Humor the shape jong - what's a tapered tip good for?

[horizon]

(standing up) My name is horizon and I've never skied on a rocker ski.

Right, now that's out of the way, from reading a zillion reviews I have a reasonable idea what the early rise / rocker does and that I want one on my next skis.

But why do many of the new funshapes have a tapered tip? Just to reduce swing weight? Is it a pro or a con in variable snow conditions? (I mean Euro-style variable, everything from pow to windcrust to refrozen to crud to breakable crust in the same day or quite possibly in the same run).

I'm considering a new wider ski for the type of conditions mentioned above and I narrowed it down to three models: 191 Lhasa Pow, 190 DPS Wailer 112 RP Hybrid and 191 ON3P Wrenegade. The first two ones have a tapered tip and the last one doesn't (they differ in many other ways, I know, but although I don't have a chance to demo them I feel at least that I understand what the other differences would do).

FWIW, I'm 5'11, 195 lbs and my skiing style is pussy compared to TGR forum hotshots / highly aggressive and fast skier compared to cube jockeys. My current ski for all conditions is still the Kneissl Tanker.

[hemas]

Well,

I'm a meadow-skipping wuzz as well. And I'd say that the tapered tip isn't a problem in Yurp conditions... It will how ever make the ski a tad easier to turn (shorter effective edge and all), plus lighter.

Given yer size and Yurp snow, I'd prolly pick the Wrenegade...

I feel that the DPs has too much sidecut and my gut feelin' is that the Lhasa might be a tad too soft snow oriented (like the DPs).

Truth be told, I've not skied any of those skis, but I do ski in Yurp.

[SiSt]

Some thoughts on taper:

Thinking that once you rocker the ski enough so that the tip only comes into contact with soft snow and pow, tapering lets you reduce overall weight a little without reducing float much.

A tapered tip calms down the ride in soft snow and reduce hookiness by having a reverse sidecut section which almost eliminates and to an extent counteracts unwanted hooking by initiating the turn in the opposite direction of the sidecut. A consequence of this is that the ski can feel unresponsive and slarvy if you put a lot of pressure on the tip and therefore reward a more centered stance if you want to make fast turns. (Your sidecut and your reverse part counteract each other meaning you initiate a slarve rather than a carve.)

Makes sense? At least in part it does to me, but I´m open to discussion.

[Norseman]

^ I've never once found a tapered tip to feel unresponsive (in soft snow), but the rest of it sounds about right.

Stability in powder/chop is taper's best attribute. Think of a boat hull slicing through ocean waves.

Good luck with your choice.

[SiSt]

Relatively speaking when compared to a non-tapered tip. Hellbents compared to EHP´s, for instance. (Apples to oranges, but they are extremes, shape-wise.)

[Huck_Schmuck]

Yo C,

I'm pretty sure Faction are putting some early rise / rockered tip on the 3.Zero next year. The 13s would be too much for you, the Alias might not be fat enough for your needs and whilst the regular 3.Zero would already be perfect for your needs, give it some tip rocker and it will become a whole load of fun.

No question my man. Trust in me, 3.Zero with or without rocker is your dream stick. I've skied with you and I know your aspirations. Get it in a 183cm.

[Jer]

Taper is cool in nice powder but it's even cooler in weird powder and wind/sun crusty powder.

[ectreeskier11]

my honest answer to the question: everything. makes the widest point of the ski closer to underfoot, aka better for pow. reduces hookiness in all snow conditions. concentrates sidecut over a shorter length aka better for groomers. i skied jj's everyday this season, i will always have at least one tapered ski in my quiver forever more. hopefully more big mountain, or long, stiff, straight skis become tapered (not hugely), it really increases all aspects for me.

[TeleThor]

Easy answer is, tapered tips make you think you're cooler, which gives you a huge ego boost, so you think you can ski better, so you do ski better.

All kidding aside, tapered tips are fantastic. What he said. ^^^

[Beyond]

Taper is cool in nice powder but it's even cooler in weird powder and wind/sun crusty powder.

This is exactly right. Never notice much difference until I hit crust or snow that's heavier at top.

[arewolfe]

Tapered tips let you SMASH things instead of getting caught up in chop. At Noon on a resort powder day, you're rocking a Caddy on the freeway. Your buddy on Gots is rocking a Caddy too, but he's doing 35MPH down a class 6 road getting bucked all over the place.

The guy under the lift on parabolics "can't turn in this shit!" You take his same line after unloading and GS the shit out of it (or swivel-turn the fuck out of it at 5 MPH on reverse/reverse skis)

EDIT: oh yeah, the swing weight thing gets silly fun with reverse sidecut shapes. They destroy trees when there's fresh snow. My pow skis are ARGs and I can't imagine ever going back to something fat and traditional shaped like a Sumo.