REASONS TO BUY
Fantastically floaty
Likes to go fast
Stays stable
REASONS TO AVOID
Not great with groomers
Much more suited for advanced riders
Lib Tech T.Rice Orca Review
Should be your first choice if you are planning on diving into the deepest snow
Credit: Lib Tech
By Marissa Fox ⋅ Review Editor ⋅ November 15, 2023
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Our Verdict
While the Lib Tech T. Rice Orca couldn't clinch one of the top spots overall and isn't the best all-mountain board for most people, it's our absolute favorite when it comes to riding steep terrain and deep snow. The Orca is exceptionally stable at speed and has great edge hold. However, this board is on the stiffer side, so it isn't the most playful, doesn't have a ton of pop, and isn't the best at jumping. Despite these flaws, we highly recommend this board for anyone who likes to go fast in deep snow. Period.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Lib Tech T. Rice Orca is one of our first choices when we know we'll be swimming in fresh snow.
Credit: David Wise
Edge Hold
The T. Rice Orca has magne-traction edges, which offer increased control by adding a wavy edge in the “dead zone” area of your edge that is right under your feet while carving. These increase the effective edge length of the board and are absolutely fantastic when riding in mixed snow conditions. The Orca's superior edge ensures that you don't spiral out of control when you hit an icy patch… most of the time.
This board is great at cutting through chop and is super forgiving, but it's not the snappiest board and is comparatively slow edge-to-edge, giving it a little less overall edge hold than some of the other Magne-traction boards that are just a bit springier.
The serrated edges of this board do a great job of biting into the snow while turning.
Credit: David Wise
Powder Performance
The secret to this board's amazing float in powder is its somewhat unconventional shape and design. This short, fat board is extremely directional, with its width tapering from the nose to the tail. It has a hybrid rocker camber profile, with a reverse camber underfoot and regular camber at the tip and tail.
It has a setback stance and an exceptionally long nose, which contributes greatly to its unparalleled amount of float in even the deepest snowfalls.
This board has a ton of stability even when you open up the throttle.
Credit: David Wise
Stability
When we went to the steep groomers and really opened up the throttle, the Orca did very well. We found this board to have exceptional stability in most snow conditions.
No matter how fast we pushed it, the Orca never gave us any cause for concern. It cuts through chop with ease and isn't prone to any sort of speed wobble at all.
While this is a stiffer board, the Orca can be plenty playful if you try hard enough.
Credit: David Wise
Playfulness
Unfortunately, this snowboard is a bit on the serious side and isn't the most playful compared to some of the competition, but it still scored above average here.
The stiffness of the Orca is a bit of a detriment in this category, as it makes it much harder to flex and maneuver. This board definitely isn't a park board, but it can be quite fun in natural features, such as gullies or small canyons, and we found it to be a blast in boardercross style terrain.
This board doesn't have the most pop we have seen.
Credit: David Wise
Pop and Jumping
The Orca's stiffness and length gave it some trouble here.
This board isn't the most versatile — it's best for steep terrain and deep powder. It feels quite heavy and is overall harder to jump and doesn't want to lift off quite as well as some of the more flexible boards. We still could do a tail press on the Orca, but you can tell it didn't really want to and we had to try quite a bit harder than some other boards.
You can get this Orca to breach if you try hard enough.
Credit: David Wise
Value
The Orca isn't the best value, as it is one of the more expensive boards and isn't the best all-in-one all-mountain board that some other boards are. We wouldn't necessarily want this board for all conditions, so it's not our top choice if you can only afford a single board.
Conclusion
All in all, the Orca is easily our top recommendation for steeps and deep snow. If that isn't what you ride all the time, then we would suggest an overall more versatile and well-rounded board.
—Marissa Fox
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