Moment Deathwish - triple camber, dual rocker

[falls]

http://vimeo.com/36528638
Legit? Or gimmick?

Basic idea seems to be a low camber under foot linked to 2 camber areas (one in front and one behind) then rocker in the tip and tail.
I just can't see cambered areas that aren't compressed with the weight of your body directly over them doing anything. They keep saying it provides more contact points which improves grip, but to me a long camber area that engages the edges over a long area would be more grippy than several points. If the best grip comes from several concentrated points then magnetraction type sidecuts should be the norm.
Anyway watch the video and see what you think.

[skidesmond]

Gimmick. But I guess that doesn't mean it's not ski-able. I agree w/ you about the camber. As for contact points, how can you have more in a design like that? If you're standing in a traditional cambered ski, the entire base (with the tip/tail/rocker excluded) is in contact with the snow. Flex the ski on edge as in a turn and you have full contact with the snow.

The only thing I can think of as far as more contact points is perhaps a hair more surface area. Think of a golf ball. The dimples give it more surface area than a smooth golf ball.

But seems like quite a stretch for ski.

[MontuckyMadman]

Check the praxis concept from last year. Same idea. Same town. Weird.

[Dr. Delam]

I skied these last year and can't say that I noticed anything substantially different performance wise. Nothing bad but nothing mindblowing either. Same with the Libtech skis.

Seems to be more marketing hype than anything.

[OnDeck]

Chimera Snowboards were doing this with their twin tip (the Orb) last year. And it's pretty close to Never Summer's hybrid rocker-camber.

Don't know about skis, but on a board it works well (totally diffeent mechanics, i suppose)...the Never Summer SL is one the greatest boards of all time IMO.

[maximegb5]

gimmick? In a snowboard, the two camber sections would be under your two feet, which would grant you the benefits of the cambered sections, but in a ski I have the impression you would be better with a flat camber or real camber. If you are in powder, I doubt the two small cambered sections would give any benefits while on the hardpack you are losing contact with the snow at these points. This would give the advantage to the flat camber.

And skidesmond, even if you have a hair more surface area, it would be of no use as it would not touch the snow on the hardpack. It looks like a beautiful marketing play to me.

[falls]

I think I read the other day that the ON3P pillowfight has some camber in the tail rocker area, with flat underfoot. What I read I recall suggested it gave more pop to the tail, which I can see working if the cambered section compresses then rebounds along with the whole tail rebounding. It didn't make any claim to improve hard snow edge grip though.

[deepskis]

I prefer sharp edges rather than marketing hypes...