Rocker skis, HYPE or the real deal??

istyle

Member
Just curious, seems like there is a major push on rocker skis in the industry. I hear people say skiing powder is so much easier with the rocker design and so on. After watching the Candide trailer destroying all types of terrain with most likely a 90+ waist ski I'm a little curious what you guys think.

I don't own a rocker set up but I am skiing on a 90+ waist ski so I might be bias. I'm sure landing switch is super easier and all but is it really mandatory? If you can ski powder you can ski powder isn't that the general rule?
 
i think rocker park skis is stupid but on pow skis it just makes it easier so you can push yourself further than before and do more than before with the same skill level.
 
People skied in powder without them for decadesand the idea crew before they were the idea crew was landing switch all over the place without rockered skis.

They do make it a whole lot easier though, its the difference between leaning back and never having to worry about tip dive in some cases.

Look at it this way, before rockered skis only about 10 pros were really pushing the switch powder thing. Nowadays nearly every pro who rides outside the park is.
 
I have live life 2's (no camber) and can't really feel a difference on hard pack between them and my park skis. It definitely isn't like a rockered ski. I think the only thing it does w/o powder is give you less pop since the ski isn't pushing back on the ground. It works great in pow though, zero effort.
 
I'd let you know if I was any good at pressing haha. They are the shit for rails though because they are so wide and easy to stay on top of.

Both of my park skis pop way easier than my fatties, I don't know exactly how much of that is the weight difference or camber or it just being a different ski but even when loading them as hard as I can I can't get nearly the same pop as I do on my other skis. Usually just means I have to go faster which I should be doing anyways.

 
i feel like rockered skis make it almost too easy to ski pow...

sure switch landings are easier, but i like skiing pow and actually having to make an effort rather than floating over everything. its almost like you have to be skiing crazy dope lines all the time to really need rockered skis. otherwise they just make skiing pow too easy.
 
My hellbents are the BEST ski i have ever skiied on. They so fun on sow days that it makes up for the shitty days that you ski on them
 
Real deal, I can charge so much faster in powder with my obsetheds vs. my public enemies. I like having equipment that can handle the terrain better than me, it makes me push myself more. They make me much more confident when I'm dropping cliffs and stuff since I don't need to worry about tip dive as much.

 
I would have to disagree with you. Yes skiing a rockered ski in pow is easy, but isnt that where we are going. If we wanted hard why wouldnt we all be riding 210cm 70mm straight skis. Rockered skis were made to push the boundaries of pow riding.

For me I honestly find that I just view the terrain that im skiing differently. I can make that slash at the top of the cliff. I can hack the windlip better. I can butter around a 360 or 180 mid run and not have to worry about my tips diving. Your confidence is so much higher on rockered gear.
 
My hellbents make pow skiing about 5 times as fun. I can also ski a lot longer on a pow. They also stomp the shit outta cliffs and jumps much easier. The HYPE IS REAL. It's pretty much cheating.
 
its all about the nano rocker. obseth's and next years rossi S3's have just a little rocker. you can barely tell on groomers but in the spring time when its super slushy and stuff they destroy. and it makes skiing around outside the park a blast also
 
Much better (vs. my 90mm centre mount park skis.)

Even the slight rocker that the Obsethed's have. Not too much, so you can still hold a really good edge on hard snow.
 
Like skiing on auto pilot. So much better, it is ridiculous.
Takes a little getting used to on other terrain. Moguls are awesome, you can catch air every other bump, so you just go full on moto style through mogul fields. I don't prefer them in them in a park, but some people do and make it look sick (Andy Mahre)
 
i am a bigger fan of the dual camber(JJ's) and the zero camber(Huge troubles and Zero) than rocker
 
dont own them but i have skiied on them a bit... probably the best all-round ski you can buy maybe (except you cant ski park with them)
 
hellbents completely changes my view on skiing. You can land switch off ENYTHING and the rocker makes the ski so much more responsive. they are fine of groomers and are great in chunky shit. The only problem is they take a few days getting used to. I did a big mountain comp first day i got them and i got rocked. rockered skis in park are a little ridiculus but some people like them. I recommend them strongly.
 
Candide was killing it on skis with tip rocker. Amazed it took that long to burst the kids bubble.
Get rockered skis.
 
Burton Fix. It also has a shovel type nose and tail, its super weird, my buddy has one and loves it.

I love rockered skis. I ski my bents all day er'y day.
 
I rode my first rockered ski recently. I rode a pair of Pontoons in the deepest snow I've ever skied. Totally ruined my skis for me. Someone buy me toons...please? Next years Rossi S3's with the rocker are real dope.
 
