Bindings position

On a previous thread Pavel made reference to the realskiers.com website. I spent a bit of time browsing the 'free' bits of the site and was quite intrigued by the following article;
http://www.techsupportforskiers.com/binding_placement.htm

It basically suggests that the centre marks on most modern skies are possibly too far towards the rear of the ski and in a test, all the skiers tested performed better with the bindings moved futher forward.

I remember Trencher mentioning moving the bindings forward on my Salomon Streetracers a while ago.

Any thoughts people? I think this Autumn my bindings may be visting the tips of the skis for a few runs!

Ellistine,

You have now discovered the reason why that site is so good. It questions issues that others do not dare even approach.

As far as binding positioning, ,,,,,the ball of the foot, that is that first articulation of your big toe must be in the center of the chord length of the ski.

The chord length is the distance from tip to tail if you take a string. Thus it is the line from tip to tail.

The article in question noted how two skis from same ski company had two binding positions.

Never trust the ski length number printed on ski. Always measure it.

Some people are experimenting with binding positioning. You can say there's normally potentially three positions on many skis, male and female to reflect differences in balance and freeride/freestyle for difference in application.

I'm extremely dubious about this personally, the problem is that over a average day on a variety of terrain I doubt you can find a perfect position. If you spent all day carving on groomed piste I think you'd easily find a good position. Likewise any ski racer will benefit.

It's largely a UK/US thing really, obsessing about kit in some way, in the Alpes you'll find most people just buy a pair of skis and go out and use them. If I wanted to mess around like this I'd probably need to go to Verbier and find a store that's used to dealing with English.

That article makes some remarks about tester feedback for some very similar skis, I think that's all a red herring as well. If you test skis before you buy them then it's entirely irrelevant, you're going to buy the ones you ski best on. Mostly of course skis are bought based on the impression we're trying to give in the cable car :D

Ise wrote:

"It's largely a UK/US thing really, obsessing about kit in some way, in the Alpes you'll find most people just buy a pair of skis and go out and use them".

I am inclined to agree. I have a lot of French skiing friends- some of who are very good indeed- and they seem to be very relaxed about gear. I suspect that technique and fitness are the keys to good skiing with equipment coming a poor third.

Geoff Smith

ise wrote:It's largely a UK/US thing really, obsessing about kit in some way, in the Alpes you'll find most people just buy a pair of skis and go out and use them.

I think there's probably a reason for this (at least there is with me) - In the UK we spend probably two weeks a year actually skiing and 50 weeks thinking about skiing. That's a lot of time spent browsing the internet, reading reviews, researching techniques etc etc. When the 50 weeks of waiting finally comes to an end we want to know our gear is correct and not hindering our efforts in any way. On my bicycle I can tell if the seat height is out by a few mm. I can still ride the bike with the seat too high or too low but at the right height I save the most energy. Most people you see riding bikes do not have their seat hight set correctly and simply are unaware of the difference it can make.

ellistine wrote:

ise wrote:It's largely a UK/US thing really, obsessing about kit in some way, in the Alpes you'll find most people just buy a pair of skis and go out and use them.

I think there's probably a reason for this (at least there is with me) - In the UK we spend probably two weeks a year actually skiing and 50 weeks thinking about skiing. That's a lot of time spent browsing the internet, reading reviews, researching techniques etc etc. When the 50 weeks of waiting finally comes to an end we want to know our gear is correct and not hindering our efforts in any way. On my bicycle I can tell if the seat height is out by a few mm. I can still ride the bike with the seat too high or too low but at the right height I save the most energy. Most people you see riding bikes do not have their seat hight set correctly and simply are unaware of the difference it can make.

That's exactly what I was thinking, on the one hand I can see that anyone wants to arrive with everything perfect. On the other, you can't help thinking just relaxing and getting on with it might not be a bad idea :D

ise wrote:just relaxing and getting on with it

I wouldn't say it's something that stresses me out. In fact, to me, understanding the various aspects of the equipment is part of the enjoyment of skiing. Chatting about it on sites like this also adds to the enjoyment.

ellistine wrote:

ise wrote:just relaxing and getting on with it

I wouldn't say it's something that stresses me out. In fact, to me, understanding the various aspects of the equipment is part of the enjoyment of skiing. Chatting about it on sites like this also adds to the enjoyment.

The level's about right here to me, I've seen other stuff that's just too much and crosses a line into mumbo-jumbo.

I'll settle for arriving in the right place with all my kit having this season once forgotten the liners for my boots arriving in the next village, once forgetting a drink while ski touring and yesterday, not skiing, forgetting my fleece and having to buy new sweatshirt.