Rock skis.... Why do skiers ski over rocks?

[dbostedo]

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There were some rocks here, but totally worth it. Even on my own Stocklis.

Ha! My dings from my pic above were on my Stockli's too!

 

[Mike Rogers]

I'm more careful with skis that are not my own. I won't demo skis in December because I would be embarrassed to wreck them. So far, I have never done anything worse than superficial scratches on rentals or demos.....knock on wood.

I ski over a lot of rocks on my own skis though

In the early season, I use my "rock skis" and don't really try to avoid anything that isn't going to hurt me. Louise will open up a lot of terrain with a 45-90 cm base. You can't ski it without hitting a bunch of rocks. I would rather have fun on my preferred terrain than stick to the groomers. My current rocks skis are old Salomon Shoguns. They are pretty ratty, but they'll keep me sliding until I can retire another ski in the regular rotation. Volkl Explosivs were really tough to break.

I still hit a bunch of rocks with my regular skis too, but I don't expect to be hitting them all the time. So far, the ON3P billy goats have been really tough.


...maybe keep that in mind if you see me post on the ski swap.

 

[Tricia]

I'm more worried about my edges than the ptex; core shots are easy to fix and if repaired right do not effect the the ski performance, but edges, a rolled edge is not easily revived and performance on ice suffers.

I had a compressed edge from an unseen rock strike last year. That ski has never been the same.
This past week I was skiing some incredible snow at Copper and hit an edge on the downhill side of a bump. I thought for sure I had base damage but just a few burs on the edge.

 

[Ogg]

I hit a few rocks on the first day on my new Kore 93s because I refuse to stick to groomers. I’ve gotten pretty good at “getting light” if I actually see anything poking through I can’t avoid but you never see everything.

 

[Don in Morrison]

I hit a few rocks on the first day on my new Kore 93s because I refuse to stick to groomers.

I used 3 P-Tex candles fixing a pair of skis that never got off of groomers last season.

 

[James]

Fluffy powder doesn't cover rocks. Like this last storm. Wind does help though, and hurts. Everyone wants light powder but it's the heavy wet stuff that does more good. Ask @Josh Matta .

 

[Ogg]

I somehow did this to my skis either yesterday or today at Snowbird. I didn’t even think I really hit anything

 

[Doug Briggs]

Mostly by accident. Like the time I was in Wonderland and saw a beautiful section of snow and made for it. I didn't hear Marty saying 'Stop! Don't!' He remembered, unlike me, that their was only this storm covering a field of rocks. I ran and ran in my clown shoes (Bent Chettlers) trying to keep from augering in but eventually my skis 'stuck' and I double ejected with a forward roll landing on my derriere with the skis sliding to a stop to my left and right, positioned like arm rests in a chair. I felt I might have damaged my coccyx, which was uncomfortable, but time allowed that I'd done no damage. Other than this:

Other times rocks are just in the way of a line. Like getting from Whale's Tail to Peak 7. Most times there is a band of rocks. You can take your skis off or you can gingerly step across with your skis on with sections of gliding in between.

 

[Doug Briggs]

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I somehow did this to my skis either yesterday or today at Snowbird. I didn’t even think I really hit anything

That's just minor scratches.

The customer who owned these skis said he didn't even notice anything as he descended Arte's Bowl:

This was after cutting off the edge that was severely mangled and a little bit of p-tex.

Then there was this in a Soul 7 someone brought in:"

I'd never seen p-tex piled up like in the bottom section of this photo. It was a piece of cake to repair. Cut off the old, metal-grip and p-tex.

 

[Ogg]

That's just minor scratches.

The customer who owned these skis said he didn't even notice anything as he descended Arte's Bowl:

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This was after cutting off the edge that was severely mangled and a little bit of p-tex.

Then there was this in a Soul 7 someone brought in:"

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I'd never seen p-tex piled up like in the bottom section of this photo. It was a piece of cake to repair. Cut off the old, metal-grip and p-tex.

