Skis have pretty well maxed out on width but shapes are still evolving. One of the more interesting developments in the past year is the emergence of more off-piste skis with “rocker.” Off-piste in this case means big mountain conditions that go beyond an overnight dusting of snow. And let’s face it, off-piste conditions can be terrible so ski-makers have devoted attention to making skis that can take the bark out of gnarly snow. One of the ways to make big skis more maneuverable is to make the tip and tail rise more gently so they plane instead of plow. As a bonus, a long curving tip means that less ski surface is on the snow when it’s hard so the ski is more maneuverable. Skis with the most rocker look like a barrel stave. Less rocker leaves room for the ski designer to slip in a bit of camber and even some shape to help skiability on hard conditions.
There doesn’t appear to be a standard way of measuring or labeling rocker so it can be a bit confusing for consumers. Imagine placing the ski on a flat surface. Most skis report the length of ski that is off the floor as in, “220mm rocker.” K2 has a slightly different system where they also measure how high the ski rises so they report two numbers. As a rule it seems that more rocker for more snow is best. Less rocker and a bit of sidecut adds some versatility if you know you’ll have to negotiate some groomers on the way back to the lifts.
|
