? Skin grip on rockered skis?

[Lord Thomas]

Looking for some fatter (say 115mm to 125mm) BC skis and am considering some with significant rocker, or even full reverse camber. Thus far the fattest board I've ever climbed with was my good ole Lhasa 196's and never had any grip problems but they were long and pretty flat. So the question is how much less grip on the skin track will I have with a ski that has significant tip and tail rocker (e.g. Libery Origin) or full reverse camber (e.g. G3 Empire 115)? Is this a big deal with so much less ski in contact with the snow or should I quit wondering and just get my fat ass up the hill?

[gregL]

On a day when you're willing to drag a 115-125mm ski up the hill, grip shouldn't be a problem . . .

[dschane]

As long as the parts of your ski that are in contact with the snow are covered with skin, you likely won't notice a difference. Maybe there are slick conditions out there where the additional surface area of minimal-to-zero rocker helps, but my money says it's barely noticeable (and if you're skinning often in those conditions, I'd echo gregL's point above).

[TahoeJ]

I tour on skis that are flat underfoot (116mm) with a generous amount of tip and tail rocker. The grip is just fine. And it's actually an advantage when it comes to breaking trail.

[neck beard]

Rocker is no problem at all in soft snow, nor hard snow on an appropriately inclined skin track.

I ski uphill in boot-knee powder very frequently, and would rather do so on a sub 2kg fully rockered 110-115mm ski any day. The skiing downhill part goes without saying.

[swissiphic]

And it's actually an advantage when it comes to breaking trail.

+ 2.

There's also a not oft mentioned advantage of increased maneuverability in technically challenging terrain and featured snow IN SOFT SNOW. Hooking around trees, ducking and weaving under branches on my jj's is easier while breaking trail is definitely easier than the same length regular cambered planks. It's a specific conditions advantage but worth noting.

[freak]

Rocker is no problem at all in soft snow, nor hard snow on an appropriately inclined skin track.

I ski uphill in boot-knee powder very frequently, and would rather do so on a sub 2kg fully rockered 110-115mm ski any day. The skiing downhill part goes without saying.

i actually think that full-reverse camber skis can suck for skinning, especially in combination with bad skins (e.g. g3 alpinist). everything is fine if you brake trail, but even as the 3rd or 4th person it can suck really hard even if the skintrack isnt really steep. i never had problems with skinning on skis with massive rocker, but hated the full reverse camber for skinning, tons of sliding backwards...

freak~[&]

[neck beard]

I admit I have almost never not broken trail. I may have overlooked that.

[SiSt]

i actually think that full-reverse camber skis can suck for skinning, especially in combination with bad skins (e.g. g3 alpinist). everything is fine if you brake trail, but even as the 3rd or 4th person it can suck really hard even if the skintrack isnt really steep. i never had problems with skinning on skis with massive rocker, but hated the full reverse camber for skinning, tons of sliding backwards...

freak~[&]

You may be in for some serious cursing, then.

[encore]

So the question is how much less grip on the skin track will I have with a ski that has significant tip and tail rocker (e.g. Libery Origin) or full reverse camber (e.g. G3 Empire 115)? Is this a big deal with so much less ski in contact with the snow or should I quit wondering and just get my fat ass up the hill?

I have a pair of G3 Synapse 109 (full reverse) and purchased the G3 high traction skins. There is a difference with how much contact you have on the skin track. Of course, this is only an issue on well-established skin tracks. If you are break trail, it doesn't really matter what skins you have. I've skinned the G3 high traction skins with the G3 Synapse 109 about 3-4 times and haven't had an issue on well-established skin tracks (even moderately steep ones)