Lib Tech

In 1984 after building snowboards for 7 years prior, Mike Olson dropped out of University to start making snowboards full-time. Mervin Manufacturing’s headquarters were set up in an old racehorse barn where Olson worked for two years before being joined by Pete Saari where the two began churning out snowboards for members of the nascent snowboard community.

Lib Tech, or Lib Technologies served as Olson’s experimental testing grounds alongside GNU. Lib Tech re-wrote the rule book for conventional snowboard design by introducing Magne-traction and Banana Technology.

From Mike Olson, ”Magne-traction is 7 bumps or teeth along the length of your sidecut and edge each specifically sized and located to improve edge hold and focus control and power where you need it. The 3 largest most aggressive teeth are located between your feet adding control to the un-pressurable "dead zone" at and between your feet where your balance is centered. Smaller less aggressive teeth are located between your front foot and the contact area adding edge hold for turn initiation and control but keeping the tips and tails loose for catch-free freestyle.”

Lib Tech’s Banana Technology introduced in 2008 marked yet another departure from orthodox snowboard design by reversing the snowboard’s camber between the rider's feet rather than arcing upward, like traditionally cambered boards. Banana Technology has won a slew of awards over the years and has been adopted amongst all major snowboard brands.

All Lib Tech snowboards are hand-made in Mervin Manufacturing’s factory based in Sequim, Washington using state of the art manufacturing processes and remain the longest running board factory in the USA.