There’s a high spot behind the one near the edge on mine but nothing like that. My brothers have both done similar damage to the first picture and last time at the bird one of them ripped about 12” of edge out. I know the rocks here are ski killers compared to VT but I doubt I’m going to significantly change how and where I ski. I just miss being able to have an IDGAF attitude like I did on my old crappy skis.

 

[James]

Most damage I've ever done was to hit a submerged snow gun on a very cold powder day. It was near the lift. Got on the lift and noticed something funny sticking out the side of my ski. Turned out I had peeled a huge strip of the base off.

 

[CalG]

I ski over rocks because.......

there is snow before the rock, and there is snow beyond the rock.

The rock is merely a slow spot.

Aim for the white!

 

[Ogg]

Most damage I've ever done was to hit a submerged snow gun on a very cold powder day. It was near the lift. Got on the lift and noticed something funny sticking out the side of my ski. Turned out I had peeled a huge strip of the base off.

Bases can usually be repaired, with edges, IME, the best you can hope for is they can fix it well enough to be an outside edge for a while.

 

[James]

Bases can usually be repaired, with edges, IME, the best you can hope for is they can fix it well enough to be an outside edge for a while.

Usually, but in this case the surgery was too radical and the ski was put to sleep.

 

[SBrown]

...I do my best to avoid rocks but they are a fact of life because that is what our beloved mountains are made of, so we just have to deal with it.

 

[Coolhand]

Apparently, it doesn't matter how much snow there is... Some folks are just going to hit rocks. Had a pair of demos out to Snowbird last week, came back with a compressed edge and I think that they got over 4' of new snow over that period. Worst run of luck in 25 years of managing the ski shop. Funny how these things run in "streaks"....

 

[Core2]

There is a massive conspiracy in the ski industry to make skis that are weak and get core shots, scratches, dulled edges way easier than they should so people are forced to pay shops to tune them or better yet - buy new skis. I see no evidence that any manufacturer cares about skis surviving long term. Some are better than others but no one is making a ski that is supposed to last 10 seasons with an advanced-expert skier.

 

[Seldomski]

Different resorts open terrain differently... like the way Kirkwood opens runs vs. Vail -- very different. And unless you have skied somewhere before, you may not know how sketchy a run is going to be. So there is definitely a knowledge gap here for the typical tourist. Resorts don't label rocks either... so it's just something that happens if you are not on a groomer. I've seen the 'early season conditions' signs, but sometimes these are just a CYA for the resort and the run skis great if you stick to the 'correct' side.

And most resorts I have been to tend to keep something open once it is open. It stays open for the season, until you literally cannot feasibly ski it (i.e. big areas of exposed ground).

Other thing that can happen is wind scouring. So maybe something was awesome yesterday, but last night, the wind transported a lot of snow off. If you can't see the run from the lift, you end up on the now sketchy run. This can even happen on the same day.

So maybe what the OP is seeing is a change in resort policy. Maybe they are opening runs earlier than they used to and keeping them open longer than usual. So the general conditions people are skiing are worse.

And yes, I personally do not treat rentals as gingerly as my own skis. When you are paying 10% of the MSRP per day to rent a ski that already has some rock damage on it, pardon me if I don't have many tears for the shop. If instead I have a pristine rental, then I will make more of an effort to protect it. Usually only the narrow carving skis stay nice late season -- all mountain skis see more abuse.

 

[dbostedo]

There is a massive conspiracy in the ski industry to make skis that are weak and get core shots, scratches, dulled edges way easier than they should so people are forced to pay shops to tune them or better yet - buy new skis. I see no evidence that any manufacturer cares about skis surviving long term. Some are better than others but no one is making a ski that is supposed to last 10 seasons with an advanced-expert skier.

Maybe O3NP?

 

[NZRob]

My local hill is affectionately known as Rockapapa (though it's often a fractious one-sided relationship)...suffice to say a large number of mine and many others skis have ended their days impaled on rocks, edges blown asunder, p-tex shredded. Rental skis that end up there really drew the short straw back when they emerged from the factory all clean and new and eager to go skiing.