For those about to rock... we salute you.

For those of you following the trends of ski design throughout the industry you've already witnessed the freight train that is "rocker" railing through your local ski town.  Rocker has been around the ski industry, at least in theory, thanks to the late great Shane McConkey.  Here's a little history of Shane's pioneering thoughts on ski shape if you're unfamiliar.  While there are various ways to implement rocker in a ski design the goal is the same -- floatation and maneuverability.  Rocker gets to the heart of the difference between turning on the snow and turning in the snow. 

There are a lot of different terms (and marketing jibberish) floating around the industry these days... full rocker,  shovel rocker, pop rocker, decambered early rise, banana technology, recurve, etc.  Don't buy into the hype too much, the important thing is to consider how you are going to use any new pair of skis -- Riding groomers all day?  All mountain?  Sessioning the park?  Backcountry touring?  Heli ski trip?  Some combination these?  Basically it goes like this:  The deeper the snow the more rocker you want. 

I was discussing these points on the chairlift with a colorful old ski bum friend who's skied more days than most people live.  He asked me why anyone would ever want to float on top of the deep powder.  "Some of those skis just look ridiculous flapping around the hill," he said gruffly.  "If it's good snow I want to be as deep in it as possible!"   Interesting point.  

With the pros and cons of rocker in mind the process for designing our latest ski began.  A few weeks later the Skookoleel was born.  The Skook incorporates a sublte camber (think softened traditional ski) with an early rise at the tip and the tail.  We taper the tips and tails so that while you are skiing the hardpack they are out of the way allowing you to effectively ski the cambered running surface, but once you travel off-piste the early rise portions of the tip and tail kick in to give you added floatation and manuevarability.  What you end up with is a five dimensional ski with a 23 meter radius.  What does that mean?  A ski that can arc turns on the groomer and butter turns in the steep and deep.  It's beautiful thing. 

There's not a single ski on the market that will ski all conditions at the top of it's class.  But there are skis out there that will suit your style of skiing and the places you ski best 90% of the time.  So get out there and try some new rockered skis already!   

Delicious Demo's and Cowgirl Coffee

Over the last couple weeks we have been drinking a lot of Cowgirl Coffee and testing our sweet new ski designs -- The Canyon, Skook, and Soldier.  We're running some promotional lid stickers through Cowgirl Coffee (see picture) to get the word out about our new business so stop by one of their locations in the Flathead and get your caffeine fix.... oh, and ask them about Montana Ski Company too. 

The Soldier is our new all-mountain and park ripper that's light and initiates turns easily.  At 126-87-116 the Soldier has enough float and sidecut to arc groomers but not get bogged down off piste -- so far our testers love the performance but feel that the abuse put on park skis will warrant a heavier more durable ski.  So we've decided to beef up the Soldier underfoot and add an even thicker topsheet to defend against the abuses that jibbing boxes and rails delivers. 

The new Canyons have a more sublte twin tip design producing a longer effective running surface as well as a softer wood core to let it bend more easily in the pow.  Despite a longer running surface and a 106mm waist underfoot the Canyons have enough sidecut to slip through tight trees (23m radius at 184).  The Canyon has been my go to ski this season and with the new improvements will no doubt be my mainstay in 2011 too.  

Rocker seems to be the buzz word in the ski industry these days.  Shovel rocker, early rise,  full rocker.... it's all good, but in order to reap the most benefits you need to consider the conditions you're going to ride.  Considering that most powder days are a combination of untouched lines and skied out exits we created the shape for the Skook ski.  The Skook shape incorporates shovel and tail rocker with subtle camber underfoot to create a fat ski that can arc longer turns through the crud but has the float neccessary to handle an epic day.