Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus

Yesterday, West Elk Mountains, Colorado. Jonathan Cooper testing his Santa beard and hardboot setup using Dynafit TLT 6ers.

Is it Coop or is it Santa? In any case, Merry Christmas from WildSnow dot com, may your days be many cold faces.

9 Responses to “Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus”

1. Graham Comfort December 22nd, 2015 8:16 pm

   This has nothing to do with the recent posts but is about DIN settings. I’ve enjoyed your articles about this and have a question. I am a large man…6 foot 3 and 250 pounds. I am an expert skier who can handle anything on the hill. I am an ex hockey player who has never had a lesson so my style can best be described as power…not finesse. I hockey stop my way down the hill but can manage anything. I ski on 2013 191cm Volkl Mantras with rossignol axial 120’s and my boot sole length is 333mm It makes me leery that the DIN setting chart ends at 210 pounds. I have my bindings set at 9. Is this too low? have never had a pre release….. Ever but that chart ending at 210 pounds gives me pause. What should I be skiing at? I love steep and cruddy… And with my style I usually blow stuff up if I get in trouble. P.S. I have only 1 ACL left My right knee is supported by a custom brace like offensive linemen in college football wear. Any help would be appreciated because I have never trusted the chart.

2. Wookie December 23rd, 2015 4:46 am

   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.

3. Adam Olson December 23rd, 2015 7:25 am

   Graham, in my opinion Dyna Fit bindings are not for you. I am 6’4″, 200# and found them to be very unreliable in steep terrain. If you are going out for a ski on a “blue” run you will be ok.

   In order to keep the skis on your feet people are locking down the toe piece. This eliminates most of the release capabilities of the binding.

   You should look toward the Fritschi Freeride or for moderate weight savings, the Fritschi Eagle. These bindings are very user friendly and way more reliable than the Dyna Fit.

   Good luck and go get it!!!

4. CHRIS December 28th, 2015 8:10 am

   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.

5. Lou Dawson 2 December 28th, 2015 8:32 am

   Coop rips adequately. Review coming. It’ll be biased. This is a blog not the New York Times, but the bias will be obvious (grin). Lou

6. CHRIS December 28th, 2015 10:03 am

   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!

7. Lou Dawson 2 December 28th, 2015 12:11 pm

   Wow, amazing you got your caps lock to turn off!

8. Coop December 28th, 2015 6:42 pm

   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.

9. CHRIS December 29th, 2015 11:35 am

   FIRST OFF, CONGRATS ON ACTUALLY USING THEM BEFORE doiNG the rEVIEW.
   THATS ALREADY A STEP AHEAD OF OTHER REVIEWERS.

   snowboarders think they betray their spirit hommie or something by trying a ski boot…

   MY CAPS LOCK IS BROKEN