The good news is that just a little bit of knowledge can demystify this newfangled rocker stuff!
Traditionally (you know, in the good old days….two years ago) skis were all narrower under your boot (at the waist) and wider at the tip and tail – the difference in the waist and tip and tail measurements is side cut. So, a ski with reverse side cut is wider under foot and narrower at the tip and tail. Only the most extreme, specialty skis of the new crop of models fall into this category (like the Pontoon or the Spatula- which have been out for a few years now and really started this whole trend).
Camber gets a little more complicated. When you set a ski flat on the ground without any weight on it – the middle of the ski is bowed up off the ground. That shape that’s built into the ski is also what gives the ski rebound or energy. When you flex the ski, it is bent against its camber and wants to return to that shape – the speed and intensity with which it rebounds is the “energy” in the ski.
So, reverse camber or rocker is bending the ski in the opposite direction. In general, the goal of all this fancy ski construction is to help the ski float in deep snow. So a little reverse camber in the tip of the ski helps the ski tip to rise in deep powder instead of diving. Rocker is measured three ways; where the rocker is (tip or tail), the height off of the snow of the rockered portion of the ski and the length of the rockered portion of the ski. So, the higher the rocker and the longer the length of the rockered portion of the ski - the more powder specific a ski becomes.
There is a great explanation of how rocker affects ski length on the Black Dimaond web site at http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/blog/index/view/slug/how-rocker-affects-ski-length And, Larson's now has Black Diamond AT boots and bindings and telemark bindings! Come in and check out our ever expanding back-country section of skis, boots, bindings and accessories!
