T.Rice Climax

Climax from the Greek word κλῖμαξ, meaning  “the most intense, exciting, or important point of something; the culmination”. It’s fair to say that watching Travis snowboard is both intense and exciting, and his Climax snowboard is the culmination of years of R&D. It’s a look at just how far we can go with snowboard production, how fast; how light, and how strong we can manufacture them. In Travis’ line, the Climax sits as his high-end, high-performance backcountry freestyle offering.

The Climax is built for shredding technical lines and sending it down gnarly faces. Based around the same directional outline as the Gold Member, the Climax has a pointed nose and a notched tail, the added volume at the tip of the board helps to ensure this board will stay floaty when it starts to get steep and deep. A notched tail reduces surface area at the back and helps it to sink, which in turn accentuates the nose lifting.

“The result is their lightest snowboard to date, but unlike other featherweight boards, it still retains its strength thanks to the carbon lay up”

Unusually for a board built for backcountry, the Climax doesn’t employ a taper. Choosing to eschew this design feature creates a directional board that will still ride switch with ease. There is, however, a .75” setback, so you can really shift your weight down the board if you want to, but with six different stance options, you’re spoiled for choice when you want to chop and change. And what’s a high-end snowboard without a bit of carbon? Lib Tech have hit the ground running with their first foray into the field and have included a carbon-over-carbon-over-magnesium fibre wrapping an ultralight balsa/paulownia core. The result is their lightest snowboard to date, but unlike other featherweight boards, it still retains its strength thanks to the beefy carbon lay up.

C2x construction is all-terrain versatility and is the perfect blend of precision and power. A short rocker section between the feet keeps the board feeling floaty and mellows out the ride a little. Longer camber sections extend from underfoot out towards the tip and tail, loading the pressure to those areas. Combined with the Magne-Traction edges, the result is an explosive and dynamic ride that’s stable as hell on the hardpack.

Helping the Climax to claim its freestyle chops are the Lightweight Spin Slim tip and tail, the reduced weight lowering the swing weight of the board and thus making it the perfect companion for lofty spins off of big backcountry booters (Chads Gap anyone?). Available in three sizes, the Climax is a vessel to deliver euphoric delights. It’s the pinnacle of snowboard innovation, but really, the Climax just takes us back to the ultimate simple pleasure- sliding sideways down a big ass mountain.

Just how important are the graphics to the snowboards? Kim tells us: “For me, image is everything. Symbols lock us into a state of mind. A state of mind locks us into our body, our heart, our groove. I want this groove to have the highest possible resonance. Therefore… as an art maker I’ll go so far as to say… a powerful image can lead you to your destiny. On the mountain or off. There is no new achievement without an image that guides it.“

T.Rice Gold Member Split

Like scores of pros before him, as he’s gotten older Travis has made moves towards the wild unknown. Movies like Roadless, with friends Jeremy Jones and Bryan Iguchi, offer a glimpse of the sheer beauty that can only be found when you’re skinning in nature. For those who prefer life off the beaten track, the Gold Member Split might just be the board to whet your whistle. Travis’ board of choice when he decides to forgo the resort boundaries, this is the weapon you’ll want by your side whether you’re walking silently through snow covered valleys or dropping into secluded faces and gnarly chutes.

As a splitboarder you spend most of your time on the gruelling ascent. Every gram counts when you’ve got to use leg power to get it up the hill so Lib use their FirePower construction to create a board that saves precious weight. The lightweight core combination of 50% Aspen, 40% Paulownia and 10% Balsa wood is a blend that you’ll be thankful for when you’re powering up the mountain while still being robust enough to handle anything you throw at it on the way down.

Regardless of the reason you choose to splitboard, there’s no denying the pure, unadulterated pleasure of reaching the summit after a backbreaking climb and strapping into your board. Travis knows possibly better than most people that the long slog up is often spent dreaming of the lines you’ll paint on the way down. That’s why they’ve created a board that performs just as well as your favourite one-piece freeride board on the descent. The Gold Member Split uses Mervin’s C2x profile which features lengthened camber sections under each foot, with a smaller central rocker. The hybrid profile offers a ‘best of both worlds’ approach, with the camber loading pressure towards the tip and tail injecting pop, life, and aggression into the board. The rocker zone allows for added float in deep snow, and a looser, more surfy feeling when you’re on the hardpack.

