I decided to post this because we still get asked question about tip and tail rocker skis (from time to time). A friend of mine is an old school skier who at age 69 is not looking to change his technique. I told him I would demo a few skis with tip and tail rocker to see if they might be easier for him to ski steeper, more difficult off-piste terrain. The only one I have so far demo'd is the Head Kore 93.
Let me start this by saying that many of tip and tail rockered skis have less in both (tip and tail) than the Rossi S7s, which were the first rave ski that made skiing harder terrain easier for the masses. I hated this ski and for anyone with reasonable PMTS skills it might actually make skiing harder terrain more difficult, but I digress. The Head Kore 93 has quite a bit less rocker that the S7 but significantly more than the "marketing rocker" they had in the Head RNR's. I skied these in some pretty sandblasted windbuff with 1-3 inches of fresh snow on top of it. They were easy to ski and even a little bit fun. The tail rocker made it easy for the tails to come around when brushing and I was able to prevent the skis from pivoting when tipping (something that was very hard to do with the S7). So on the Kore, the tail rocker did not drive me crazy (as it has on many skis usually with more tail rocker) but the tip rocker on this ski really did drive me crazy. No matter how hard one tries there is no platform up front, there is nothing to support you in the tips when you get weight and pressure up there. You can stay forward if you work hard at it but the tip rocker wants to put you in a neutral position (not aft but not forward). Because the tails have some rocker you can get away with being less forward and still brush the skis. But herein lies the problem. I have worked really hard to be forward at the top of every arc and I just don't want a ski that makes it difficult to do this and/or that does not penalize me for not getting forward. Not getting penalized is probably a good phrase here. Many people who are not devoted to PMTS technique may be looking for a ski that will not penalize them for less correct and/or efficient movements. This ski which is what we should probably call Rocker version 3.0 fits that bill and its not terrible for those skiers.
The Kore is very light and it never feels all that substantial. It makes up for that in maneuverability. It also skis really short. I was on the 180cm length and I doubt that the running length on hard snow was much than 155cm. And on hard snow you can lay them over but bending the ski is hard because you can't get and stay forward to bend it. Its just not made that way. But I would call it acceptable gettting around on groomers while you are focused on skiing off piste the bulk of the time. They are way better than Rocker version 1.0 and 2.0 like the S7 that just suck and flap non stop on hard snow. On a powder day on the 189 length (the 180s were really short for me) I'm sure I could have fun on them but not nearly as much as I have on my RNR's (which I still think are the gold standard fresh western snow PMTS off-piste ski).
Evidently Head can't keep these in stock (so they say although there seem to be plenty floating around on Ebay). It makes sense. For a skier that isn't going to improve their movements the Kore 93 is a nice compromise. For PMTS skiers it really is not what we are looking for and if you ski on the east coast you might as well ignore all of this.
In case this brings up further questions on the topic, below is a thread on the subject of rocker and its pros and cons. I have definitely changed my mind on tip rocker and I find skis with any significant amount pretty darn annoying.
Here's the thread:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=3452&hilit=rocker