Lib Tech Orca Review: Killer Style & Performance

Orca Snowboard, a True Snow Predator

The only thing that can beat a leisure cruise through the snow is being able to rip it up with your teeth at a moment’s notice. With the Lib Tech Orca, it can be done. That beautiful Orca plastered onto this freeride board isn’t just for show.

This board rips up everything in its path with the ferocity and brutality that the apex predator it’s named and designed after does. But just like a real-life killer whale, the Lib Tech Orca is precise and meticulous in its design.

Don’t believe me? Then here’s a quick look at its specs:

But graphs and charts alone can never paint the full picture of this beast. It’s fast and so much fun to ride on a heavy powder day.

Before we jump into specifics, you should use the size chart below to make sure you get the right fit:

You’ll need everything perfectly optimized to get the most out of the Lib Tech Orca.

Who Gets the Most out of the Orca?

A sound question. You don’t want to wade into open waters with the best snowboard that may not be for you.

The Lib Tech Orca is for the Intermediate rider that wants to weave through tight trees and crunch through the entire mountain. It’s a smaller board and a wide one as well. Despite this, it can be incredibly fast if the right conditions are met.

This is not a snowboard for beginner riders. It’s not a board for early intermediates or intermediates of any kind, for that matter. A true expert is required to handle this board. It’s stiff and damp, extremely damp.

The ride with the Lib Tech Orca has no chatter. Silently gliding through the snow, much like the real-life Orca does through water. Still, this is not an all-rounder or top all-mountain snowboard. It’s a freeriding board.

If you like to stretch out the amount of time that you ride and draw out your turns, then this is the board for you. But remember, beginners and under need not apply. Only the big boys can take a swing at this one.

Our Lib Tech Orca Snowboard Detailed Break Down

We’ve talked up the kind of riding that the Lib Tech Orca snowboard can provide you with, but now is the time for more detail. You know it can reach high speeds, but why is that? How does rider weight affect this freeride snowboard?

Can it ride switch? The answer is yes, always yes with any board, but the real question is should you? The answer to this question is absolutely not. This great board was not made for riding switches. It was made for taking advantage of fresh snow and plowing through deep days.

There is a cascade of questions that’ll be answered as we methodically cut up this board the same way it cuts through the snow.

Carving, is the Razor Edge Hold Enough?

Let’s begin with its carves and turns. Does the edge hold of this Lib Tech have enough bite to it? I would say without a doubt! The hold of this Lib Tech board is sensational. Forget cutting through the snow, this board can get it done on solid ice.

It’s so good in fact, that I would recommend keeping it on either edge as you ride, for the speed boost. I suppose, that this edge hold was necessary. Since this freeride snowboard can be quite limber when skating atop dense snow. More on this is in the following sections.

The best carves that you will get out of the Orca will be those long carves, the great ones that resemble an arc. Otherwise, short and quick turns with this board are average at best. Don’t drag out the carve, either. You’ll want a carve that falls into the upper middle tier when it comes to length.

Overall, I’d say that it’s a good board to carve with. Don’t be afraid to put that edge to the test in icy conditions. You’d be surprised at how well it handles any aggressive riding style.

Orca’s Butterability

I hinted at this in the previous section, but now it’s time to jump into it. The Orca is a stiff board, stiffer than the Jones Mountain Twin and the Lib Tech Golden Orca.

Stiff boards are usually not great when it comes to their butter ability. Rider weight is not as easily nor effectively distributed.

The Orca bucks this trend. It does better than the average board. In other words, it is more than capable of buttering. It’s easy to butter and get into the air in the first place.

No doubt that its camber profile played a role in making this board an easy one to pop into the air. This surprisingly good butter ability makes the Lib Tech Orca Snowboard one for the powder days.

Sure, other boards may have better butter ability, but this is most likely because they have a softer flex rating. Snowboarding like the Orca allows you to shouldn’t be this simple with this stiff of a board.

Lib Tech Orca Snowboard

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How Well Does the Orca Spin?

Shorter boards have a harder time being spun around. That is, the rider has a more difficult time getting a spin out of shorter boards. Once again, the Orca snowboard bucks this trend, and this is the prevailing theme that runs throughout this entire snowboard review.

Similar boards fail to meet the mark, and somehow, some way, the Orca pulls through. Ahead of the pack. While riding and getting into a spin with this board was easier than expected, it’s not the cyclone generator that longer snowboards can be.

Still, it performs quite admirably for its size.

One thing to keep in mind is that in harder snow conditions, the spin factor of this board skyrockets. You’ll want to keep an eye on the terrain conditions if you don’t want to spin out. But you should already be doing this anyway.

Lib Tech Orca’s Airtime

The real-life Orca can make great leaps out of the water, soaring into the air before smashing back down into the ocean.

Likewise, the Lib Tech Orca can leap out of the snow and land with great stability. In fact, I’d say that the Orca snowboard is better suited for big jumps than small ones.

There’s a good pop in this board, but it’ll take an advanced or expert rider to coax it out. While the Orca does well with bigger jumps, its performance with smaller jumps leaves much to be desired.

Personally, I don’t get much out of small jumps, to begin with, but they are useful to bust out when riding through uneven terrain. If your riding style has you jumping frequently and repeatedly, then make sure you’ve got the skill to get it right.

How Fast Can This Orca Swim?

Speed, this is a freeriding snowboard, and as such, you should expect speed to be a part of the equation. I think how it handled at higher speeds was by far my favorite feature of this board. Besides its killer edge hold.

It is stable at high speeds, and the faster you go, the better the performance gets as well. This makes for an exhilarating ride.

Sure, riding this well at high speeds is a requirement for boards that have this high of a flex level. But not too many boards get better and better, the faster you go.

When riding at slower speeds, the maneuverability doesn’t tank either. It takes more time and effort to play around with your edge switching, but it’s still pretty good overall.

Does it Shred Through Powder?

Let me answer this question nice and easy for you. YES! Yes, it shreds through powder. Better than that, the ride you get from powder out of this board is sublime and with just the right amount of float.

Again, given the overall shape and design of the board, this was to be expected. I’m talking about the location of the contact points and their slight setback stance. The hybrid rocker profile also played a big part in this float machine’s performance.

These features are like a band pumping out hit song after hit song. The good times (when on powder) don’t stop.

If you are looking for a great board to ride through pow, then you’ve found it. Not specifically for pow riding but does better than most nonetheless.

Lib Tech Orca Snowboard

The price of “Lib Tech Orca Snowboard” varies, so check the latest price at

Check Price at evo Check Price at The House

My Final Thoughts and the Score Breakdown

Throughout this snowboard review, you saw me compare this snowboard to the great apex predator it was named after. You also saw how it managed to match the power and ability of said predator. It’s the right board for anyone that wants to harness that ferocity.

This wasn’t the only comparison being made throughout this Orca snowboard review. The Lib Tech Orca was also compared to other boards of a similar size and shape. This time the Orca didn’t equal their performance, it blew them out of the water.

Be warned, if you look at this board based on its scores down below then you won’t be able to grasp the full picture. It’s only when pitted against similar boards that the Orca shows its brilliance.

Also, remember that this is a board for experts and no one else. I’d say it’s a true test of a rider’s ability.

I came to love the Lib Tech Orca snowboard (I’m sure you will too) and its overall design. If you get any snowboard this holiday season, let it be this one board.