As many of you know I have been experimenting with a variety of non release skiboard bindings trying to come up with a fully functional skiboard touring binding . I wanted to give folks an update on the project. There have been a number of minor bumps in the road .. but with the appearance of the R8 receptor binding the project is complete.
All other non release bindings while they do work with my retrofit touring binding come up a bit short in different ways , and the only binding to really work well in all respects is the Receptor .
I like to use alpine touring boots which have a rockered vibram sole , and are lighter weight then regular ski boots , while have most of the performance of downhill ski boots. They have a somewhat wider toe area then regular ski boots.
Here is a pic of my Alpine touring boots :
One of the key issues is the size of the opening for boots and the way the front bales fit against the boots. Here is a picture of various fixed skiboard bindings showing the size of the front bale opening
In the touring binding application the rear of the boot is not locked by fixed bale but is attached via side compression cylinders on a metal wire and locked with a lever on the back .
It is crucial for the boot toe to fit snug against the side wires of the front bale , it is also important the wire hooks do not slide easily along the front wire where the bale attaches to the front plate of the binding . If the toe of the boot does not fit snugly against the front side wires or if the hooks can slide laterally along front wires where they join the front plate .. you can with strong side pressure actually torque the toe of your boot sliding slideways and causing the front lever to pop open. I have done that on the Zero , and line ff pros , climbing , side hilling on firm icy snow . not alot of fun to have your boot come loose unexpectedly . The reason , is that in both of these bindings the toe aperature is too big and the sides of the front bale do not fit snugly against the front of the boot and there is no mechanism to prevent the wires from moving along the front wire where it attaches horizontally to the front plate.
The newly redesigned Bomber elite 2 has the opposite problem its thick shoulders ( a unique feature to the bomber ) and narrow opening prevent the wider toe of an alpine touring boot from fitting. Also the thick shoulders prevent use of front hooks of the telemark binding cable
If you look at this picture of the Receptor , you will see that the boot fits very snugly with the side wires nicely up against the side of the boot
The Receptor also has something which the Line ff pros and the zero's do not which are metal collars . In this detail picture you can see that there is a spot on either side of the metal collars that the telemark cable wire hooks attached , when the telemark cables are enaged and taut the collars prevent sliding of the cable hooks along the edge of the lower horizontal bale wires.
All of this leads to a very secure front bale , telemark binding cable attachment that really prevents the front toe from torquing on climbing traverses .
I have worked out a simple rear bungeed plastic heel elevator system that works on all the other fixed skiboard bindings and provides a low position heel elevator but have yet to find any other binding that will allow me to attach a standard telemark heel elevator and provide a high position heel elevator which is very useful in climbing directly up steep slopes.
. In my review of the Receptor , you will see that I spin around the double screw receptors on the rear bale plate .. this allows me to set the binding back as I described in my review but also gives me something else !
I can put a standard telemark climbing bale between the screw and the front of the rear plate .. these cheap wire bales ared not fused at the base and I have used duct tape to tape thhe ends of the bale together and used some plastic to help wedge the climbing bale up against the front of the rear binding plate . This works well and allows the binding bale to lay flat and then elevate for a high climbing positon . Here is a pic of the climbing bale lying flat .
Here is the high climbing bale in use
These two features of the Receptor really let me complete the project . Other aspects of the touring binding had already been worked out on other non release bindings and work well on the Receptor as well .
using the plastic bungee piece , even when not in use as a heel elevator , allows the rear bale to be sligthly up this provides a metal wall against which the heel of the ski boot can rest on side hilling when not using heel elevators and further prevents the boot from torqueing in the binding ..
also there are times when you are going downhill with your climbing skins on and want to edge the skiboard to slow you down , having the side wall of the rear bale up allows you to have something to again prevent you from torquing your boot sideways when attached only by the telemark cables .
ski crampons are attached by using 30mm upside down flat head M6 machine screws that are inserted upside down from the bottom up through unused insert holes in the Receptor binding . When you tighten the binding down these the heads of these scews seat up nicely inside the rubber pad of the binding . Crampons are attached as needed for icy snow climbing via the use of wing nuts .
This binding pared with the Condors and climbing skins make for a wonderful climbing binding /backcountry board combo ..
When you get to the top the climbing stuff is removed and you are locked and loaded on a performance skiboard binding .
