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AT Ski Gear: bindings and boots 11-Feb-2011 At 10:17:40 AM grurper

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Just a quick note. I live in Chamonix now (I gave up coming back) and I've skied telemark on and off for about 15 years. Hell! I claim to have started it here! OK OK I suck at it - but I sucked at it earlier than most :-)

I was drawn to the NTN system initially for intellectual reasons, I'm getting older and I never liked the extreme knee bends of Telemark anyway so I took the plunge and bought some NTN bindings. So now I'm shopping around for some boards to put em on and I've narrowed it down to 3 skis and I will end up getting all 3 anyway.

I rented out some Movement Akoma 180's and initially I was bemused by the width of these 'fat' skis. But up on on the pistes of Le Tourt and Col de Balme at -30 degrees I had one of the best days skiing in 20 years - and I'm way out of practice. We're having a crap season so far and there have been quite a few deaths here, drop it on the ice and you won't slow down unless you can self-arrest or you hit something. Some of the iced slopes are like polished marble and would be hard to crampon but... I was getting phenomenal purchase with these fat skis, the really held well and dug in when I wanted to stop. Fantastic control and you can really transmit a lot of power into the edges and into the tips. At other times I would flash the ice sheets looking out for patches of the soft stuff to lose some speed and they skied this like a dream. I felt more comfortable skiing alpine style parallels - and man I looked good - but when conditions looked right I just 'walked it out' into smooth linked telemark turns - it was seamless and for me, perfect!

My goal is to get out into the back country and one reads about the extra weight of the NTN binding and the slightly reduced flexibility but in my opinion these are not issues for me: Firstly, the Scarpa TX boots I'm wearing are as comfortable as slippers, give great precise control and walk mode is easy to engage/disengage. They fit my Petzl Sarken crampons like a glove and are easy to climb in, also they weight less than the usual 'duckbills' and actually the economy in weight approximates the difference between the extra weight of the NTN and many of the heavier cable bindings anyway. The flexibility may be an issue but I haven't really explored that much yet but whatever the case I just know it will beat the hell out of Dynafit bindings. I don't know how anyone uses that crap, the fulcrum is out in front of the boot and one has an awkward stepping sort of walk - as if one's stepped on somthing unpleasant and it hurts my shins. I still like my old Italian leather boots and BD cables, they give a very natural gait through the natural roll over the ball of the foot and they work well, especially on light gear but I find them underpowered on some of these mountains. However the NTN provides a natural gait over the ball of the foot, with smooth boot bellows flex blending with the movement of the binding and springs. It is a firmer action than with cables and this might get tiring but I hear softer springs is the go. I'm keen to try it out soon.

What sells me most on the NTN setup for touring is whatever the downside on going up (if I'm not being too obscure :) it's more than compensated for by the extra security of the descent and this is where I really appreciate it as much control as I can get: the NTN binding gives you mastery over the crud, the ice and the powder; I really feel the control and the security and that allows me to relax into the skiing and gives me more pleasure.

One other thing I hear, talking to people about these setup is that while the NTN provides great power transfer, especially forward it can work against you in powder making it difficult to keep the tips up. There are a couple of solutions to this: (1) you can mount the binding further back - the binding plate does provide 3 positions, about 10mm apart and is quick and easy to adjust but probably does not give enough range; (2) the other option is to get a different mounting plate. I'm going to make some up with a friend of mine, a manufacturing engineer who can arrange such things and I will make a batch. Before I embark upon this though I will contact Rottefella and ask if they have such a thing in the pipeline. The mounting plate I have in mind will be identical, just longer with have more positions to anchor the binding. Hmm, I suppose the heel plate needs to be moved as well, 'll think about this some more.

The mounting plate though is a great idea - and really sells the NTN and is why I can use other other skis. Just buy another mounting plate (it's a small steel plate, about the size of the blade from a No. 4 wood plane) they are quite cheap and I'm mounting one on an old pair of Völkls for the crappy icy and rocky conditions we have at the moment. And, I will soon buy a third plate for my dream skis.

I'm pretty much decided that while the Movement Akoma was one of the best skis I've ever used, it is really in it's element on powder and would be a load to shuffle about touring but the Scott Crus'air ski seems to be perfect and I will try a pair out next week. I already convinced I will mount the NTN bindings on them first. They're beautiful, strong, really light, have notches for skins, side bevel to cut a swathe through crud and their flex and stiffness seems perfect and the anaconda black carbon finish is way cool.

My question to anyone is - what to do about ski crampons for the NTN. This is not something that seems to have been well thought out. Perhaps the NTN is not really suited to touring, but for the reasons stated above I'm going to give it my best shot. If anybody has any ideas on this would very much like to hear about them.

Cheers to all, Grurper