced rider who knows how to attack the mountain, then you’ll get along swimmingly.

Shape, Profile and Sidecut

The outline is decidedly freeride-centric, with its fully directional shape, 2.5” setback inserts, cutout tail and 11mm taper set to do the heavy lifting when you hit the motherload. The elongated surfy nose and reduced surface area in the tail are more than enough to keep you floating even on the deepest days. But thanks to the beefed-up construction, this isn’t just a board for undulating powder fields, it can handle technical descents and manoeuvres with a delicate dexterity when the stakes are high.

The bodacious waist width also comes into play here, but more so when you reel the Apex Orca back in-bounds. The tight sidecut radius, combined with Lib Tech’s MagneTraction and the extra wide surface area allows for a board that’ll get up on its edges and rail a carve with the best of them. A powder board that isn’t just for powder days, hallelujah.

The kinked Whale Tail increases contact in the rear of the board for increased ollie power and extra grip through the latter portion of your turns. Like the classic Orca, this is a snowboard designed to be ridden shorter than your usual fare, nimbler than you’d think possible, with a flick of its tail, the Apex Orca is off to hunt down its next meal.

“The Apex Orca marries the ultimate blend of power and lightweight durability”

Construction and Materials

It’ll ride like the Orca, to a point. It mostly retains the dimensions of the original, but it’s the construction that set it a cut above the rest and warrant the difference in price. The very word ‘Apex’ denotes that this is the top, the best, the most incredible, the pinnacle, the absolute crème de la crème of what Lib Tech has at their disposal. With a brand-new, specially designed, core that steps off the scales as Lib Tech’s lightest to date, and also their most environmentally friendly with the inclusion of 40% recycled bottles, the Apex Orca isn’t doing things by half measures.

The Apex Orca marries the ultimate blend of power and lightweight durability. Using only the finest ingredients and manufacturing processes, Lib have beefed up their killer whale something chronic. What’s a top-of-the-line snowboard without a little carbon? A lot of carbon, actually. The fibreglass layer eschews the triax/biax layers of the standard Orca and instead bring a carbon webbing, with carbon strips and magnesium to sandwich the core.

The result? A snowboard that’s uber-responsive and stable on the hardpack, lightweight and surfy in the powder and with all the agility you’ve come to know and love from a Travis Rice namesake.

“Shockingly versatile and unfathomably nimble this is the new standard-bearer for slaying the steep and deep”

Roundup

If you loved the Orca but are looking for something with a little more oomph, (a lot more oomph actually) then you’ve come to the right place. It’s not gonna be for everyone, the price tag alone makes sure of that, but for those willing to part with the cash, this is the ultimate pow friendly, resort charging machine. Shockingly versatile and unfathomably nimble this is the new standard-bearer for slaying the steep and deep.

Trade Secrets

Julian Ankenbrand – Marketing Manager Europe, Mervin

“The ultimate apex resort ripping, pow pillow blasting snowboard in pinnacle apex carbon carbon technology performance construction. A long floaty nose, powerful poppy contact maximizing “whale tail technology”. A tight 7m trench gouging sidecut wide enough to allow you to really put in on hardpack rail with no toe drag and float pillows like a dream but narrow enough to be your daily driver. Carbon over carbon over magnesium wrapping a recycled PET plastic bottle, paulownia, balsa and FSC certified aspen core. Eco sublimated bio beans top and rugged/fast eco-sublimated sintered base. Our favourite power fish snowboard just went bionic.”

“Mike Parillo (@mikeparillo) Mastery is the ability to make the complicated flow effortlessly as if it were simple. What guides the Orca? Where does intuition come from? Are we born with it or does it have to be invited in? Are limitations physical, mental, or just self-induced? It matters what we think and say. Remember that we are still the highest technology that we know of in the universe. Don’t forget to optimize your operating system from time to time. Made with Carbon, the buoyancy and reaction of this board is like levitating in a light orb.” ~ Travis Rice

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