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Wrote this back in 2012 about the then new 2013 184 Salomon Rocker2 122. As far as I'm aware the Rocker2 122 remains unchanged for the 2014 season. Unfortunately I only spent a day on them, so this is more of a first look, hence why there are also no comments on durability.
I am 5'10", 80kgs, 15 years old and a fairly aggressive skier I like skiing fast but I also enjoy skiing mellower gradient pow with a playful approach. I currently ride ON3P Caylors mounted right at recommended. The first day I managed to slap these on it was the day after a night of heavy snow fall; it was a pow day perfect test conditions for a ski like this.
Ski Specs: 142-122-132, 26m and 2420g @184. Profile, Rocker/Camber/Rocker.
First impression were good, the skis felt fairly light in hand thanks to the honeycomb inserts tip and tail, as well as the absence of edges in the rockered sections tip and tail. With hand flexing they felt like a pretty solid medium flex.
Let's start with what they're meant for, ripping around in the deep stuff. To be honest they were amazing they were so smooth and felt really surfy, the low rocker style really plained the snow nicely allowing me to make pivoty turns no problem at all. However for charging I would want something stiffer. Hitting cliffs and drops was fun, the flex was solid enough, so you didn't wash out on landings even if you were a little back seat.
As the pow started getting used up and it was time to start crud busting. The softer flex meant they weren't as great at driving through the piles of crud and bouncing over patched of crud but they were alright, for this I would have preferred something a little stiffer. As I headed down the mountain and started hitting some moguls, the R2s didn't cope that well. But this isn't really a huge issue as I would rather be in pow than moguls and no powder ski is phenomenal in moguls anyway.
Although skis like these are designed for ripping around in the deep stuff groomer performance is always an good asset for a powder ski to have as you do want to be able to make it back to the lift in style. I could lay down some nice carve turns of varying lengths on the corduroy but they were a little slow edge to edge, remember however this is a 122 waisted ski. Chatter was minimal, even after straightling some stepper runs on the mountain. On icey patches their grip was good and confidence inspiring for a ski with such copious amounts of rocker and a wide waist.
In conclusion these skis are for the connoisseur, somebody who isn't going to be going mach 10, more finessing and working what the next feature for them to jib with style before riding off laying down a nice tapestry of turns. The softer flex made this ski intuitive and forgiving, butters were easy and the swing weight was pretty god for a ski of this size. They're not perfect, I would have preferred a stiffer flex throughout. But they really are a fun ski, and if you were to pull the trigger on these to use as your twin rockered pow ski, you wouldn't be disappointed.
This ski is great! Very maneuverable, very floaty, and reasonably stable. I did however find that this thing has a speed limit, especially in chopped snow. It would be smart to go a size bigger than you would normally get. This ski is really fun though, and actually handles pretty well on hardpack for a ski like this. If you want to charge, you may want to find something else, but if you want a fun, surfy pow ski, this is perfect.
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