Whats up with Lithic Skis?

[peshastin_proud]

Ty I need a 195! signed the giant next door to you :-P

dude, we're making a template for a 195 Hill for another big friend...that's super easy for us to do, especially for you! Come on by sometime and have a beer with us so we can take a break from work and chat skis.

[peshastin_proud]

Hey all, I just wanted to let everyone know that we'll be delivering some demo skis to Ascent Outdoors in Seattle tomorrow. They're gonna have a couple Arlos with some Ramblin' Jacks arriving later in the week. For anyone in the area they'll be your best bet to if you'd like to demo some of our stuff.

We're also gonna have a table setup with various models at their shop tomorrow evening before and after their ski flick showing at the Tractor Tavern. Come on by if you're close, fondle some skis and introduce yourselves. We'll definitely be in a great mood because this will all be after we ski the shit out of some deep snow at Stevens prior to our West Side trip. Today was stupid good!

Cheers,
Lithic Skis

[jdadour]

I have been waiting 7 years for a 1900 gram per ski Bibby Tour in 110 waist 186-188 length (b/c 110 bibby tour > 106 deathwish tour).

I may begrudingly purchase a meridian tour since I'm sure it's dope, but I'd like some camber for the spring.

Dude. Lithic cash 110. I wanted the same. Almost sprang for a dw tour with moustache instead of compound camber.

But that looks like the do it all 110 tourer with the same dims as a bibby 110, praxis build quality (or better), and lighter than On3P.

Saw these comments in the Gear Rumors 18/19 thread, and am very intrigued. The idea of bibby-esque 110 sounds like a great ski to me too! Any further comments from SupreChicken, or the Lithic boys would be very helpful. Thanks! Curious as to differences in layup and weight of the Cash 110 in 189cm, Inbounds vs Backcountry. Is 189 a straight tape pull? Or does it measure shorter? What is the mounting line on the Cash 110?

[riff]

Ok, I said I’d write up my thoughts on the Ramblin Jack-here it is.
Me: 200#, 5’11”, trained in Idaho and the Tetons, five year transplant to the pnw. Pro patroller for eight years, used and mangled many different styles of skis along the way, and typically prefer directional skis with enough taper and rocker to be nimble and playful.
I got 181’s, backcountry core. I asked Paul to leave a bit more thickness on the core to keep them a bit stouter flex. After a fair bit of measuring and pondering, I mounted at -2 from the factory mark, based on my preferences and what we found during prototyping. I ski them with Vulcans or tlt6’s. One of the other locals on them went +1, and likes them there. Your mileage may vary. I outweigh him by maybe 30 pounds and want to maintain float.


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[riff]

I put kingpins on them, with inserts for the heels. I switch them out with 60 gram skimo race heels for long days, or great snow where the kingpin heels aren’t needed. So far this works great. I’ve gotten probably twenty days on them now, three inbounds. With the backcountry core I was pleasantly surprised by the stiffness, totally adequate for skiing hard, with the usual caveats about low mass. They weigh 7 pounds 10 ounces for the pair, so they aren’t going to blast crud like a heavy ski, but with that in mind I’m totally happy riding chairlifts with them.


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[riff]

Skinning is great, the nearly flat tail makes for a solid contact patch for the skins and easy kick turns. In regards to the tips and tails, I did detune them aggressively- I tour lots of variable snow and wanted user friendly behavior. Once I got that done the tails release cleanly to tighten up a turn or scrub speed.
They succeed at handling a variety of surface conditions, and up to a foot of new snow is a blast, of course depending on slope angle and snow density. I’ve noticed if they are nearly undergunned and not floating, the tail responds pretty well to a quick dose of weight on your heels- the tips come up and plane up to speed a bit better, then weight back to normal and carry speed.



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[riff]

At first I wasn’t immediately happy with the tail, it definitely took some detuning to feel user friendly. It felt like it was bossing me around. It’s nicely supportive for landing airs as compared to a heavily rockered profile. There’s plenty of backbone, even in the backcountry core. This ski or the Hill (120 waist version) in the inbounds core would absolutely rip.
I’m on a trip to the Tetons currently, brought five pairs of skis and so far I’ve just used the Jack’s. I’m pretty stoked with how they turned out; still getting the feel of them, but let me know if you have questions!


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[tpacent]

These look legit and the cash 110 or the Seeger 112 is looking to be my next ski. What is the effective edge length of the 110 and 112 in the 189? How much camber under foot? 1-2 mm? Flat? Or 4-5? Thanks.

[riff]

Well, those might be good questions to email Ty about, I couldn’t tell you. I’ve only got my pair of RJ’s and a borrowed pair of Cohens.


