PowDiva85
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The first year rocker came on to the scene no one knew whether it would be a brief fad or something here to stay. Now we know it will likely only continue to evolve and expand into many skis by many different manufacturers. Here is brief description of the different types of camber available. This will hopefully help you determine what, if any, type of rocker is right for you
First, lets start of with the basics..
Camber – Camber is the traditional shape for skis and snowboards. Camber is a slight arching upward curve with the bend or curve upward in the middle. Camber helps you initiate turns and engage the edge of the ski on hard snow conditions.
Examples of skis that are fully cambered are: Kastle MX 88, Volkl Kenja,
Rocker- also known as reverse camber- Here is where the confusion begins, as ski companies try to differentiate themselves they call rocker things like “auto turn technology” “negative cambered” “flip core technology” among many other names. In the end, they are all talking about the same thing; taking traditional camber and literally reversing it so instead of the ski arcing up away from the snow. The ski is U shaped (think of a banana) and causes the ski tips and tails to splay away from each other.
So now that we have defined what rocker and camber is we can discuss the different types of rocker available. There are basically 3 forms of rocker out there and each has its benefits and downfalls.
“Early rise”- This is the least amount of rocker available. In skis that utilize early rise the manufacturer has only rockered the tip of the ski. The amount of early rise varies depending on the ski.
Pros: Early rise brings the contact point for the ski back towards you, meaning the ski will initiate a turn quicker with less effort. Also, with tips “bent” up it means less struggling in soft snow and crud. The tips naturally want to stay up meaning you can carry less speed in soft snow and still float without leaning back.
Cons: Slightly less edge hold, the effective edge is a bit shorter so if you are really looking to utilize the whole edge for control and grip you might find these skis slightly lacking. The amount of rocker is not great enough to give a big upper hand on the real deep stuff. Otherwise, skis with early rise are great for a wide range of skiers because they give you lots of key benefits without any large drawbacks.
Examples of early rise skis: Volkl Aura (2012), Salomon Geisha, K2 Superstitious, and Atomic Century
“Full Rocker”- In this instance we are talking about a ski that is fully reverse camber from tip to tail. So this is the ski that looks that a banana, there is no camber anywhere in the ski.
Pros: With a pre-curved shape powder skiing is a dream. Nothing is going to sink you on these skis; they have a floaty surfy feel, which is great fun on the deep stuff.
Cons: These skis are really designed for the soft fluff. Because they are basically the reverse of a traditional ski getting the edge into hard snow is not easy. It can be done, and with some practice you can ski these home at the end of the day with little trouble but in my experience it takes some getting used to. You end up doing a lot of “smearing” and little carving.
Examples or fully rockered skis: Volkl Kiku
Rocker camber combo- Ah, here we enter the murky water. So what most manufacturers have discovered is that a combo of rocker and camber in the ski is the most beneficial. The amount of rocker to camber ratio varies but in general there is rocker in the tip and tail of the ski and some camber underfoot.
Pros: The combination of rocker in the tip and tail means the ski has the surfy feel of a fully rockered ski with the control of a fully cambered ski. The “combo” design is the most reasonable choice for those skiers looking for a good powder ski that will still let them tackle the rest of the mountain.
Cons: Still not going to let you lay them over in a real carve on icy boilerplate. Fully rockered skis might give you a bit more float and the flapping tips can sometimes be disconcerting.
Examples of combo rockered skis: K2 Missbehaved, Blizzard Black Pearl, and Rossignol S3W
So to conclude, this covers the main types of rocker out there. There are “flat” skis as well which have neither rocker nor camber, they are just flat but the only ski that I know that is like that is the Rossignol sickle which is not a women’s ski. I believe the technology is used more in snowboards.
If you are at the ski shop looking around a quick way to see what type of rocker the ski you are looking at has is to place the skis base to base and see how they match up. If they only touch at the tip and tails with a gap of space in the middle they are likely full cambered, if the bases touch at the middle and the tip and tail don’t then they are full rockered and so forth.
First, lets start of with the basics..
Camber – Camber is the traditional shape for skis and snowboards. Camber is a slight arching upward curve with the bend or curve upward in the middle. Camber helps you initiate turns and engage the edge of the ski on hard snow conditions.
Examples of skis that are fully cambered are: Kastle MX 88, Volkl Kenja,
Rocker- also known as reverse camber- Here is where the confusion begins, as ski companies try to differentiate themselves they call rocker things like “auto turn technology” “negative cambered” “flip core technology” among many other names. In the end, they are all talking about the same thing; taking traditional camber and literally reversing it so instead of the ski arcing up away from the snow. The ski is U shaped (think of a banana) and causes the ski tips and tails to splay away from each other.
So now that we have defined what rocker and camber is we can discuss the different types of rocker available. There are basically 3 forms of rocker out there and each has its benefits and downfalls.
“Early rise”- This is the least amount of rocker available. In skis that utilize early rise the manufacturer has only rockered the tip of the ski. The amount of early rise varies depending on the ski.
Pros: Early rise brings the contact point for the ski back towards you, meaning the ski will initiate a turn quicker with less effort. Also, with tips “bent” up it means less struggling in soft snow and crud. The tips naturally want to stay up meaning you can carry less speed in soft snow and still float without leaning back.
Cons: Slightly less edge hold, the effective edge is a bit shorter so if you are really looking to utilize the whole edge for control and grip you might find these skis slightly lacking. The amount of rocker is not great enough to give a big upper hand on the real deep stuff. Otherwise, skis with early rise are great for a wide range of skiers because they give you lots of key benefits without any large drawbacks.
Examples of early rise skis: Volkl Aura (2012), Salomon Geisha, K2 Superstitious, and Atomic Century
“Full Rocker”- In this instance we are talking about a ski that is fully reverse camber from tip to tail. So this is the ski that looks that a banana, there is no camber anywhere in the ski.
Pros: With a pre-curved shape powder skiing is a dream. Nothing is going to sink you on these skis; they have a floaty surfy feel, which is great fun on the deep stuff.
Cons: These skis are really designed for the soft fluff. Because they are basically the reverse of a traditional ski getting the edge into hard snow is not easy. It can be done, and with some practice you can ski these home at the end of the day with little trouble but in my experience it takes some getting used to. You end up doing a lot of “smearing” and little carving.
Examples or fully rockered skis: Volkl Kiku
Rocker camber combo- Ah, here we enter the murky water. So what most manufacturers have discovered is that a combo of rocker and camber in the ski is the most beneficial. The amount of rocker to camber ratio varies but in general there is rocker in the tip and tail of the ski and some camber underfoot.
Pros: The combination of rocker in the tip and tail means the ski has the surfy feel of a fully rockered ski with the control of a fully cambered ski. The “combo” design is the most reasonable choice for those skiers looking for a good powder ski that will still let them tackle the rest of the mountain.
Cons: Still not going to let you lay them over in a real carve on icy boilerplate. Fully rockered skis might give you a bit more float and the flapping tips can sometimes be disconcerting.
Examples of combo rockered skis: K2 Missbehaved, Blizzard Black Pearl, and Rossignol S3W
So to conclude, this covers the main types of rocker out there. There are “flat” skis as well which have neither rocker nor camber, they are just flat but the only ski that I know that is like that is the Rossignol sickle which is not a women’s ski. I believe the technology is used more in snowboards.
If you are at the ski shop looking around a quick way to see what type of rocker the ski you are looking at has is to place the skis base to base and see how they match up. If they only touch at the tip and tails with a gap of space in the middle they are likely full cambered, if the bases touch at the middle and the tip and tail don’t then they are full rockered and so forth.
