More seriously rocker skis - while a way off being mainstream are out there and might just gain a bit of a foothold if only for fashion reasons - after all everyone scoffed at first generation "carvers". So has anyone given any thought to how technique adaption might be required ?
The rise of the powerslide?
My own experience has been limited to a few minutes indoors and I found they skied shorter than they looked probably because of the clownshoe effect.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
fatbob, instability issues?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
3 maybe 4 winters ago I spent a day on Spatulas. Conditions weren't right for them, bit better than indoor mind, but no fresh snow but some seriously windblown, some mega crud and the groomers. Until this day the fattest ski I skied was a 95mm. Spats also have anti-sidecut. They were fun, effortless in windblown and crud and a little scary on piste. Strightline gunning on the groom was squirrel-y but nor massively unstable. Carving them was a hoot, you feel like you are in max GS mode just to make them arc.
The Spats were introduced in 2003 (I think), and powder skiers loved them, but good skiers find them a blast on anything soft or deep (corn, crud, slush etc) because you ski them differently so you get a different feel / reward from them.
In the last two seasons we've seen lots of boutique ski manufacturers producing similar skis, DPs, Praxis, et al. There have even been some from bigger ski companies, K2 with first Pontoons and now Hellbents, Armada with the ARG and even Salomon have made a ski called the Rocker (which may not actually be released). So it could be a fad but then look at some of the skiing it's producing too. It appears that the kids are getting in to it, and not only in back country jibbing, they're in the park too! That's because they're fun, because they're different and allow for different tricks. So I think we'll see them around for a few years as a park & powder toy, if not becoming a category of ski in it's own right ie "Race" "Big Mountain" "All-Mountain" "Piste Carvers" etc...
I wouldn't have thought that reverse camber skis will take off massively in the piste skiing quiver.
Whether it's a fad or not, it's a great thing and means that ski designers will take a real look in to different cambers which in one way or another will filter down to all skis. Eventually.
I skied the Hellbents and though I wasn't expecting slalom ski performance I found them pretty manageable although there was hardly the space to let em run. From time in the US I've seen plenty of guys on Spats (particularly around Tahoe on a powder day). I suspect they reward a snowboard type technique - be prepared to play around a bit and you'll find a way of them working for you. I gather switch backcountry riding on rockers will be a big feature of some of next year's ski porn.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
fatbob wrote:
I gather switch backcountry riding on rockers will be a big feature of some of next year's ski porn.
It's all about no poles, I heard. (OMG, no solid pole plant and how will they self arrest if they fall??????? )
My DPSs are flat with rockered tips and, as you know, they made skiing the deep snow very very fun indeed. Rocker/reverse camber (not quite the same thing) is all about stopping the tips from diving. This allows you to drive the ski quite aggressively without fear of going over the handle bars. Me likey. It also allows you to change your technique a bit. You just stand on the outside ski and it turns - no need to worry about unweighting to get them out of the snow
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
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