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[SupreChicken]

These look legit and the cash 110 or the Seeger 112 is looking to be my next ski. What is the effective edge length of the 110 and 112 in the 189? How much camber under foot? 1-2 mm? Flat? Or 4-5? Thanks.

Email ty. Exact email on their website. Super responsive, nice, legit dude. They will also tweak waist or camber or really any of the dims if you want them to.

[ExPowderSnob]

I saw this on your Instagram... did it have some crazy looking sort of but not quite swallow tail-esque tails? Any update on that?

ALso, is the joplin supposed to be a ladies ski, or just named after Janice? At a healthy 230lbs, would I think that ski is too soft for my fat ass?

Honestly, it's great to hear feedback that's not from my wife (she's the most difficult 80-day-a-year-skier to make skis for), and other friendly homies who may not give us the most sincere feedback. We're all ears, except about making that H20 ski again...that's a tough one. Paul and I have a certain style of skis we gravitate towards and it can be difficult to break out of those boxes sometimes. However, I'm headed to Japan in January for my much-delayed honeymoon and will me making a 'skunk works' stubby pow ski for that trip that I'll keep everyone in the loop on...it's gonna be rad!

[peshastin_proud]

I saw this on your Instagram... did it have some crazy looking sort of but not quite swallow tail-esque tails? Any update on that?

ALso, is the joplin supposed to be a ladies ski, or just named after Janice? At a healthy 230lbs, would I think that ski is too soft for my fat ass?

Yeah, so we decided to make a couple of swallow tail skis for the trip japan with the intention of making a directional, short turn-radius, low angle powder tool. And, we’ll, they were incredible! An 18m turn radius, sizable shovel, a little bit of camber and a mostly-flat tail. They were absolutely perfect in japan and I’ve been skiing them daily for this latest pnw storm cycle. They actually carve at 124mm underfoot! Super fun ski but we may tweak a few thinks before releasing it officially next season.

As for the Joplin 99s, they’re certainly not a women’s-specific ski. They were actually named after scott Joplin, one of the original and rad rag time musicians. Please don’t let the name deter you. For your size and weight, we’d probably beef up the core a bit but that’s easy for us to do if you’re interested. It’s a really really good ski for groomers and slightly off-piste terrain.

Hope all this helps.


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[peshastin_proud]

Saw these comments in the Gear Rumors 18/19 thread, and am very intrigued. The idea of bibby-esque 110 sounds like a great ski to me too! Any further comments from SupreChicken, or the Lithic boys would be very helpful. Thanks! Curious as to differences in layup and weight of the Cash 110 in 189cm, Inbounds vs Backcountry. Is 189 a straight tape pull? Or does it measure shorter? What is the mounting line on the Cash 110?

Sorry for the late reply...there is a negative correlation between the amount of snow that’s falling locally and how much I pay attention to these forums. Anyhow, we measure our bases with the edges attached and before they’re pressed. That’s where our length numbers come from. A straight pull would be shorter, I assume, but I’ve never done that with out skis so I don’t know.

As for weights, I’ll try to get you some numbers but as a general rule our bc layups weigh about 1lb less than our inbounds cores. Our 187 BC Ramblin jacks have been consistently coming in at 8lbs or just under so I’d imagine a Cash 110 (just 2mm wider underfoot) would be about the same with our BC cores.

As for comparing any of our models to a Bibby, I’m not sure I can help you too much there. I’ve never been on a moment ski and as a former Praxis employee I’m fairly certain that’s sacrilege. Also, those tip shapes, all of them, scare me.



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[tpacent]

Ty is the man. He shot me some pics and these skis look solid. Super impressed with what they are doing.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Sorry for the late reply...there is a negative correlation between the amount of snow that’s falling locally and how much I pay attention to these forums. Anyhow, we measure our bases with the edges attached and before they’re pressed. That’s where our length numbers come from. A straight pull would be shorter, I assume, but I’ve never done that with out skis so I don’t know.

As for weights, I’ll try to get you some numbers but as a general rule our bc layups weigh about 1lb less than our inbounds cores. Our 187 BC Ramblin jacks have been consistently coming in at 8lbs or just under so I’d imagine a Cash 110 (just 2mm wider underfoot) would be about the same with our BC cores.

As for comparing any of our models to a Bibby, I’m not sure I can help you too much there. I’ve never been on a moment ski and as a former Praxis employee I’m fairly certain that’s sacrilege. Also, those tip shapes, all of them, scare me.



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Were you guys at Mission on Saturday?

[peshastin_proud]

Were you guys at Mission on Saturday?

No...mostly Stevens and the essential side country. But today at mission was a good time.




