The Liberty Origin 90 is the narrowest ski in their Freeride collection, but that certainly doesn’t mean it lacks performance. Liberty uses their Speedcore Carbon construction in the Origin 90, a blend of poplar, bamboo, and carbon fiber. This allows the ski to hit an impressively light weight of 1650 g (at the 172 cm length), but still retains solid torsional stiffness and a nice responsive feel. Liberty’s all mountain skis have always been famous for their quickness, agility, and overall lively, playful feel. The Origin 90 continues that tradition, offering high end all mountain performance to a variety of ability levels.
James Stewart tested the 186 cm length and thought it was a “fun ski!” He thought the “bamboo gives it a great lively feel.” James’ highest scores were for quickness, playfulness, and forgiveness. He thought it was a lot of fun to ski in the off-piste terrain and softer snow conditions, and commented that it “would be fun for an intermediate skier looking for something playful for the bumps and woods.” He did mention that he thought it was a little bit limited at really high speeds, but we think the highlight of the Origin 90 is its playfulness and fun overall feel, not its stability at speed.
Dave Marryat tested the 172 cm Origin 90 and gave it some high scores across the board. Both stability and forgiveness came in with the lowest scores, just 3 out of 5, but everything else was in the 4-5 range, including that nice 5 out of 5 for overall impression. Dave thought it felt “quick and nimble, with good edge hold for a 90 mm waist ski with this construction.” Dave thought it was “happiest in soft snow,” which makes a lot of sense to us considering the shape and weight of the Origin 90. He mentioned he had a blast in the “soft stuff on the sides of the groomers,” and we think that’s a good way to think about the Origin 90. If you’re that type of skier, always looking for soft snow to play in, you’ll love it.
Michael Carroll-Sherwin, however, did comment that they have fairly impressive performance on groomers. He provided feedback that “on groomed to soft choppy snow these skis handle the majority of, if not all speeds.” That’s pretty impressive feedback from Michael. We think the Origin 90’s ability at speed will somewhat depend on skier style. If you’re really driving the tip of the ski you might overpower it, but ski in a relaxed, balanced stance and it feels relatively stable. Michael, like James, was on the longest Origin 90, the 186 cm length.
Jamie Bisbee also hopped on the 186 and thought it was “fun,” but did mentioned that it “needs to be kept in check.” While in theory that could mean a lot of different things, we take it to mean that the Origin 90 isn’t the type of ski that will just blindly plow through anything you point it towards. Its lightweight feel and maneuverable nature prefers to be steered rather than just ridden, but if you’re listening to the ski’s performance and have more of a playful ski style, “it is willing to perform with most conditions.”
We think the Liberty Origin 90 continues the trend of Liberty’s all mountain skis nicely. With some new models in their line, like the V series, it’s nice that there’s still a focus on what made Liberty what they are today: playful, fun, and lightweight all-mountain performance. The Origin 90 doesn’t complain much, but rather gives you the tool you need to ski the entire mountain with a fun, quick, maneuverable, and, perhaps most importantly, satisfying feel.
