AES wrote:

As a matter of curiousity, why does NNN BC exist, or why did it come
into being, in competition with 3 pin bindings?

I suspect it's related to the fact that we've been told for many years
that the duckbill toe is On The Way Out... ;-/ SNS/NNN have at least
managed to replace 50mm duckbills and 75mm track boots, but the BC
hasn't removed duckbills because people persist in buying them ;-)

I happen to use NNN BC with waxless edged skiis (Karhu 10th Mountain or
the like) for some very low-key backcountry exploring around Lake Tahoe
(climb up a ridge or peak, maybe on an unplowed Forest Service road;
admire the view; very cautiously ski back down, with hardly any downhill
turns), because that's the equipment I was pointed to initially. But
the choice in boots seems much more limited for NNN BC than for 3 pin.

Boot choice seems to be a function of national importers and local
stockists as much as actual production. In the UK it's very hard to
find much choice in boots at all: you can have any of the heavy plastic
tele, a couple of leather tele and some token track models and not much
else (nobody seems to do SNS in the UK now, and Salomon UK don't seem to
realise they actually sell nordic gear!). In Alpine areas where people
tend to be on tracks for Nordic the BC stuff is there rather than
toruing duckbills and is, I think, in large part for those folk that
want boots with a decent sole for off the ski. Norway seems to have a
relatively good choice in everything, though ofcourse it costs a fortune :-(

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/