What do you think of this setup?

[Attitude]

[cracked]

I skied my new setup yesterday, around Long's Pass, while Skykilo and his buddies showed off their manliness by skiing Stuart. I decided not to climb after my binding prereleased and I fell over a five foot boulder. My pack broke the fall.

 

Back to the gear: The Denalis . We hiked about three miles on mostly dry road, up and down, no pain, no problems. Hiked snow up Long's Pass, no problems. Skinned probably a thousand feet while yoyoing in the valley. COMFY boots, just unbuckle everything (inc. powerstrap) and they hike and tour great. As for skiing, they rock. Mucho power, a lot of forward lean, good times.

 

Bindings: Marmot set the Diamir 3s at a DIN of 5.5 for some reason, telling me to crank it up if it prereleased often. I figured out this was pretty low when I tried to turn at the edge of a snow-covered boulder. The binding released, and I cartwheeled over the edge, but luckily fell on my back, so my pack broke the fall. I walked away, but it was scary. Sky's two buddies both had minimalist Dynafit bindings, so it took them ten minutes to get in. I like the step-in of the Diamir, I'm slow enough already, thanks.

 

Skis: Mira=nice. Turn well, tour well. Only thing I noticed, on the 40 degree HARD snow off of the pass, I couldn't edge worth a damn. I really couldn't stop side-slipping. I'm rather knock-kneed, so I think I'll have to play with the cant thing, maybe that will help.

 

Overall, I like the setup, love the area, and now I want to go back and ski that damn mountain. Oh, and to Sky and Co. for the descent, and for taking my slow ass along.

 

Thanks guys!

[lisa]

Sounds like a great ski trip and tour, congrats!

I did want to mention on your binding release issues, Marmot does not adjust the release settings.

We back them off from the previous user, but by no means do we ever set the release. I would like to know who helped you or, if it was your request to set them.

I am glad you were not injured on your fall from pre-release, that is just the reason we don't touch din settings, it's up to the customer.

 

 

 

[cracked]

Thanks for the update, I know Marmot wouldn't be responsible, as actually the ski tech didn't adjust the bindings. He showed me how to change the DIN. We checked what Fritschi says would be appropriate for my weight, and that was 5.5, where the bindings were set at. I would never blame Marmot for not adjusting them, I just wondered why they didn't know that 5.5 would be very low for me.

 

Oh, and a to Marmot for mounting the binding the same day, I'd buy you guys a six-pack, but I'm underage.

[iain]

wow 5.5 is way low. I would crank them up a fair bit or you might be seeing your bindings releasing on steep icy skinning traverses and stuff. that would suck.

[scot'teryx]

Marmot did the same thing to my bindings when they mounted them. I told them my weight and my experience, and they said they would set them accordingly, and I never checked to see if they did.

Of course my first outing this season I released on every turn in the mashed potatoes....

[skykilo]

The best way to set the DIN is just to keep turning the screwdriver clockwise until it won't turn any more. I learned that trick from this old guy, and my bindings have never released when I wouldn't have wanted them to release. Man, sometimes old people know what they're talking about.

 

Oh yeah, Scott, why didn't you have a screwdriver with you? I always carry one, it's definitely one of the top 487 essentials. How else are you gonna steal a car when you get lost in the woods and hike out to some road with 30 miles to go to nowhere?

[cracked]

I cranked them up to 6.5 or 7, thanks for the screwdriver, Sky. I can't blame Marmot, after all, if they ajusted the DIN too high and someone broke a leg, they'd get sued. Still, prereleases suck.

[gregm]

as a rule shops will set bindings to a very low din so that they cannot be held liable if you have an injury from failure to release. presumably if you are skiing something where you are more likely to get injured from a prerelease you are doing so "at your own risk" or whatever and should know what you are doing i.e. set your own din. also, whatever the weight chart says you want to clamp down quite a bit higher if you are skiing aggresively.

 

prereleasing can really really suck if you're skiing something exposed. i know people who got the burlier daimiers just so they could crank them down to 12. i would consider cranking them well beyond 6 or 7 depending on what you ski.

[JoshK]

Yeha, I have my dynafits cranked as high as they will go. In fact, on terrain where a fall would be deadly, I actually lock the front of the binding into touring mode so that I basically can't release unless I really torque the thing. i suppose a busted knee is better than having a ski pop off on a horribly steep slope.

 

BTW, how does it take 10 minutes to get into dynafits? They certainly aren't as fast as heavier bindings, but it never really takes me more than 30 or 40 seconds even if they are being a pain in the ass.

[ExtremoMtDude]

rokin setup bro, gogetsum

[skykilo]

I think they just had ice in those little holes near the toes of their boots, and maybe they weren't excavating it as efficiently as possible. I sure wouldn't want to have to deal with that on some icy, steep, exposed slope. Actually, maybe that would be fun.

[JoshK]

Yeah, I can see that. the dynafits are awesome for general touring, but I plan on getting another setup ASAP for difficult descents. For long miles of touring and anything less than difficult descents, they rock however.

[dalius]

I dunno, the dynafits are supposed to be able the hairiest descents just as well or better than any other rando binding. Or so is the word on the street. Just because they're small doesn't mean they're fragile. It seems like those things have been put to the test for many years and have proven bomber as hell.

[skykilo]

The point wasn't their durability, but rather the finagling sometimes requires to properly set the boot in the binding.

[scot'teryx]

skykilo said:

Oh yeah, Scott, why didn't you have a screwdriver with you? I always carry one, it's definitely one of the top 487 essentials. How else are you gonna steal a car when you get lost in the woods and hike out to some road with 30 miles to go to nowhere?

 

I got myself a screwdriver now, but instead of ripping off cars, I just call my friend to pick me up

 

[ExtremoMtDude]

I personally don't like the dynafit system, i'm willing to sacrifice weight to have a more bomber beefy alpine-esque setup.

 

We built a big kicker up on baker, and my buddy who had the dynafit system just couldn't hang, his setup was constantly releasing, just wasn't cool. with my freerides i was rippin all day long, just as if i were ridin the park.

[alpentalcorey]

Dynafits are the best because you don't have to listen to all that clack-clack-clack with every step. Hmm, if it takes me 10 minutes to get them on, its probably 1 minute to get them on and 9 minutes to space out. Or maybe to tend to my chronic bronchitis.