Snowjam comparison: Which binding is better? NNN or SNS?

Various parts of bindings get jammed with snow -- frozen, slushy or
otherwise.

Is there consensus on which type is best?

NNN relies on 2 small slots.

SNS uses one big channel.

Who wins?

I was skiing in fresh, 32F snow just now and the heels of the NNN's
got a nice big ice clump. So there's that. Usually they seem to work
fine, but what's usual? I haven't made a study of it. Has anyone else?

On Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:36:34 -0800 (PST), jeff potter
wrote:

Various parts of bindings get jammed with snow -- frozen, slushy or
otherwise.

Is there consensus on which type is best?

NNN relies on 2 small slots.

SNS uses one big channel.

Who wins?

I was skiing in fresh, 32F snow just now and the heels of the NNN's
got a nice big ice clump. So there's that. Usually they seem to work
fine, but what's usual? I haven't made a study of it. Has anyone else?

If you google around you will find that there is very little performance
difference between them and it's more important to pick a boot that best fits
your foot and go with that binding system.

Ben

On Wed, 24 Feb 2010, jeff potter wrote:

Various parts of bindings get jammed with snow -- frozen, slushy or
otherwise.

Is there consensus on which type is best?

NNN relies on 2 small slots.

SNS uses one big channel.

Who wins?

I was skiing in fresh, 32F snow just now and the heels of the NNN's
got a nice big ice clump. So there's that. Usually they seem to work
fine, but what's usual? I haven't made a study of it. Has anyone else?

Hmm, you are just noticing that now? It happens to me all the time
with my NNN bindings!
It must be "Murphy's Law of Adhesion": glue, epoxy, sticky snow etc will
stick to everything except what you want it to!

I think icy clumps under the "ball" of my foot are even worse
than under the heel. I can scrape the heel off with my poles,
but have to take the skis off the clear the forward part of the binding
plate.

A few years ago I thought maybe the one wide channel of the SNS would
be less prone to clumping, and that, plus the fact that SNS was easier to
get around here, made me think of switching. But since Fischer dropped
SNS, NNN is becoming more available.

Maybe that's a reason the NNN-BC only has the 2 slots on the front part
of the boot/binding - not on the heel.

I've tried rubbing various oils, greases, waxes on the binding plate
with limited sucess - it seems to work for a hour

There must be some substance that completely refuses to bond to ice!?



--

David Dermott , Wolfville Ridge, Nova Scotia, Canada
WWW pages: http://www.dermott.ca/index.html