|
Shane McConkey, an early contributor to the new school of skiing, may not have known how important this design to the skiing community would be, but he knew skis needed to float better in powder. In the early 2000’s, Shane worked with Volant to design a ski that almost resembled a water ski. Instead of having normal camber (the skis bend out in the middle when held together), the skis designed by Shane and Volant had reverse camber (the skis bend toward the middle when held together). This concept provided a number of advantages in powder compared to traditionally cambered skis. First, the tips of the skis would not sink into the powder, making it easier for skiers to “surf” on top of the snow instead of skiing through it. Second, the design enabled riders to initiate turns without the tips hooking on the snow surface as much further enhancing the skier’s ability in powder conditions. Lastly, these two advantages together meant that the skier was now able to carry out any turn or turn shape he wanted, working with the snow instead of fighting against it. Overall, deep snow skiing was more fun, more creative and less of a workout. Fast forward 10 years, rockered skis have become easy to spot in the market. Many manufacturers such as Salomon, Armada and Atomic have embraced the revolution. Further, the original concept has been tweaked to create better performance on groomed snow as well. In fact, a new class of skis has combined both traditional camber in the middle of the ski and reverse camber at the tips and tails. This type of desing enlarges the edge’s contact patch under the skier’s boot enabling the ski to carve turns on groomed runs with minimal effort. Simultaneously, the rockered tips and tails allow the ski to still float in lighter, powder snow. This design has been proven to provide superior handling dynamics in many snow conditions. Whether you’re on cruddy, groomed, powdery or icy snow, a rider can be sure that his equipment can deliver the best performance if he has skis that employ both reverse and traditional camber. In fact, it would not be surprising to see most ski designers utilize such a design in the future. To read a season-long review on these types of skis, please visit: www.armadajj.tumblr.com
Related Articles -
powder ski, reverse camber ski, ski, powder, rocker ski, rockered ski,
|
