Note: (This review is of the 2016 Liberty Genesis ski. Nothing changed with the 2017 Genesis except for the graphics.)
About Liberty the company:
“Liberty makes high performance skis rooted in functional innovation and respect for the environment. Every material we use, and design we produce, is done with the ultimate goal of elevating your experience on skis. Liberty skis perform so well because they are designed and built without regard to marketing hype or the latest trend. We test all our designs and materials ourselves to see if they improve the way our skis ride in a variety of conditions."
Liberty was the first and remains the ONLY ski company to use bamboo in all their skis. Bamboo is strong, light, eco friendly, and gives our skis a unique stability and liveliness not found with any other material. Liberty offers the best warranty in the industry at 3 years.
About the Liberty Genesis Women's Powder Ski
- Dimensions(mm): 145-116-136
- Radius(m): 19
- Weight(g): 1830
"The Genesis from Liberty is the perfect ski for ladies that love chasing storm cycles and spending as much time in the soft and untracked pow as possible. Made with Bomb Rocker the Genesis has a fully rockered tip and tail with a minimal amount of camber underfoot that will keep you on top of the snow smearing your turns, and the edge hold you need to fly down the groomers as fast as you can to make sure that your are first in line when the ropes drop. A Multi-Radius Sidecut gives you the ability to make any turn shape you want in any condition with ease. The Super Light Core uses Bamboo, Poplar and Paulownia Woods to have a powerful ski, loaded with energy while being very lightweight, especially with a 116mm waist. If you are looking for the perfect pow ski that has the ability to head anywhere on the mountain, the Liberty Genesis will be a great selection."
Here’s a little bit about me and what I ski:
- Me: Chica, 32 years, 5’9″, 145lbs, love deep fluff, fast groomers, and wide powdery glades!
- Location of skiing: Mostly Western and Central Colorado
- Type of skiing: Downhill-mostly resort, some side and backcountry
- Boots: Scarpe Freedom SL Womens 25.5
- Binding/AT Setup: Liberty/Tyrolia Adrenaline 15 A/T
Let me just start off by saying, I am not a big believer in companies trying to hit the niche female market by manufacturing "women's specific" products. In fact, I really don't believe there should be such a thing. I am tall and weigh about the same as most men my height. I have used a number of "women's" specific products that were, sorry to say, dinky as hell! I've never understood why manufacturers find they need to alter their products to tailer to the soft, delicate and fragile image the world has placed on women, especially in the ski industry.
With that being said, I am a regular user of men's products, mostly because women's products just don't fit right (they're always too small and men's stuff is WAY cooler anyway!). But, I have actually found that in a few cases, men's skis (although super fun and awesome) tend to be a tad on the heavy side, making them harder to swing around. I will proudly admit, I am not a rock solid chuck of muscle like a lot of other women in the industry who easily stomp around on men's skis and don't think twice. For me, I have found that at the end of the day, I tire more quickly when I'm clamped into a heavier pair of men's skis. It turns out, I just don't have the same muscle mass as my male counter parts, and whipping around their skis all day tuckers me out!
I have been on Liberty for a while now to come out with more "women's" skis. Now I know what you're thinking, that completely contradicts everything I've just said. But how about this, come out with women's skis that are just as solid, just as bomber, just as fun and playful and hard charging. And for goodness sake, stop making them so dang short! Give us ladies options when it comes to lengths so that all of us, short and tall, can ride them. And please find a way to make them just a bit lighter so I can whip them around more easily!
On that note, please spare us from the dinky, girly, bubble gum, pretty in pink graphics. Men's graphics tend to be that, very man-ish, testosterony, "I have balls so I must I huck shit." Women's, the same, girly as heck, "I like flowers and walks on the beach and getting my hair and nails done." Yeah, women all around like all of that, but our skis don't have to advertise it. Make graphics that are fun, say women, but not stupid girly. Graphics that scream, "Yeah, a bad-ass woman rips on these bad-ass skis."
And once again, as she has done for both men's and women's skis for Liberty Skis for the past few years, graphic designer, Shannon Kennedy created what I would call the perfect "women's" graphic! Shannon has done a killer job at creating not too man-ish and not too woman-ish graphics for Liberty's line and I have no problem sliding down the mountain on either because of her awesome designs!
Enter the Liberty Skis Genesis, a reincarnated female version of the Liberty Origin 116 ski. My first day out on Liberty's new women's powder ski was a very early season, not a whole lot of snow, backcountry kind of day. Having already spent an entire season on the Origin (you can read my review here), I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to be sliding on.
November 1, 2015, I met up in Ouray with a couple of good touring friends from Grand Junction. We were all looking to get out on our sliding sticks, and Red Mountain Pass was sure to have just enough coverage after the first big-ish snowfall of the season. The road up to the basin we skied was a little bare in spots and the shaded areas did in fact have just enough coverage to make a few turns. The Genesis skis did what they were made to do. Ski all floaty and buttery and playful, just like their older bother, the Origins. I knew from that day on; all the hikes on Red Mountain and Lizard Head Pass, all the rope drops, all the first turns, powder and groomer ... Every day on these skis was going to be a fun day!
Exactly like the Origins, the Genesis LOVE floating fast and making creamy, buttery, playful turns through light, fluffy powder! When the powder is gone, they perform just dandy as an all-mountain ski and love when they get the chance to really open up and carve fast laps on soft groomers. I could charge hard and fast, laying down huge arcing turns and never felt like they would do me wrong. On dust-on-crust, they stuck to the mountain, held their line and carved through the nasty crust without any skidding or chatter. On left over powder, the Genesis let me cut through the choppy, bumpy mess without bucking me around. And just like the Origins, even though they are wider, they are really fun in the bumps and pivot super easy due to their short turning radius. I absolutely love them on slushy spring days where they turn cream corn and mashed potatoes into creamy powder all over again! The one and only place I don't feel at home on these skis is on that boiler plate, icy, solid cement. But really, who does? Maybe all you East Coast skiers perhaps!
There really isn't anything more to say about how amazing the Genesis skis amazingly all over the mountain, in every condition. When they get to open up in endless powder, that's when the magic really happens! Want to see for yourself? Check out the video below!