The 300g Touring Binding Thread

[abcdethan]

Pretty funny and harsh Blister "review" of the Xenic. https://blisterreview.com/gear-revie...VGBBIY7YMbBX18

I demoed that binding for 4 days and the review is spot on.


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[frorider]

Yeah none of the 3 shop guys I talked to at Mammoth Mtneering were stoked on the Xenic. However I’m glad there’s another option in this light weight but has spring loaded heelpiece travel category. I’m sure Fritschi will get the bugs out eventually.

[meter-man]

Thought my text made it clear, sorry. Stock height 55, shimmed height 60 mm. Obviously I could use thicker aluminum but 60 is just tall enough for those straight up spring hardpack sections but not too tall for general skinning.

I tried a variety of shim approaches...on the lever and on the binding body. This approach won out.

Thanks for sharing this riser mod - was concerned the high riser was too low for our steep Tahoe skintracks. Even 60mm seems too low, but I guess we'll see!

[frorider]

I’ve been breaking trail in steep pow, skinning steep crust where the best line is bases flat on snow & right up the fall line, and 60 mm height is fine if you have a good ROM boot.

My older Maestrale RS’s don’t...but that’s fine, those boots get used with my big and stiff skis with Kingpins, Vipec Evos, etc, with a med and truly tall riser.

With more modern ROM boots, I see the advantage of a do it all setting like 60 mm. It’s basically set and forget at bottom of most tours. I very rarely bother using the Low setting on the Alpinist...I just switch between Flat (meadow or lake approaches, low angle valleys) and 60 mm.

Edit: certain Tahoe tours eg Jakes are infamous for steep skin tracks. 60 mm is fine...with my F1s. You could always use thicker aluminum and go fir a 65 mm height but then you might lose the all purpose nature and would have to rotate to the Low setting (which will also be taller due to this mod btw)

[mall walker]

With more modern ROM boots, I see the advantage of a do it all setting like 60 mm. It’s basically set and forget at bottom of most tours.

yeah idk what the heel lift is on my ATKs but I never fiddle with it, never need anything higher or lower (except flat if there is a long approach), it's very nice. boots have included Fischer Carbon Travers, Atomic Backland Carbon but now just my Technica ZeroG Tour Pro

[frorider]

A ‘somewhat high’ all purpose lifter also makes kickturns easier on sketchy up tracks.

Gear is evolving pretty well.

BTW look fwd to touring with you finally on one of our ootah trips MW. Just keep it below 8k please.

[plugboots]

I’ve been breaking trail in steep pow, skinning steep crust where the best line is bases flat on snow & right up the fall line

Exactly. Lately I’ve been skinning up a couloir and the bottom is soft and I have to get through that to get to the good corn up above, and the best way is to have a flat ski and go straight up. I like the feel and that’s probably why I set such steep skin tracks.

[mall walker]

A ‘somewhat high’ all purpose lifter also makes kickturns easier on sketchy up tracks.

Gear is evolving pretty well.

BTW look fwd to touring with you finally on one of our ootah trips MW. Just keep it below 8k please.

yah man! I think we’ve hit gear parity with one another these days actually, and I’m always happy to get out!

[turnfarmer]

Anyone try these?
Ticks a lot of boxes.
https://skimo.co/ski-trab-titan-vario-2

[margotron]

Anyone try these?
Ticks a lot of boxes.
https://skimo.co/ski-trab-titan-vario-2

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/revie...ab-titan-vario

what's the upside of that interesting single piece of metal toe spring? they call it 'unique' a bunch but so what?

[Boissal]

With more modern ROM boots, I see the advantage of a do it all setting like 60 mm. It’s basically set and forget at bottom of most tours. I very rarely bother using the Low setting on the Alpinist...I just switch between Flat (meadow or lake approaches, low angle valleys) and 60 mm.

I broke the tall riser on my Plum Oazos last month (the one that puts you at +44.5 mm), got lazy picking up a replacement. and ended up skinning about 10 days on a binding that has only flat mode or medium riser (+31.5). I had spent most of the season on the middle riser but used the tall higher riser extensively, mostly to follow shitty skinners all over the Wasatch and occasionally setting them myself. I gotta say I adjusted pretty fast and only missed the tall riser on a few specific occasions when I had to go real steep and felt some minor strain in my calves and a bit of added effort shifting weight forward.
If I had to pick one riser to keep though it would be tall one, definitely more range and less overlap with the flat mode.

