Looking for a wider carving ski that has a unique feel and character? The Liberty V82W just might be the ticket. Unchanged except for graphics for 2021, the V82W returns to tear up the groomers and leave super-deep trenches behind. These things are put on this earth to make clean, round turns, and it starts with the women's VMT core. With a wood core consisting of bamboo, poplar, and paulownia, there's no shortage of ingredients here. Two vertical metal struts are sandwiched in the bamboo stringers, and these do the bulk of the heavy lifting when it comes to the stiffness and response of the ski. While not stiff to hand flex, the V82W is incredibly solid and smooth on the hard back-the vertical metal contributes to that unique feel versus a horizontally laminated sheet of metal like is found on other high-end carvers and recreational race skis. These are different for sure, and the lack of taper or rocker only adds to the mystery. You end up getting legitimate tip to tail edge contact, so they do feel like they ski a bit longer than the length indicates. Camber underfoot and through the tail bolster the ski's firm-snow preference and provides an energetic, strong response from the input of the skier. Our testers loved the speed that these skis can carry and appreciate the accompanying stability at those higher velocities.
ROCKER PROFILE
Rocker / Camber
CORE MATERIALS
2 Carbon Stringers
PREFERRED TERRAIN
Groomers, All Mountain
Sam Purnell skied the 165 and scored a lot of 5's on this ski. All top scores except for 4's in versatility, forgiveness, and torsional stiffness. Sam is a pretty darn strong skier as a member of the Mount Mansfield Ski Patrol here at Stowe, and she called the V82W a "really playful ski. Heavier for how narrow it is which made it easily maneuverable for aggressive turns and fast groomers! Great for intermediate to expert skiers who want a sturdy and fun ski for groomers." Those high scores on Sam's sheet are a good sign that these skis are going to be more than just a front side ski-the shape is getting to the all-mountain width so we'd expect to see some alternate strengths shine through with these skis.
Carly Monahan was also on the 165 and she scored it 5's for stability, torsional stiffness, edge hold, and overall impression. The average scores of 3 were given for quickness, forgiveness, and versatility. Carly notes that the V82W "likes to go fast! Yipee! These were super-fun to push in big arcing turns, and for an 82, they're very quick from edge to edge." We've certainly found with these Liberty carving skis that they are like sponges for energy. They take a lot to get them going, but when you fill them up with power, they love to give it back, but it doesn't come all at once, rather it's nicely spread out. This gives the ski the unique smoothness that we're seeing from a lot of these Liberty carvers.
Variety is the spice of life, and that is true for skis as well. While there are a lot of low to mid-80's carving skis out there, Liberty's are a bit different, and that opens the concept of carving up to a whole new group of skiers, and we think that is a very good thing.
