Hey guys, I'm Jackson at Powder7, and I'm here to talk with you today about ROCKER.
If you hang out, AT ALL, around skis or skiers, you're going to hear words like rocker and camber tossed around to describe the shape of a ski. So, what does it all mean?
Well, it means that a modern ski isn't perfectly flat, like a 2x4. When we talk about rocker and camber, we're just describing how bent a ski is, and where those bends are.
In the beginning, there were only traditional camber skis. Camber is this concave arch underfoot on a ski. It gives the ski energy and pop when making a turn--ESPECIALLY on hard snow--and helps the ski grip the snow with more force. When you stand on the ski, that camber flattens out.
Most skis still have some amount of camber, and skis that are geared toward firm snow surfaces tend to have the most camber--that means race skis and frontside carvers. That big camber and flat tail give you maximum stability and effective length for high speed turns. So, if you ski mostly on groomed snow or frozen surfaces on the East Coast or in the Midwest--or over in Europe in the Alps--you're going to want a traditional camber ski, or a ski with a lot of camber and not much rocker at the tip or tail.
Now let's get INTO that rocker. When we say ROCKER, we're just talking about the bent up area at the tip--and sometimes the tail--of the ski. Some ski brands call tip rocker EARLY RISE TIP, and that's a pretty accurate description: the ski tip just rises up off the snow a bit earlier, and with a bigger splay. The same is true at the tail for a ski with tail rocker.
The purpose of that rocker shape is to make everything you do on the snow a little bit easier. A rockered ski floats better in soft snow, since that bent up tip is less likely to sink in powder. On groomed snow, a rockered ski initiates turns easier AND faster because you've moved back the contact point between the ski and the snow. So you end up with a more nimble, more user-friendly ski that's also surfier than a NON-ROCKERED ski with the exact same dimensions.
Because of that versatility, a ski with moderate tip rocker and a bit of tail rocker is a great choice for someone who spends as much time in ungroomed terrain as on groomers, or for skiers in Colorado and other big Western mountains that just tend to ski a lot of soft snow.
These rockered skis will still almost always have at least some camber underfoot. The exception is a ski with FULL ROCKER, which is also called REVERSE CAMBER. These skis are flat underfoot, with no camber at all, and form one long-but-subtle arc from tip to tail. It looks a little like the foot of a rocking chair.
Fully rockered skis are usually built for maximum float in deep snow, so they tend to be big and fat. That lack of camber and generous rocker make these skis super easy to smear and pivot into turns, and makes them almost impossible to sink. This is your powder day ski, your Japan ski, or your everyday ski if you happen to spend almost all of those days in soft snow.
Sizing:
One thing to keep in mind is that the rocker profile CAN have an impact on the length of ski you should buy. That's because, if the tip and tail is bent up off the snow, you've shortened the amount of ski that's actually making contact with that snow surface. You can think of it as shortening the EFFECTIVE LENGTH of the ski.
When rocker first came along, people would say you need to go up 10cm from the size of your traditional camber ski to account for that loss in effective length. That's probably a bit aggressive, though. If you're moving to a ski that has a more exaggerated rocker than your current pair, you CAN feel comfortable tacking on a few centimeters. The important thing is not to size down when moving to a more rockered ski--UNLESS you want a ski that feels noticeably shorter, or want something that is more nimble and manueverable in tight spaces like bumps and trees.
On the other hand, if you're looking for a powder ski with massive rocker at both tip and tail, or even a fully reverse camber ski, then going up in size by 5-10cm might make sense. After all, those skis are for the deep days, when you want as much surface area as possible.
Conclusion:
It CAN be a bit complicated. Just remember that the whole point of rocker is to make everything a little bit easier out on the mountain. AND, if you still have some questions about rocker shape, or need help figuring out which rocker profile is best for you, just give us a call or send us an email. We hang out with skis all day, and we're always happy to chat about them.
2 сен 2018
