Board Exam: 2011/2012 Lib Tech Travis Rice Limited Edition Snowboard Review

What the rep said: All-mountain freestyle; mellow magnetraction; C2 power banana for better edge hold, stability and pop; true twin shape

Stats/Setup: I checked in at 6'1" (1.85m) and 170 pounds (77.3kg) when I rode the Travis Rice Limited Edition in a 157 with Salomon Dialogue Boots (size 9.5) and some old Technine MFM Pro bindings at Mt. Bachelor, Oregon. Count the prepositions in that sentence.

Conditions: Hardpack, ice, some slush

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First impression: Dig that limited edition Art of Flight graphic by Mike Parillo

The Ride: A nice deep sidecut has the T.Rice going edge-to-edge like a tweaker standing on a rocking chair. When the turns open up, the mellow magnetraction shines. It's not as aggressive as the MTX found on some of Mervin's other boards, but it will hold on even when you're carving like a Euro hardbooter. I don't know exactly which boards have which version of magnetraction, but my guess is the deeper the sidecut the less need for a deep magnetraction. It works for this board anyway. It charges hard and holds on tight.

Another shining area is the stability. Even at 157 when I'm used to something longer, I was comfortable at speed, through chop and falling off stumps and jumps. This is a damp board that likes speed and likes a challenge.

The pop was pretty good. I've found Lib's C2 poppier than full rocker (or their earlier BTX), but not as poppy as full camber. This is to be expected as it has rocker between the feet, but camber to the contact points. The C2 does give you that little bit of buttery flex advantage over camber, though, for those who like to get your press on.

Bottom Line: It's not going to get you into a helicopter followed by a helicopter all by itself, but it can do everything else. In general, a hell of a lot of fun to ride. I wish I could've ridden the 161 and ridden it in a wider variety of conditions because this seems like a great all-mountain freestyle board.

Similar Boards: My Never Summer SL-R

Bonus Package: As a bonus to the Limited Edition board, the LE package includes The Art of Flight book, DVD and Blu-Ray all in a collector's edition box. It's a rad little package that I paid $80 for. Check it.

The art of book, Field Notes for scale

What's inside

The collector's edition, pop-up box