Bindings 101: What Are Your Questions?

[dovski]

I just got a pair of the Crosson Dissenter 78's. Unfortunately, I won't have a chance to try them out until next season so I can't give you any feedback. The design does looks intriguing though. There is a little bit of tail rocker, wide tip, and a flex curve that should promote floatation. Those features should provide decent performance off of the groomed bits even though the design is focused on carving up the groomers. The sidecut is carried all the way to where the tip curves up. I assume that is to maximize edge contact for the ski's length. Probably nothing there that you didn't already know.

I just got a pair of Laser AX's and will ski them for the first time this Saturday at Alpental ... yes I know skiing a ski like this at Alpental generally does not make a ton of sense, but one of the head instructors at Alpental skied Whiteouts there all season and with the execption of the POW days loved them. Also lately they have been grooming the lower mountain and even part of the upper mountain like crazy so think these should be a fun morning ski. Will likely revert back to the SR95 in the afternoon

 

[dovski]

I have been tuning my own skis and adjusting my bindings for close to 3 decades. The other day I got my daughter new ski boots and when I went to adjust her attack 13 bindings I noticed that I had been overlooking the binding height adjustment on these bindings. I went through all out skis with Attack bindings and low and behold I had never adjusted any of the heights and they were all set wrong. This was a quick fix, but sure made me feel stupid. In my defense when I first started using the original Attack bindings I don't believe they had a height adjustment. The good news is that I knew to adjust the height on all my STHs and Marker bindings. Has anyone else overlooked this and how dangerous is it to ski on skis where the binding height is not properly adjusted? We have likely skied on some skis with incorrect height settings for at least a season or two and are lucky no one got hurt. Long story short, lesson learned and this will never happen again ... wasn't life much simpler before WTR and Grip walk bindings

 

[Philpug]

In my defense when I first started using the original Attack bindings I don't believe they had a height adjustment.

And you would be mistaken.

 

[dovski]

And you would be mistaken.

and that would not surprise me either

 

[David Chaus]

I have been tuning my own skis and adjusting my bindings for close to 3 decades. The other day I got my daughter new ski boots and when I went to adjust her attack 13 bindings I noticed that I had been overlooking the binding height adjustment on these bindings. I went through all out skis with Attack bindings and low and behold I had never adjusted any of the heights and they were all set wrong. This was a quick fix, but sure made me feel stupid. In my defense when I first started using the original Attack bindings I don't believe they had a height adjustment. The good news is that I knew to adjust the height on all my STHs and Marker bindings. Has anyone else overlooked this and how dangerous is it to ski on skis where the binding height is not properly adjusted? We have likely skied on some skis with incorrect height settings for at least a season or two and are lucky no one got hurt. Long story short, lesson learned and this will never happen again ... wasn't life much simpler before WTR and Grip walk bindings

In noting binding height adjustment, are you referring to the AFD adjustment?

 

[anders_nor]

Whats sad as well is how often stores wont adjust your AFD height either....

 

[dovski]

In noting binding height adjustment, are you referring to the AFD adjustment?

Yes AFD Adjustment, I had a couple bindings that were easily half an inch too high and I never noticed. Essentially I adjusted AFD on all but my Tyrolia Attack bindings. Feels like an armature mistake but seems I have been making it consistently for a couple years, mind you just with the Attack bindings. Luckily this only impacted a couple pairs of skis, but still not good.

 

[Noodler]

I certainly hope that Tyrolia has addressed a shortcoming on the Attack2 FR Pro2 toe with the new FR Pro3 version of the toe coming next season. When you adjust the AFD height properly for a GripWalk sole, there is very little of the actual AFD plate still in contact with the part of the boot toe sole designed to interface with the binding AFD. At least that's how things ended up on my skis with a bunch of Attack2 bindings and a couple pairs of GripWalk soled boots.