The Magne-Traction serrated edges come into play as you’re working your way up the hill. When the snow starts to get icy on the ascent you’ll be thankful for the extra traction points, keeping you on track when the going gets tough.

“Designed and rigorously tested by Travis Rice in the most unforgiving conditions, this is a snowboard that you can count on when the going gets tough”

As with the whole Travis line this season, the graphics are done by the incredible Kim Krans, who’s worked hard to pour a little of Travis’ zen master personality into the board. Kim told us “All the images were based on the purpose of the board – the age of the rider, the phase of life, the terrain, the vibe. It all became part of the image and story of the board.” The base graphic looks like a blazing Rorschach test and the topsheet actually houses a second secret picture. The graphic changes accordingly depending on whether you’re in walk or ride mode. The versatility of this board is reminiscent of Travis’ illustrious career in the snowboard industry. Designed and rigorously tested by Travis Rice in the most unforgiving conditions, this is a snowboard that you can count on when the going gets tough.

T.Rice Orca

Travis Rice’s offering to the weird and wonderful shape revolution, the wildly popular T.Rice Orca has made a name for itself as the go-to board for those who demand the best. Like its namesake, this board is an apex predator, wandering the mountain ready to demolish anything it finds in its path. Fat pillows, cliff drops, elbows down eurocarves- it doesn’t matter the terrain the Orca will excel.

So in demand in its first season that it barely had time to get settled on shop shelves, the Orca was possibly the hottest snowboard of 2018/2019. Meant to be ridden shorter than your regular board, the Orca will benefit from the increased manoeuvrability and drastically lowered swing weight. You’ll be
spinning off windlips and tackling the narrowest tree runs with ease when you’re strapped in. What you lose in length, you more than make up for with width when riding this killer whale. With a waist measurement of 26.7cm in the 153 size, you’ll be hard pressed to find a board that floats better whilst still being as nimble.

Utilising a 10mm taper, the wider nose takes the benefit of the added surface area and the slimmer tail becomes more agile underfoot. Not one to leave anything up to chance, the 2.5” setback settles your weight over the tail of the board, forcing the nose to lift and keep the tip sailing with ease.
Built around Mervin’s C2X profile, it features a shortened rocker section between the feet and more aggressive camber underfoot out towards the tip and tail. This versatile hybrid profile is the ultimate blend of smooth and surfy in the deeper snow, and dynamic and aggressive on the hardpack. The rockered section acts as a pivot point and allows you to load the tail of the board with your weight, causing the nose to shoot skywards.

Despite making a name for itself riding nipple deep champagne powder, the Orca handles beautifully on piste as well. The camber sections underfoot work in tandem with Lib Tech’s Magne-Traction to leave you with a board that’s rock solid when it’s on its edge. They load pressure towards the tip and tail to give you increased grip when you’re on the hardpack. The drastically increased width means you can get super low into your carves without worrying about catching boot. With a tidy little 7m sidecut, this is a board that is begging to turn and burn, and the sintered base is made for cranking up to mach 10 even when the snow starts getting gloopy.

If you’re looking at the Orca and marvelling at how intricate the art work is, you’re not alone. We asked Kim how long it takes to create something like that…”I can’t tell you… better kept a mystery. The cool thing is, there are secret messages in tiny dots written into the board that no one will ever be able to read. Only I know what they say :) It gives the board ultimate superpowers. It’s like… some Egyptian hieroglyphic Sanskrit secret code embedded into that shit!”

A real all-terrain vehicle, the Orca can sniff out powder stashes, boost off natural features and dig trenches with the best of them. Available in extra sizes this year, the Orca now has a bigger hunting ground than ever before.