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Thread: Whats up with Lithic Skis?
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11-15-2017, 05:19 PM #1
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11-15-2017, 05:30 PM #2
I have a little bit. They are in the same building as where I work. They build a quality product. Used to work for another quality indie company and decided to branch out on their own.
The owners are skiers first and foremost. The shapes and flexes they offer are what I would say are more on the charger spectrum. No dentist shapes from what I've seen. Have not skied any of their newer layups, but the protos I skied a couple years ago were damp and stable. I'd put their build quality up there with other well respected indie companies that are popular with mags. This years skis look the best yet.
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11-15-2017, 05:53 PM #3Common sense. So rare today in America it's almost like having a superpower.
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11-17-2017, 12:26 AM #4Registered User
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Hey there, I’m one of the co-owners if Lithic and figured I should probably address your question directly after leavenworth skier made us aware of it.
Essentially, we’re in our second year of making Lithic Skis but have been building skis in our space for the last three years. Previously, we were ski builders for Praxis Skis for about 5 years and made thousands of skis for those guys before breaking out on our own. We build with the highest quality materials; handpicked hardwoods, 4001 sintered base material, fully wrapped edges...all the good stuff. We don’t particularly like the way carbon skis so we use a different mix of wood in our skis to bring down the weight of our BC layup which drops the weight of each pair by a pound and won’t ski all chattery and quickly break, as is the unfortunate nature of carbon skis. Feel free to email me and we can chat more. Ideally we’ll have demos for you try out at Mission Ridge, Stevens, and potentially at our shop if we can find the time to make a few extra pairs.
We’re stoked to grow slowly, make incredible skis, but most importantly ski a whole bunch and works nights until our partners get mad at us.
Hope all this helps and my apologies if I’ve somehow posted a reply incorrectly since this is my first post on these forums.
Cheers,
Lithic Skis
Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
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11-17-2017, 11:57 AM #5Registered User
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11-17-2017, 12:03 PM #6Registered User
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Thanks for letting me know about this thread and you're right, we've somewhat toned down how burly we're making our skis considering that not everyone likes skis the way we prefer them. However, we can essentially make whatever we or our customers want. If anyone wants to soften up a particular shape all they need to do is ask. Add a bit more camber to a model, that's easy. There are about 60 people out there on our Joplin 99 model that we designed specifically for the Mission Ridge terrain and they truly dig trenches on a groomer but would double nicely as a great touring setup.
Hope you get out to mission this weekend...perhaps we'll see ya there!
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11-17-2017, 06:32 PM #7
Some Praxis alumni?!? Sounds legit to me. Was taking a look at some of your shapes and they look very interesting. Can you provide some weights for each of your skis? And maybe better side photos of the rocker?
Glad to see you guys chiming in on TGR. Will get you major street cred around here...
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11-17-2017, 06:40 PM #8
I don’t have any first hand experience with these skis or their builders, but a (non-skiing) friend of mine who’s a rad dude is a childhood friend of Ty and spoke highly of him. So I’m pretty sure he’s good people. I’m been looking forward to making it up to Washington and meeting him/trying these skis out since our mutual friend told me about him a year or so ago.
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11-17-2017, 09:26 PM #9
They are good dudes, trying to get them housebroken on tgr, I said no polyass and post lots of stoke. Haven't mentioned needing to post a pic of their lady friends tits, figured they find that one on their own.
I also said come to bbi a.
I think they are listening.
They might disagree.
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11-17-2017, 11:00 PM #10Registered User
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I have seen some of their skis in Park City. The Protest imitation looks legit. I want a pair
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11-17-2017, 11:44 PM #11Registered User
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Our Praxis pedigree is something we've been debating revealing for awhile now but after seeing how stoked people are on their builds we figured we should let folks know our background. We didn't learn to make skis in a garage; we were literally taught by the best. And, after five years with those guys we just wanted deeper snow and bigger mountains so we broke off on our own. Honestly, our bonds are better that what we were achieving at praxis which translates into a ski that should be the most durable around.