 

[dovski]

I certainly hope that Tyrolia has addressed a shortcoming on the Attack2 FR Pro2 toe with the new FR Pro3 version of the toe coming next season. When you adjust the AFD height properly for a GripWalk sole, there is very little of the actual AFD plate still in contact with the part of the boot toe sole designed to interface with the binding AFD. At least that's how things ended up on my skis with a bunch of Attack2 bindings and a couple pairs of GripWalk soled boots.

Good thing we do not have any Grip Walk boots

 

[David Chaus]

I noticed this with my Attack 2’s as well, the amount of contact between the AFD and the GW AFD surface is not an exact match.

I did switch to GW for the last two seasons, I was going to switch back to the normal soles this season but with Covid and walking more in the boots it seemed a good idea to keep GW on. However it turns out I’ve been using my Ski Trax on top of the GW soles, and it’s much better for walking so might as well switch them back.

 

[David Chaus]

Also, on the Attacks it seems like less of a height adjustment and more of a fore/aft adjustment to the AFD, to line up with the rockered angle of the GW sole.

I do not envy the binding designers having to figure out how to make their products work with GW, WTR, AT and everything else that different types of boots require. I guess it’s not as simple as it seems.

 

[Philpug]

Also, on the Attacks it seems like less of a height adjustment and more of a fore/aft adjustment to the AFD, to line up with the rockered angle of the GW sole.

I do not envy the binding designers having to figure out how to make their products work with GW, WTR, AT and everything else that different types of boots require. I guess it’s not as simple as it seems.

No it's not and we are left do deal with unintended consequences, like stack height and change of delta.

 

[dovski]

Also, on the Attacks it seems like less of a height adjustment and more of a fore/aft adjustment to the AFD, to line up with the rockered angle of the GW sole.

I do not envy the binding designers having to figure out how to make their products work with GW, WTR, AT and everything else that different types of boots require. I guess it’s not as simple as it seems.

It is actually both, as you move the AFD forward it increases the height, as you move it aft it lessens the height. From that standpoint I prefer the STH2 as it has a more intuitive adjustment, I also like the wing adjustment on that binding.

 

[David Chaus]

The system binding on the Laser AX is what, a Warden 13? Asking for a friend...

 

[dovski]

Yes Warden 13

 

[François Pugh]

I just got a pair of Laser AX's and will ski them for the first time this Saturday at Alpental ... yes I know skiing a ski like this at Alpental generally does not make a ton of sense,....

Some people have no shame

Don't feel too bad, I did worse; I skied these

here

 

[AlpedHuez]

Picking up unused 2020 MX84 flat. Was thinking of mounting STH2, with which I have no prior experience. (I do have the rebranded Wardens on all my Stöckli.) Not inclined to go for the system “Kastle” binding which looks like it is made by Tyrolia. Not the greatest fan of the Marker Royal Family. Or Attacks. For all of my skis wider than 84 I default to Pivots. Thoughts, and any others I should consider?

 

[BMC]

Picking up unused 2020 MX84 flat. Was thinking of mounting STH2, with which I have no prior experience. (I do have the rebranded Wardens on all my Stöckli.) Not inclined to go for the system “Kästle” binding which looks like it is made by Tyrolia. Not the greatest fan of the Marker Royal Family. Or Attacks. For all of my skis wider than 84 I default to Pivots. Thoughts, and any others I should consider?

Sth2 is a great binding. You’ll love it.

 

[Philpug]

Picking up unused 2020 MX84 flat. Was thinking of mounting STH2, with which I have no prior experience. (I do have the rebranded Wardens on all my Stöckli.)

Good call.

 

[DanoT]

Salomon STH2 have been marketed as an easy to step into binding on steep terrain or deep snow. I can confirm this claim after a crash on an opening day (no consolidated base) bottom out on a rock band in 3-4 feet of snow on a double black diamond run. I was amazed at how easy the STH2 was to step into compared to the Marker Jester bindings that they had replaced.