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[Norseman]

No...mostly Stevens and the essential side country. But today at mission was a good time.




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Sick. I remember skiing that on the only day I've been to Mission.

[peshastin_proud]

Never been out that far but it was certainly worth the 6 turns! Such a rad spot especially if you’re not too concerned about the bases of your skis.


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[ExPowderSnob]

Your instagram has some awesome skis with custom graphics... what sort of file format and requirements (400dpi? more??) do you have to get a pair with a custom top sheet?

[Shredhead]

I rode up the Gondi in Aspen with your parents.

They were very proud and happy you found your place!

[peshastin_proud]

Your instagram has some awesome skis with custom graphics... what sort of file format and requirements (400dpi? more??) do you have to get a pair with a custom top sheet?

You do not have to get a pair with a custom topsheet. If you check out the site you can adjust the topsheet color for each model within a specific shade. As far as making a custom topsheet goes you're more than welcome to give it a go and send us a file. At least 300dpi, 8 cm longer than the length of the ski and 5cm wider than the fattest part of the model. If we have to make a bunch of adjustments on our end then it'll get more expensive but if it's dialed from the beginning and we don't have to do anything to the file then we'll throw it on a ski for ya! Let me know if you'd like for me to send you any of our logo vector files.

[peshastin_proud]

I rode up the Gondi in Aspen with your parents.

They were very proud and happy you found your place!

Oh nice, yeah, they mentioned running into some nice folks while there! How was the snow?

[d542east]

I've been meaning to post this for a while.

Full disclosure, I am friends with both Ty and Paul and would be happy to tell them their skis suck if that was the case.

5'8", 165lbs, full time patroller at Stevens. Rode 181cm inbounds core ramblin jacks with dh bindings and boots for most days I was working last season and some personal days.

Other skis I own and ride regularly: 191cm dps L138, 188cm salomon rocker 2 115, 188cm dps L120, 171cm la sportiva gt.

Loved the ramblin jacks from day one. Immediately confidence inspiring ski. Round flex, supportive tails, just slightly softer, poppier and less damp than the original cochise, but very reminiscent of that ski. A less flat cochise with thicker wood instead of metal is how I would describe this to a mag. I like the trade off, slightly less stable at speed but far easier to throw around and use the flex of the ski in slower turns. Tight and steep is way more enjoyable on the jacks. Excellent in cut up PNW snow. Deep days I started on the 138s, then after noon I switched to the jacks. They are not surfy, but predictable and easy to turn in deep snow given a steep enough pitch. Fun on bad snow days too and would make a good one ski quiver if that's your unfortunate reality. They are the perfect work ski for me.

My only complaint is the top sheet is somewhat easy to chip. Not as bad as the older glossy dps and not nearly as bad as my salomons. Keep in mind I click in and out and just generally abuse my skis far more than a normal skier. Otherwise the build quality is fantastic and what you would expect from guys that have been building and refining ski designs for a long time.

[eskido]

I've been meaning to post this for a while.

Full disclosure, I am friends with both Ty and Paul and would be happy to tell them their skis suck if that was the case.

5'8", 165lbs, full time patroller at Stevens. Rode 181cm inbounds core ramblin jacks with dh bindings and boots for most days I was working last season and some personal days.

Other skis I own and ride regularly: 191cm dps L138, 188cm salomon rocker 2 115, 188cm dps L120, 171cm la sportiva gt.

Loved the ramblin jacks from day one. Immediately confidence inspiring ski. Round flex, supportive tails, just slightly softer, poppier and less damp than the original cochise, but very reminiscent of that ski. A less flat cochise with thicker wood instead of metal is how I would describe this to a mag. I like the trade off, slightly less stable at speed but far easier to throw around and use the flex of the ski in slower turns. Tight and steep is way more enjoyable on the jacks. Excellent in cut up PNW snow. Deep days I started on the 138s, then after noon I switched to the jacks. They are not surfy, but predictable and easy to turn in deep snow given a steep enough pitch. Fun on bad snow days too and would make a good one ski quiver if that's your unfortunate reality. They are the perfect work ski for me.

My only complaint is the top sheet is somewhat easy to chip. Not as bad as the older glossy dps and not nearly as bad as my salomons. Keep in mind I click in and out and just generally abuse my skis far more than a normal skier. Otherwise the build quality is fantastic and what you would expect from guys that have been building and refining ski designs for a long time.

Good stuff, thanks! Would love to read a review here from someone who had spent some time on the Arlo

[SupreChicken]

Yeah. I’m interested in the Arlo (116mm class chargy protest?) and the Cohen (some cross between a kartel and a GPO?)

Both look like great tecton options with a BC core