It’s an exciting time as far as ski kit is concerned, with new technologies continuing to push the boundaries. CMH heli skiing has responded to this by updating their fleet of skis for the 2011 season.
Aaron Ambuske, VP Global Product Development for K2 Skis, explains what all the fuss is about…
Rocker technology has changed the skiing experience in powder forever. The concept of a rocker on skis is that skiing powder is more similar to travelling through fluid. Surfboards have had rocker for years, since they are designed for water. Traditional camber skis do the opposite of what a powder skier wants. Camber pushes the tips into the snow and forces a skier to sit back to get the tips to rise out of the snow.
Through K2’s testing and development of hundreds of skis with rocker, the benefits of rocker have become very clear. Rocker lifts the tips out of the snow, so a skier does not need to lean back to feel balanced on skis in powder. Since the tips have a natural curvature up, the fluid snow (powder) contacts the base of the skis and forces the tips upward. The skis want to rise out of the snow. With the tips out of the snow and the skier in a balanced position, it is so much easier to turn the skis back and forth to reduce your speed or change directions. Skiers make turns more by pivoting than driving the tips into the turn. This gives a powder skier much more confidence and security on a powder slope.
During K2’s week of testing at CMH Monashees last year, many skiers were introduced to the benefits of rocker. K2 had 35 pairs of prototype skis, and they all had rocker. Most of the skis were wider than the traditional powder skis in the CMH fleet. The wider widths and rocker scared away many of the traditional skiers during the first day of testing, but it was amazing to see the light bulbs go on as people witnessed the testers skiing with more ease and control in the soft and variable conditions. By the second and third days, they were having a hard time getting everyone on the widest skis with the most rocker, since they were in such high demand. Guides were constantly commenting that the prototypes were allowing the groups to stay out longer.
Riding high on the success of the 2010 CMH & K2 Demo Weeks, we’re excited to be partnering with K2 Skis once again. Join CMH Heli Skiing and K2 Skis this winter on their specialist demo week and be among the first to test out K2’s upcoming line of 2011-12 skis. You will have access to a variety of unreleased K2 test skis during a Heli Ski week with CMH. K2 designers will be on-hand with prototype skis, and they will gather your valued feedback to fine-tune the skis on their return to Headquarters.
CMH Heli Skiing at the Monashee Lodge
Please contact us for more details about the K2 demo trips taking place in Kootenay in 2012!
