Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus

Graham – You’ve said one thing that negates all other points: you’ve never had a pre-release. Bindings are supposed to come off when you fall. Otherwise we’d just screw the boots to the skis and that would be it. A pre-release is an imprecise term that means the skis came off – and the user is of the opinion that they shouldn’t have. If you don’t feel like you are losing your skis all the time when you shouldn’t – then your bindings are either set properly – or perhaps, in a worst-case scenario, too tightly!
All the discussions here and on TGR about bindings that go to 16 and all that confuses the issue. (Ditto the TÜV certs on bindings etc) As a big guy – you may think that having your bindings set on 9 is low – but this is actually a high number when you go by the charts (I haven’T looked at one in years – but I think they do have values above 210) Your value is determined not only by your wieght and size, but also by age and skiing style. (I think boot sole length too – I forget)
Even with all that though – the DIN setting is just a “suggestion” – it basically tries to ensure that release will happen when the forces on your leg are equal to a certain value. This value is lower if you classify yourself as a conservative skier, and higher if you ride while wearing three go-pros.
As you can divine from my statement above – I’m of the opinion that all this DIN value one-upmanship is pretty juvenile. (applying nomex underwear) There ARE skiers out there who need to set their bindings to 16 (maybe more). They are large, powerful skiers who angle hard and ski on rock-hard slopes. They create and can ride at forces that are multiples higher than average skiers. They are willing to accept higher risk of joint and bone injury that comes with these high DIN settings. They are rare. The fact that skiers like them need these settings makes 13-21 year-olds confuse cause and effect and they set their bindings to very high DIN levels against all advice and sensibility. Others have different opinions about this….
There are two things to note about all this though:
First – when using a pin-binding – they have DIN settings on them – but they don’t work in the same way as alpine bindings do. They generally don’t hold the same way. They are stiffer than alpine bindings – but lack nearly all of the elasticity of an alpine binding. The crux of the issue is that many people pop out of pin bindings early – so they do all kinds of things to lock them down – including setting them to 16….but you should keep in mind that that DIN 16 is not the same as a DIN 16 on an alpine binding. (here again – I STILL think most people riding pin-bindings at 16 are over-doing it) As Lou explains time and again here – the fact that these two very different binding types (pin and alpine) use the same terminology is a small disaster for the consumer, who is often confused.
Second – regarding your particular setting – I ski my bindings set to 6 in both alpine and pin-binding. I’m much smaller than you, and probably older. 6 ft, 165 pounds, 41 years old. but – I can ride rails, half-pipe and jump on the BC and in the park – and I only rarely have pre-releases. That said – I would usually rather have an early release than a late one, so I purposely keep my settings lower than I might if I were a racer, or if I was skiing in places where a fall might kill me. (the apres bar at the bottom of Fulpmes comes to mind) Some of the greatest skiers I know ski with values much lower than mine, even though they are larger – with no issues! This has everything to do with their style of skiing, and much less their radness quotient. A beautiful, flowing style is a pleasure to watch, easy on the body, and doesn’t require stiff-as-steel equipment and bindings. And yes – if you have that style – you can ski ANYTHING, and you will look great doing it.
If you’re wearing a brace – my advice would be, if anything, to be sure your setting is not too high and to try and develop that flowing style. If you do – you’ll be skiing, and skiing well, into old age.

I HOPE TO SEE A GOOD AND UNBIASED REVIEW OF THE HARDBOOT SYSTEM.

TOO MANY SPLITBOARDERS POO POO THE IDEA OF HARDBOOTS AND THINK THEY CANT “RIP”.

IT IS THEY WAY OF THE FUTURE! NICE, CLEAN, LIGHTWEIGHT AND EFFICIENT SETUP.

HOPEFULLY HE HAS USED THE SETUP FOR MORE THAN JUST A FEW DAYS IN POWDER SNOW AND HAS MODIFIED THE BOOTS PROPERLY. OTHERWISE IT’S NOT REVIEW BUT JUST “first impressions”.

Hey my caps lock finally turned off!

CHRIS,

Thanks for your inquiry. Check out tomorrow’s post, it is indeed a first impression after a few days of powder riding, but there will be several more posts with a more in depth review. Let me know what you’re looking for in a review.