Anyone skied the 'laub' at Engelberg?

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Ace wrote:

On Wed, 16 Feb 2005 12:36:19 GMT, Mike Clark wrote:

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As Sue suggests, by twisting it. In this instance it was all my own
fault - having bought touring boots (Scarpa Denali TT) And used them
for about ten days with my Alpine bindings,

snip sprained ankle

Yep, using touring boots with ordinairy bindings is a bad idea, because
the vibram sole on the Denali tends not to allow a proper sideways,
twisting release. Proper touring bindings such as the Fritschi Diamir,
and Freeride, have a twisting plate under where the boot sole sits.

I went out and got them fitted first thing the next morning. Miss a
day's skiing just 'cos I couldn't walk properly? Naah, not me.

If you're going to routinely use touring boots I'd get Fritschi bindings
put on all of your skis. At present I have separate skis and boots for
touring and for lift-assisted downhill skiing so I need to make a
decision as to which set to take with me.

Fortunately, I nearly always have only one pair of skis on the go -
currently last year's Pocket Rocket, which is a splendid all-round ski
and lightweight enough to not be a pain for touring. Must get some
skins and give them a proper try some time...


Given how few years I've been skiing I seem to have worked my way
through quite a few sets of skis! When I first started touring I hired
the gear from Argentiere (Traditional touring skis and Silveretta 404
bindings), but then I bought my first full set of personal touring
equipment for our Haute Route trip in 1999 (with the
technical improvement of Fritcshi Diamirs mk I bindings). The skis were
Dynastar 4x4s which lasted me a couple of seasons until I broke both
skis in an off piste accident in a steep sided gully, when the tips
buried themselves into the gully wall and so something had to give! I
then had a pair of Fischer Freerides, which lasted another couple of
seasons, but I did have to replace the bindings with Diamir mk IIs when
I broke the titanium bar (fortunately it was literally on the first hour
of the first day of a multi-day tour, so I was able to rush back into
Val D'Isere and get new bindings put on). Two years ago I finally
trashed the Fischers when I accidentally ended up trying to ski a piece
of tarmac road in the road tunnel descending from the Grande St Bernard
pass into Italy (there is usually a very narrow strip of snow or ice
maintained to allow skiers to negotiate a section of road). I then
replaced the skis with Atomic Beta Rides 9.22, which are so far my
favourites for touring. My wife has been using Atomics the whole time
since 1999 and has just swapped her original pair of 9.22 Beta Cruises
for a pair of 9.22 Beta Rides. Her original pair had Mk I Diamir
bindings, but she too eventually bent the titanium bar. Her new skis
have Mk III bindings. The other thing I have seen break on Diamir
bindings is the toe piece so we usually carry a spare on long tours.

One reason I have now bought myself separate skis and boots for general
downhill is that I don't think the Fritcshi Diamir bindings are up to
taking a lot of heavy punishment if skiing aggressively, particularly in
icy bump fields. The Fritcshi Freeride bindings look more solid however,
but are heavier if you want to tour with them.


Mike URL:http://www.path.cam.ac.uk/~mrc7/cccc/hauteroute/
--
o/ \\ // |\ ,_ o Mike Clark
\__,\\ // __o | \ / /\, "A mountain climbing, cycling, skiing,
" || _`\,_ |__\ \ | immunology lecturer, antibody engineer and
` || (_)/ (_) | \corn computer user"