Backstage with the Salomon Rockers

Cody Townsend gives his behind-the-scenes look into the history and characteristics of the 2010 Salomon Rockers.

So being a sponsored athlete I’m not here to tell you that “This ski is awesome! Buy it!” or “It’s better than anything K2 or Volkl has ever made!!!” While this may or may not be true, I’m here to tell you about the characteristics of the ski. The little nitty-gritty details that tell you really how they ski, why they were built and what they’re good for. So without further adieu…

The Salomon Rocker:
Length: 192cm
Dimensions: 147 x 127 x 137
Tip Rocker which starts 72cm’s back from tip
Cambered Mid-Section
Flat Tail

To truly understand this ski you have to understand how it was created. The brainchildren of this ski were Kaj Zackrisson, Reggie & Zach Crist and Chris Reubens. As most of you know these guys are all hard charging skiers molded out of the traditional racing turn and old-school big mountain ripping. So yeah, they’re gnarly. But it’s not always straightlines and cliff hucks, sometimes it’s powder cruises through gladed trees and smooth butters on wide open bowls. So when Salomon approached this crew with the desire to build a new ski, they quickly came to the conclusion that they wanted a ski that could perform well in both manners. Charging cliff stomps and slippery smooth powder turns.

The Rocker was born.

As the beautiful beast popped out of the manufacturing womb it came equipped with a huge rockered tip. 72 centimeters of tip rocker to be precise. It was developed to pop the ski on top of the pow, disallow any sort of nose-dive and give the long-ish ski a bit more playful nature in soft snow.

The sidecut was stamped at 147-127-137 because the ski needed the playful mobility of a fat, rockered ski but the attitude of a hard charger. The relatively large radius gives it the ability to really lay down a big carve and also whip the finish of your turn into a beautiful butter. I’ve personally found that this ski has a great blend of those two features. I typically find that with full reverse sidecut skis there doesn’t lie the ability to lay into big huge Super-G style turns confidently and still butter the crap out of spine or face. The Rocker definitely blends those abilities.

The tail is flat because there was a need to land airs confidently and securely. A reverse camber tail causes backslaps and loooonnggg wheelies. While they allow for switch landings and playfulness, these guys preferred landing cliffs forward and at high speed. So a flat, stiff tail was pressed.

In sum, this ski is a hard charging ski that has the ability to swivel in trees and slavre through any kind of pow. It’s a heavy ski when it hangs off your feet on the chairlift but don’t let that scare you, in pow the ski jumps up to the surface and plays around like a kid at Toy’s R Us after two Red Bulls. But don’t take my words for it, take the video of me for it!

So yeah, the video is super slo-mo. That’s how Rage filmed it and to me it shows a little bit more of the characteristics of the Rocker. It shows the butters at the end of the turn, the big lines, the stomps in really really flat landings and the all-around versatility of the ski. I think it helps you visualize what this ski might feel like on your feet if you every decide to give the Rocker a shot. Anyways, hope this helps, feel free to ask me any questions if I haven’t covered them here.

Editor’s note: Cody Townsend is currently sponsored by Salomon Skis.

Posted by Cody Townsend on October 22nd, 2009 in Salomon

Cody Townsend @codytownsend

I'm Cody Townsend, I write about the behind-the-scenes life of being a professional skier. I've appeared in ski films by Teton Gravity Research, Warren Miller, Match Stick Productions, among others. When not in front of the camera or competing I also write for Powder Magazine and Skiing Magazine. My current sponsors who make my lifestyle possible include; Salomon, Swatch, The Levitation Project, Porters Tahoe, Von Zipper, Hestra, Camelbak, Squaw Valley USA.