Adjusting binding angle on skis ....

I've been trying to find out the rational behind raising the toe piece or heel piece of bindings to no avail.

Can anyone point me in the direction of any authoritative articles on this?

I am particularly interested in any real or perceived skiing "problems" that adjusting how the boot rides in the binding is supposed to address. Also would adjusting how the foot sits in the boot (extra filler under toe or heel) have a similar affect?

TVM
:thumbup:

This might be a good place to start on the "why do it" trail. Andi McCann's website....

http://www.mccannix.com/alignment.htm

Andi works with CEM. I've had Boot alignment done by him., Sole planing, internal shims, now set up to use a zero ramp angle. I reckon he's very clever at this stuff 8)

Thanks bandit - I'm still looking !!

This sort of thing is pretty much all I have found so far - nothing about the why's and wherefores of raising the toe etc.
Just the very generic that all skiers should have their posture etc checked.

It's all to do with Centre of Mass (for me anyhow) How the skeleton stacks.

I now have plates under the toe pieces of my bindings, and my skiing is way different. For the 1st time in my life my skis run flat.

When I was assessed by Andi, he asked me to raise one arm and resist him pressing down on it. When I was balanced up it was easy. Put out of balance as a test my arm just folded, couldn't resist :shock:

Trencher and pav will know ;)

Try this experiment. Place a couple of magazines (or something about 10-15mm thick) on the floor. With your ski boots on, stand with just the toes on the magazines (heels on the floor). Try it again with just the heels on the magazines. You should notice that when your toes are raised, you have a lot of shin pressure against the tongues of the boots. With the heels raised, your calves are pressed against the back of the boots. This is because you have to balance yourself. The angle (ramp) on the bindings, combined with the forward lean of your boot cuff should put you in a position where you can easily pressure the front of the ski. Sometimes these combined angles are too steep and you will find it hard to to keep forward while you are skiing. Raising the front binding with lift (or lift under the toes of the boot soles) is often called "the gas pedal". But too much lift under the toes, and you find yourself feeling like you are falling backwards; this time because you are tipped into the backseat, not because you are balancing yourself into the backseat.

Placing shims under the binding toe or heel pieces alters a skiers fore / aft balance.
A ski boots forward lean angle doesn't change with size i.e. irrespective of size the Head Raptor has a forward lean angle of 17 degrees. This often forces taller / shorter skiers to adopt an inefficient stance in order to stay in balance.

This skier's boots have the right amount of forward lean (knees under armpits).



This skier's boots have too little forward lean (knees in front of armpits).



This skier's boots have too much forward lean (knees behind armpits).



Nearly all bindings slope from heel to toe; this difference in stand height can be as much as 9mm which might bring skier 2 into balance, but could put skier 1 out of balance and would probably cause skier 3 to pack it in and take up golf instead!

Placing shims under the bindings is an effective way of correcting fore / aft balance, if the bindings are mounted flat or on a plate. If the bindings are mounted on a rail the only option is to fix a plate to the sole of the boot which is somewhat limiting when the time comes to replace the skis.

It is possible to place shims on the boot board in order to change the ramp angle but the thickness is limited by the amount of space in the boot and doing it this way affects the way the foot is positioned in the boot.

Although aimed at racers this article is worth reading http://hvst.org/files/Balance_-_Proper_Boot_Alignment_web_.pdf

There is a lot of useful info in the Rexxam ski boot manual http://www.mountainsport.ch/pdf/rexxam_manual2011s.pdf

The books Ultimate Skiing by Ron LeMaster and The All Mountain Skier by R. Mark Elling also have lots of useful information (preview via Google Books).

Aaaaah !
Now it's starting to make sense. Thanks trench and swing - I will go and have a look at those articles.

Transfering the clear "physics" of leg lean etc (from the photos for example) how does this translate into actual skiing?

What characterisitcs would skier in photo 2 (too little lean) exhibit on the snow and what would skier 3 be doing?