Holy grail acheived ! I am a very happy backcountry skiboard mountaineer !!
Time to hit the trail !
All other non release bindings while they do work with my retrofit touring binding come up a bit short in different ways , and the only binding to really work well in all respects is the Receptor .
I like to use alpine touring boots which have a rockered vibram sole , and are lighter weight then regular ski boots , while have most of the performance of downhill ski boots. They have a somewhat wider toe area then regular ski boots.
Here is a pic of my Alpine touring boots :
One of the key issues is the size of the opening for boots and the way the front bales fit against the boots. Here is a picture of various fixed skiboard bindings showing the size of the front bale opening
In the touring binding application the rear of the boot is not locked by fixed bale but is attached via side compression cylinders on a metal wire and locked with a lever on the back .
It is crucial for the boot toe to fit snug against the side wires of the front bale , it is also important the wire hooks do not slide easily along the front wire where the bale attaches to the front plate of the binding . If the toe of the boot does not fit snugly against the front side wires or if the hooks can slide laterally along front wires where they join the front plate .. you can with strong side pressure actually torque the toe of your boot sliding slideways and causing the front lever to pop open. I have done that on the Zero , and line ff pros , climbing , side hilling on firm icy snow . not alot of fun to have your boot come loose unexpectedly . The reason , is that in both of these bindings the toe aperature is too big and the sides of the front bale do not fit snugly against the front of the boot and there is no mechanism to prevent the wires from moving along the front wire where it attaches horizontally to the front plate.
The newly redesigned Bomber elite 2 has the opposite problem its thick shoulders ( a unique feature to the bomber ) and narrow opening prevent the wider toe of an alpine touring boot from fitting. Also the thick shoulders prevent use of front hooks of the telemark binding cable
If you look at this picture of the Receptor , you will see that the boot fits very snugly with the side wires nicely up against the side of the boot
The Receptor also has something which the Line ff pros and the zero's do not which are metal collars . In this detail picture you can see that there is a spot on either side of the metal collars that the telemark cable wire hooks attached , when the telemark cables are enaged and taut the collars prevent sliding of the cable hooks along the edge of the lower horizontal bale wires.
All of this leads to a very secure front bale , telemark binding cable attachment that really prevents the front toe from torquing on climbing traverses .
I have worked out a simple rear bungeed plastic heel elevator system that works on all the other fixed skiboard bindings and provides a low position heel elevator but have yet to find any other binding that will allow me to attach a standard telemark heel elevator and provide a high position heel elevator which is very useful in climbing directly up steep slopes.
. In my review of the Receptor , you will see that I spin around the double screw receptors on the rear bale plate .. this allows me to set the binding back as I described in my review but also gives me something else !
I can put a standard telemark climbing bale between the screw and the front of the rear plate .. these cheap wire bales ared not fused at the base and I have used duct tape to tape thhe ends of the bale together and used some plastic to help wedge the climbing bale up against the front of the rear binding plate . This works well and allows the binding bale to lay flat and then elevate for a high climbing positon . Here is a pic of the climbing bale lying flat .
Here is the high climbing bale in use
These two features of the Receptor really let me complete the project . Other aspects of the touring binding had already been worked out on other non release bindings and work well on the Receptor as well .
using the plastic bungee piece , even when not in use as a heel elevator , allows the rear bale to be sligthly up this provides a metal wall against which the heel of the ski boot can rest on side hilling when not using heel elevators and further prevents the boot from torqueing in the binding ..
also there are times when you are going downhill with your climbing skins on and want to edge the skiboard to slow you down , having the side wall of the rear bale up allows you to have something to again prevent you from torquing your boot sideways when attached only by the telemark cables .
ski crampons are attached by using 30mm upside down flat head M6 machine screws that are inserted upside down from the bottom up through unused insert holes in the Receptor binding . When you tighten the binding down these the heads of these scews seat up nicely inside the rubber pad of the binding . Crampons are attached as needed for icy snow climbing via the use of wing nuts .
This binding pared with the Condors and climbing skins make for a wonderful climbing binding /backcountry board combo ..
When you get to the top the climbing stuff is removed and you are locked and loaded on a performance skiboard binding .
Holy grail acheived ! I am a very happy backcountry skiboard mountaineer !!
Time to hit the trail !
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