From camber to rocker, ski shapes change everything on the snow. Which one fits your style?

Camber

On most piste skis a regular, positive camber covers the entire length of the sidecut. Along with the skis stiffness, this characteristic provides the most edge grip possible on hard packed piste. Mainly because the ski is under more tension and “bites” back down into the snow. Therefore most piste focused skis, and all racing skis use regular camber. This shape is much harder to work off piste and offers much less stability when sunk into soft snow. Due to the tip and tail wanting to push downward into the snow more.

Rocker

This characteristic is the opposite of positive camber. A fully rockered ski is flat under foot and rises upward to the tip and tail. This shape stops the ski diving in soft snow and instead keeps the skis “seeking” the surface. Which makes skiing off piste considerably easier, giving better stability and float in powder. Consequently this shape provides little to no grip or stability when skiing on piste. Due to the fact that the raised portion of the ski gives less contact with the snow.

Camber / Rocker Combinations

The two characteristics of positive camber and rocker can be combined in different proportions. This is to produce a variety of pros and cons. Aiming to move the bias of the ski to include various amounts of the opposing advantages mentioned above. Skis that use rocker at the tip and tail can have a section of positive camber in the middle area of the ski. For example the Elan Ripstick series are skis that use an emphasised camber and rocker combination.

The length of each of these sections can change, making the area of positive camber longer or shorter. Including moving the centre of positive camber further towards the middle or tail of the ski. The length and height of the rocker sections can change, as well as the length of the positive camber section. This means that different skis with this shape can be biased more towards riding powder but still provide some grip on hard packed snow. As well as biased more heavily towards piste skiing, and providing some stability in softer snow. Wherever the bias is moved to, there will be a compromise that the skier will need to compensate for with their ski technique.

From 2nd September 2018 by Freedom Snowsports