Silvretta 404, Tua and other BC stuff...

[JimG.]

Interesting... I've heard people advise only to get skins as wide as the narrowest part of the ski as well, and don't trim.

from what i understand, that is a good option for flat land touring. if you are going to spend most of your skinning time going up hill, especially in the realm of 20 degrees or more, you want full coverage on the bottom of your skis. the more 'skin' you have gripping your skis to the snow, the better, imo.

Steve is correct...go for full coverage (less edges) when buying skins.

On another note, I ran into a skier with a pair of NAXO AT bindings this past weekend, and he was good enough to stop and let me examine them. I was impressed with the toes pieces but not much else. They seemed more complicated than the Fritschi's and frankly looked a little cheap in spots.

 

[riverc0il]

i just got my latest issue of couloir and apparently frischi has a new freeride coming out next season that is even beefier. also dynastar partnered with naxo to 'make' a freeride binding for the legend series (looks like a different color version of their standard 02) and atomic partnered with silveretta, again looks the same as the pure just different color. pretty interesting seeing the big ski companies trying to get in on the backcountry market by packaging skis and backcountry bindings!

 

[JimG.]

also dynastar partnered with naxo to 'make' a freeride binding for the legend series (looks like a different color version of their standard 02) and atomic partnered with silveretta, again looks the same as the pure just different color. pretty interesting seeing the big ski companies trying to get in on the backcountry market by packaging skis and backcountry bindings!

Really? It's amazing that they got on that bandwagon so quickly.

 

[riverc0il]

they are really just recolored versions of the established partners' brand. nothing new, just a different package. not too surprising considering how many people (like me) who were buying legends/inspireds off ebay for less than $500 and mounting freerides to them. just another way to capture the ski/binding 'package' market. though this could be fool hardy since these bindings are not integrated into a 'system' so there is no obligation to purchase them together when there are better deals.

 

[awf170]

FYI on Freerides: I went into to freeheel mode twice today and I only weigh 130 pounds... luckily I'm usually so far into the backseat I didn't even notice :dunce:

 

[salida]

What austin, that shouldn't happen you sure they were locked down?

 

[awf170]

What austin, that shouldn't happen you sure they were locked down?

Positive they were locked down, possibly they werent fully down or something, but I really doubt it. If you do a search over at TGR you will find a lot of info on this happening, but I thought it was just a few isolated cases and it was because people were pushing them to hard... I guess not.

 

[riverc0il]

What austin, that shouldn't happen you sure they were locked down?

yea, what salida said. i think i have only gone freeheel mode while skiing once. excluding the time i snapped my ski which made it insta-perma-freeheel mode, heh. it takes a LOT of torque to pop those suckers. were you cranking big GS turns or putting a really strong bend in the ski?

 

[awf170]

were you cranking big GS turns or putting a really strong bend in the ski?

nope. I was skiing so pretty deep crud, but not that hard. One thing I can think of is that the snow was pretty sticky and my skis werent waxed so I every once in a while I would go forward pretty hard, but I really didnt think that could do it.

 

[JimG.]

What austin, that shouldn't happen you sure they were locked down?

Never happened to me...and I've skiied mine very hard.

 

[awf170]

I think the obvious answer to this is that, I am a way better skier then JimG or Riverc0il...

 

[riverc0il]

nope. I was skiing so pretty deep crud, but not that hard. One thing I can think of is that the snow was pretty sticky and my skis werent waxed so I every once in a while I would go forward pretty hard, but I really didnt think that could do it.

not a chance. you are either doing something weird or you have some bad bindings. did you buy them new or used? i would recommend having them checked out by a shop that specializes in touring bindings. freerides should never go insta-tele unless you really torque them hard.

 

[awf170]

nope. I was skiing so pretty deep crud, but not that hard. One thing I can think of is that the snow was pretty sticky and my skis werent waxed so I every once in a while I would go forward pretty hard, but I really didnt think that could do it.

not a chance. you are either doing something weird or you have some bad bindings. did you buy them new or used? i would recommend having them checked out by a shop that specializes in touring bindings. freerides should never go insta-tele unless you really torque them hard.

I bought them new. I'll probably ski on the once more and if it happens again I have it checked out by a shop.

 

[riverc0il]

oh, duh. forgot to mention the obvious fix. make sure when you lock down the bar that there is no snow in the latch area. always clean out those puppies of snow as much as possible before locking them down. same with stepping into the bindings. very precise piece of equipment and a little bit of snow stuck in the wrong place would make the mechanics not work correctly.

 

[Marc]

Yeah, that's a good point Riv. And I notice it makes much more of a difference on my more expensive Marker bindings than on the cheap Rossy bindings.

Tighter tolerances apparently.

 

[JimG.]

oh, duh. forgot to mention the obvious fix. make sure when you lock down the bar that there is no snow in the latch area. always clean out those puppies of snow as much as possible before locking them down. same with stepping into the bindings. very precise piece of equipment and a little bit of snow stuck in the wrong place would make the mechanics not work correctly.

VERY important. After one climb, I left a little snow on the lockdown and it kept popping up when I tried to lock it down. Had to clean it thoroughly.

 

[awf170]

Heres what I got out of this over at TGR:

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45835