As far as weights, this is another thing we've debated putting on the site and, full disclosure, it was meant to be added when we retooled our site but have been too busy to add those specs. Essentially, our Cash 110 in a 184 length weighs about 8.5lbs with our inbounds/standard core. That number keeps us a bit lower than perhaps our closest competitor (product-wise, not volume-wise), ON3P, who I'd admit is making great stuff. In fact, they're one of the few independent companies out there who we truly respect for making a quality product and seemingly doing things right. We personally don't like bamboo cores since they tend to be soft and heavy which is a bit of a bad dynamic. This conclusion comes from the fact that we make a bunch of OEM skis for other brands who have asked us to use bamboo core...the weight difference is significant!
Let me know if any of this helps and if you have a specific ski shape/length in mind we'll gladly weight them for you to get more specific.
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11-17-2017, 11:49 PM #12Registered User
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Yeah, so the Protest was my favorite shape while we were at Praxis thus we were unashamedly inspired for our Guthrie and Arlo shapes. One significant difference, though, is that we've added a slightly tighter turn radius to the program which I really dig. Honestly, our Arlo 116 is probably the best pow ski I've ever been on and when the pow turns to chop, man, they really shine. The tapered tip doesn't get deflected and tends to just float over all that heavy PNW blocky stuff. I love those sticks!
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11-17-2017, 11:52 PM #13Registered User
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Thanks for the kind words...it's a small world indeed and, yeah, we're good people. Please reach out if you're in the area as we'd love to show you the shop but, more importantly, we'd love to go ski with ya!
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11-17-2017, 11:54 PM #14Registered User
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11-18-2017, 12:01 AM #15Registered User
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11-18-2017, 12:05 AM #16
I would advise that you bring the red ones to the BBI.
Maggots love the red ones."Its not the arrow, its the Indian" - M.Pinto
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11-18-2017, 12:10 AM #17Registered User
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11-18-2017, 12:30 AM #18
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11-18-2017, 12:32 AM #19Registered User
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11-18-2017, 12:41 AM #20
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11-18-2017, 01:09 AM #21
Welcome to the board.
You'll be getting a lot of attention here in no time, with your background at Praxis and the props you give to ON3P. Those two brands are held dearly around here and have gained great honor by making outstanding skis for folks who really know how to ski and who expect high performance, durability, and inspired geometry.
Count me as extremely interested in learning more about your line and your construction methods. Your site doesn't mention the use of fiberglass... do you omit it? What woods comprise your cores?
I'm pretty firmly sold on the BillyGoat shape for maritime shredding, having spent a solid five seasons on the 191... but they won't last forever and I like trying new shit once in a while. Looks like the Arlo hits the same niche.
I peeked into your shop once during a visit to Leavenworth Skier's office this summer... perhaps I could meet you and check out your digs at some point if I can haul my ass out there again?
Let's make some turns this season.
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11-18-2017, 01:31 AM #22
Hello there. Lws told me about you guys when I got my tour as well. I'm somewhat of a gear whore. I'll be watching. Hope to meet you guys and try some skis this year.
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11-18-2017, 09:48 AM #23
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11-18-2017, 10:03 AM #24
Big ups to Paul and Ty! Great guys/ great skis/ great to do business with!!!
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11-18-2017, 11:06 AM #25Registered User
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Let's definitely make some turns this season! Yeah, a construction tab is also something that we've been meaning to get on the site that better explains our methods and processes...once things calm down a bit at the factory it'll be up there, for sure. However, here's the skinny; we do use fiberglass in two different weights depending on the length of the ski. Our inbounds core is made up of three different woods: full-length maple and ash as the center stringers for binding retention and great flex with a lighter hardwood, basswood, as our filler wood towards the outside of the core. Our BC core has a different, somewhat secret makeup but it's still full-length pieces of wood but we throw in paulownia to take the weight down by a pound. We do not use finger joints in any of our cores because that's where I've always broken skis. Like Praxis, our cores are book-matched, which means each pair is taken out of the same core block and should flex identically. We press pairs together, which is strangely unlike other small companies that have been doing it for awhile and that just means each pair of skis has identical flex, camber, rocker, etc.
I'm certainly not trying to plug our instagram feed but that is one avenue into seeing how we do things in the shop.
As for the Billy Goats, I honestly don't know too much about them other than a lot of folks seem to like them. Our Arlo and Guthrie may fit into that category of ski but I'd also look at our Cohen 118, which is new this year but extensively prototyped last year with really solid results.
I hope all this helps.
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