Welcome to my first product review of theseason. My aim here is to provide in-depth product knowledge and performance reviews from the perspective of someone who hastested the equipment for an entire season. As always, readers are welcome to leave comments or questions, which I will do my best to answer quickly.
First up: The Rocker
These skis are insane: they Measure 192 cm Length; 147 mm tip; 127 mm waist; and 137 mm tail. They have 72 cm of rocker in the tip and are flat for the next 120 cm. The tail has asmall notch, and construction is cappedfull woodcore.
The Concept
Basically, the Rockerwas designed tocombine the ease of areverse cambered ski without sacrificing any performance at high speed or during landings. Those who’ve skied it know that the rocker executes as advertised. *It’s important to point out that they are not a AK only weapon,far from it in fact.
The Ride
The single mostimpressive feature of the Rocker is the how the shape lets you ski. Turning becomes so easy you’ll forget howyou did iton traditional fat skis. With traditional fat skis you still need to initiate the turn and let the skis progress through. The Rockers are already bent, so all the work of the initiation is done and you getmaneuverability that you never imagined.These skiscan be wherever in the turn you want them to be. So if youwant to,you can be hauling ass, turn the skis sideways, smear your speed, and then point ‘em again all before you can say: “I-see-whachya-mean”. Essentially, you haveway more control over your speed, as well as morecontrol in variablesnow conditions. I’d also like to mention that as good as these skis are in steep/challenging terrain, they make lower angle powder runs better than ever. Because of the rockered tip and flat tail, low angle pow is like long boarding downsome tasty waves. Skis that havereverse camber through thetail are not as fast so you will end up sinking and slowing down when the slope mellows out. With the Rocker, you can carry your speed through the mellow deep, prolonging your powder run until the very end.
What You Should Know
The Rocker has a very wide tail, and therefore will not sink likesome other skis. I like this because there is nothing worse than not havingthe tail of the ski when you need it. However, because it is quite wideand will not sink easily, you can not easily push the tail into the snow in order to finish the turn. These skis perform best when you maintain a center to forward position.
These skis may also be a little heavier than you are used to. Any ski that is as wide as the Rocker will obviously be heavier. Andthe wood core, will insure that their performance will not break down. It took me a week of Alta side-stepping to get used to the weight while hikingand then it was all good.
Once you start skiing the Rocker’sare aslight as air.A skinnier ski will become exponentially heavier as they go under snow, and that will burn your legs up faster than anything.
Coming Up Next
The Salomon Ghost. The bestfreeride boot ever made?
