Symmetry and freestyle go hand in hand these days, and the 2023 Liberty Helix 88 is a prime example of the multi-directional nature that park, pipe, and big air skiing is headed. With an 88 mm waist, the skis also have 118 mm tips and tails, giving the Helix 88 a truly symmetrical shape. When centrally mounted, this makes the ski supremely balanced in a spinning format, giving athletes the confidence to go full send off of the largest jumps on the planet. Built with Liberty’s Speedcore Carbon wood core, the skis have a mix of bamboo and poplar woods to go along with two strips of carbon and a full fiberglass wrap. Poured polyurethane sidewalls are a hallmark of Liberty skis, allowing for proper smoothness and dampness while not giving up anything in the energy department. These skis are light, snappy, and a whole lot of fun in a variety of applications, not just in the air or on the rails. In the 175 cm length, the skis generate a 17-meter turn radius and weigh 1650 grams per ski. For most twin tips, this is on the turny and light side of the spectrum. Full camber gets you great grip as well as tremendous energy. There’s a lot of fun to be had on these skis.
ROCKER PROFILE
Rocker / Camber / Rocker
CORE MATERIALS
PREFERRED TERRAIN
Park, All Mountain, Groomers
Jeffrey Siegel skied the 175 and noted it was a good length for him. He gave top marks of 5’s out of 5 for quickness, maneuverability, playfulness, and overall impression. A lowly 2 for flotation is likely accurate, but the rest of the scores as 4’s puts it into the high-overall score category for sure. Jeffrey states that “In my youth I skied in the park, but I’m not a park skier and never really was. I’m past 40 and I’m probably not going to start hucking myself off of park features now. That said, I’m getting a pair of these. This ski was so much fun. There was so much rebound, I was in the air off every bump I skied over. But it was so smooth, the ski never tossed me. The skis were solid and stable through everything and I was able to punch through heavy spring mush without any difficulty. It was definitely hard to give this ski back.” Maybe Jeffrey will find one this winter!
Jeff Neagle was on the 182, stating that it’s true to size. “Slightly long for me in the park, but it works.” Jeff gave the Helix 88 top marks of 5 out of 5 for quickness, maneuverability, and playfulness, with 4’s for overall impression and forgiveness. Versatility, torsional stiffness, edge hold, stability, and flotation all got 3’s, but overall, we’re seeing a pretty high average score here from Jeff, who’s certainly more park-oriented than Jeffrey. “There aren't many companies that make symmetrical twin tips anymore, so I'm always appreciative of their existence when I come across a pair. Realistically, there isn't much you want to do with these outside of the park, but they excel inside the park. Symmetrical shapes make switch skiing feel more intuitive and means you get perfectly balanced swing weight. That really comes through when you're spinning or sliding rails, and this ski is fantastic at both. It has a classic Liberty feel too. Light on your feet with great energy and pop. Liberty has always been good at putting a lot of spring into their skis, and this is a perfect example. You can ski it as an all-mountain ski, I would only recommend that as a side application for someone who's going to be spending a lot of time in the park. It carves well, that's probably its highlighting characteristic outside the park, but it doesn't initiate like a directional ski, which might feel weird to some.”
There’s not a huge number of skiers who are actively seeking out symmetrical twin tips, but it’s really impressive when a normal/directional all-mountain skier gets on a pair of these and gives feedback. Sometimes they have to move it back a bit in order to feel the whole ski, but for the most part, Liberty does a great job at making a twin tip that appeals not only to the elite park and pipe athletes, but also everyday all-mountain skiers from intermediate to expert.