[turnfarmer]

https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/revie...ab-titan-vario

what's the upside of that interesting single piece of metal toe spring? they call it 'unique' a bunch but so what?

Increased elasticity, less prerelease, reduced icing supposedly.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R8rYiSKvESE

[kevino]

Anyone using the Salomon MTN/Atomic backlands noticing lateral slop in the heel post? Seems to originate from the adjustable track. All four pairs in our household have developed this over the last 2-3 seasons. Curious if anyone else is seeing this?

They only get used in the backcountry, no lift served skiing.

I saw a mention on Wild Snow that Lou said something about there being a newer addition that addressed this issue but he didn't respond to my questions for clarity.

I've emailed salomon to hear their take.

[hick]

Anyone using the Salomon MTN/Atomic backlands noticing lateral slop in the heel post? Seems to originate from the adjustable track. All four pairs in our household have developed this over the last 2-3 seasons. Curious if anyone else is seeing this?

They only get used in the backcountry, no lift served skiing.

I saw a mention on Wild Snow that Lou said something about there being a newer addition that addressed this issue but he didn't respond to my questions for clarity.

I've emailed salomon to hear their take.

I have one pair with some play in the tower (maybe also a tiny bit of play in track). Other pair I have is still tight with no slop anywhere. I just keep skiing them although I can feel the play in my boots when standing in place and lifting up on my heels. Kinda annoying.


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[riff]

I’ve noticed vertical play, the fork moves up and down in the top plate a bit. No slop in the track or tower base.


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[pfluffenmeister]

Just picked up a pair of BD Helio 180s on SAC.
Look good for light is right (and sounds like they ski well too?).

[BCJC]

Quick questions for the Marker Alpinists out there:

1- When setting heel gap, do I click boot in and screw adjuster forward until contact?

2- First time using leashes, have the g3 coiled ones, should they be looped through the little relief on the front/side of the toe piece? They have semi stiff wire cable loops, and feel like they might kink that way?

Thanks!

[XXX-er]

1- any time I am are adjusting any binding for any boot, I am careful of the extra stress having the boot in the binding puts on the adj screw which could strip/wear it out, IME its better to adjust with the boot out and check several times than strip out a binding adj screw

2- not sure about this

[BCJC]

1- any time I am are adjusting any binding for any boot, I am careful of the extra stress having the boot in the binding puts on the adj screw which could strip/wear it out, IME its better to adjust with the boot out and check several times than strip out a binding adj screw

2- not sure about this

Right, makes sense.

Question still remains, do I adjust to contact, for a 0 heel gap, or just nearly contacting?

[Va Ki Bo]

Question still remains, do I adjust to contact, for a 0 heel gap, or just nearly contacting?

1-There is not much of a difference in terms of release values as the precision of toe/heel binding mounting vs heel pins installation position vs rigidity of the boot-ski-binding system as a whole exceeds ~1 mm tolerance.
But common sense says that you better avoid zero tolerances of moving metal parts in freezing temps and I stick with it. So more "just nearly contacting" or fraction/half of mm gap.

2-Girth hitched coiled part directly to the toepiece and cable loops (with breaking link) live on the boot's strap.
The least amount of fiddling stepping-in/stepping-out skis and not many things on your feet catching around (only time when I have to tuck it under the cuffs is when using boot crampons).

[BCJC]

Thanks for the input. This is how I ended up doing it. I have the loop around a buckle, and the clip will attach to that.

[Skeeze]

Were you able to get that leash on with the binding already mounted?

[BCJC]

I didn't try. I think it's doable, but it might be tough.

Worst case I just put a little piece of chord in there.

[Dshack89]

Were you able to get that leash on with the binding already mounted?

I was able to put on a leash after mounting my alpinists but it was a royal PITA and I'm not gonna make that mistake again!

[galibier_numero_un]

It's an extra hole in your ski, but there's always the option of installing a cable clamp. I'll snap a photo later today.
[edit]

Here's a pair of Nanuqs I drilled for two binding locations (Vipecs with inserts), with an extra hole for the cable clamp. At the time I did this, I was unaware of the cable loop available for Vipecs (slips under either of the two front screws), but you get the point ...
Disadvantage - an extra hole in your ski (if you can't re-purpose a hole).

Advantage - no stress on a possibly weak point of the binding?

[/edit]



... Thom