Take out one http.

ma bad

and my shop sells that board, and it sells really well.

lotta people seem to really like the 0 camber compared to reverse/traditional
 
ive got ep's and skiing in pow is amazing, its soooooo amazingly fun. you dont have to lean back, you dont have to worry about tips diving, they dont catch at all, landing switch is way easier, you can literally pop a 180, land and pop a 180 back to forward in deep pow without any jump like its nothing, you can actually butter in pow. some of the funnest runs ive had were on very mellow and pretty flat featureless slopes with alot of powder, you could literally ski it like the park, or like a cross between skiing snowboarding and surfing. you can do legit slashes, like actually get the tail's out and sorta slide/drift on top of the snow, turn that into a 180, pop 180 out nose butter 3, and just hop around like crazy, sooooo fun.and in the park, i prefer rocker to normal camber in basically every way. rails are better, the rocker seems to make it easier to lock on, and it feels way smoother. butters are obviously crazy, its pretty cool being able to nose butter off the lip, land buttering the knuckle, or in a butter down the landing on like 10 footers. you can land rails into sweet butter combo's hold nose/tail butters for like 10 seconds which is great for butter pads and wide boxes. spins feel super floaty, everything feels extremely smooth, surfey and effortless. even on hardpack. they have way more pop than any park skis ive ever had (people seem to think rocker ruins pop for some reason?) and they carve amazingly, also better than any park skis ive ever had, probably cause of the short contact patch, you can do the craziest snowboard/surf style carves, and they dont get worse at really high speeds. and ive been hitting 50 footers with them, and unless you really fuck up and land far backseat they do fine, and thats on ep pro's pretty much the softest ski you can get.
rocker really is better, for pretty much everything.
 
real deal. the first time i rode my arv's (yes arv's hear me out) i thought it was awesome cuz 92 under foot was the biggest i'd ever ridden. this year i got arg's and it completely blew me away. landing everything is so much easier.

i like to compare it to going from a hardwood gym floor to a gymnastics spring floor, everything is softer, easier, and higher. its great.
 
ive got the hellbents and they are really fun! in the pow they make you float and when you make turns they pop you right back up on top of the pow. and i could deffinitly see how a rockered park ski would be fun, i personally wouldnt like a fat rockered park ski but something like the alpha one would be fun in the park.
 
i have to agree my obsethes will do what i tell them wether its huck that 30 footer or 270 off this rail. and they destroy everything including small children in my way
 
ive always thought a zero camber zero sidecut ski would be the best of both worlds. it wouldnt have camber like a race/park ski but wouldnt have rocker like pow skis. plus it wouldnt have normal sidecut like park skis and it wouldnt have reverse camber like arg's. idk i think someone should make something like this. maybe...110,110,110 would be the dimensions?
 
I am a convert.I like my Reno Rockers far better on groomers than my Reno Jibs, only downside is they are a bit slow when straightlining on piste (short running length).My EPs have ruined all other skis for me in powder.I don't think I will buy another regular camber ski, but I want a dual camber ski for touring/groomer (no park) days.
 
Sounds like you're talking about the Home Depot pro-model. what's great is that you can choose and cut to the EXACT length you want to shred!!

 
yea id agree as well youd probably have a harder time getting up as high off a lip as you would with camber, my addicts are super fun in the park so personally i wouldnt ski a camber-less park ski, unless it was dumb light, but that would compromise the rail durability of the ski at the same time. but the way the ski industry is going im sure the future will bring us some camber-free park skis.
 
i dont know about no camber, but with my ep pro's you can pop like crazy on everything. probably cause you can really load up the tails/tips and spring out of it.
 
Real deal, although the only rocker I've skied were Donner's and they have reverse sidecut too, that, I think, is the real deal for pow.
 
here's my opininion-this was my first year with rockered skis, i got the jj's, and honestly at first i was kind of let down, after reading about them on here it sounded like they were the best thing ever, and magically allowed you to ski everything with pow on it with ease. After skiing about 10 days on them, and getting used to the sidecut, i really was able to appreciate them, i was able to stomp the living piss out of every cliff landing, and though i still lean back a bit in pow, but no longer do i have to put pressure on the tails at all, and i don't get tired from skiing it. i've tried them in park a bit, and they're fun, but in terms of performance, i'd way rather ski a park ski. i think there's a reason the best park skiers in the world aren't all rocking rockered skis, and it's simply because they don't perform as well, they don't have as much running edge, there's less tip and tail to land on, and chamber allows you to lock on rails better, and i don't even need to talk about why they're better in pipe. that's my take.
 
you dont see the big pro's using them cause they have a different riding style, rockered skis in the park are good for slow smooth buttery stuff, not switch 10's and crazy rail combo's. id definatly take normal park skis over wide rocker skis if i were doing super tech comp style stuff. but i dont, i hardly spin more than 7, and i like buttering around and goofing off more than anything, so fat and rocker is perfect for me.
but if its a rockered park ski, like the reno rockers or alpha 1's i think they would perform better than normal camber in the park, its just as easy to land, better for butters and presses, tips dont catch as much, you can carve much better to make big arch's off the lip. and i actually think locking on to rails is much easier, that could be the width tho.
 
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