swaterfall Posted April 21, 2004 Posted April 21, 2004 I 'climbed' St Helens last Sat with a friend and while I was on the summit I had a strange encounter. This guy comes up to us and asks us if we've ever had problems with our dynafit AT bindings ejecting spontaneously. We both said no and I started to explain that the only time that I had heard of this was when the toe piece was out of alignment with the heal causing... When the guy cuts me off with a wave and says that he had a shop (Marmot I think) install his bindings and he was sure that it was a design problem and not the installation. I immedeatly turned away, thinking that this guy was a kook, as I don't like being cut off esp. when he was the one who initiated the conversation. Plus he seemed totally uninterested in acquiring knowlege about his equipment, but merely wanted to bitch about it. Then before I could get very far he asked us if we would mind linking hand to hand with him in a human chain so that he could walk onto the cornice and look into the crater. I thought about it for about 15 nanoseconds and said that I didn't think that it was a good idea. He gave me another wave as a brush-off and my friend and I proceeded to ski back to the car without ejecting once from our dynas. I was thinking about this encounter and wondering if I should get over it or if this guy was really a kook. Is this spray? Quote
iain Posted April 21, 2004 Posted April 21, 2004 I vote for kook. Or dead, if he went to check out the cornice. Quote
skykilo Posted April 21, 2004 Posted April 21, 2004 I've heard firsthand tales of kooks doing more than checking the cornice, if ya know what I mean, and they lived to tell... Here's to quality skiing terrain, newly created within our lifetimes. Quote
swaterfall Posted April 21, 2004 Author Posted April 21, 2004 Here's to quality skiing terrain, newly created within our lifetimes. I'll drink to that. Quote
iain Posted April 21, 2004 Posted April 21, 2004 So who has first descent creds for the dome in the middle of the crater? I bet they smelled awful when they came out of there Quote
skykilo Posted April 21, 2004 Posted April 21, 2004 No creds for illegal skiing, it's gotta be for the love, man! Guerrilla steeps... Hasta la victoria siempre, viva la nieve precipitada! Quote
ashw_justin Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 Que huevadas estas contando aqui loco! Quien seria tan volado que pensaba en matarse esquiando alla dentro el crater? Oye pero, cuenta en PM quien era... fue tu? No, no les digas a estes payasos... Quote
btowle Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 I vote for kook too, but I wonder if he had skied dynafit bindings before. Since you were at the top, he may have been popping out of the toe piece on the way up if he didn't pull up on the touring lock tabs. Quote
Squid Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 Ya shoulda pushed the rude kook off the cornice. He would've popped right out of his poorly mounted skis, leaving you with summit schwag. Quote
Bug Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 You should have asked him to jump up and down on the cornice to see if it was safe. Quote
mattp Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 Not only a kook, but he doesn't know what he's talking about. I've had Marmot mismount bindings before. In fact, they failed to tap the hole on my skis with a metal topsheet, so they delaminated the first time I skied on them. And then I had some "customer service issues" when I went back and complained. Inspite of the fact that the problem was obviously THEIR fault, they made me wait a month while they got a replacement pair from the distributor instead of setting me up with another pair of skis from their stock. Quote
Norman_Clyde Posted April 23, 2004 Posted April 23, 2004 Swaterfall, glad you got out there. Sorry we couldn't join up on Friday but probably worked out for the best. One of my Dynafits pops off when climbing, if I'm on uneven terrain and have to apply much of a twisting force. This is a major pain, but I am still sold on Dynafits in general. This particular pair I bought used-- I suspect somebody sold them because they weren't working perfectly. (A used axe is one thing, used bindings another. Not the wisest move on my part.) But with the heels locked in, they have performed as expected, never releasing unless required to. With the heel locked in, it's hard to see how one could generate enough rotational forces to twist out of the toe without releasing the heel first. Quote
swaterfall Posted April 23, 2004 Author Posted April 23, 2004 NC, I don't think any one summitted on Fri. It was pretty stormy. I don't know what would cause your bindings to release in tour mode. Assuming that you lock the toe piece in. Quote
alpentalcorey Posted April 23, 2004 Posted April 23, 2004 Norman Clyde, do you have the first year model of the tri-step? Others have reported the same problem with them and I believe life-link has a fix that they will send you for free. I have the 2nd year version of the tri-step and thankfully have not experienced any releases except for when I forget to lock them down in tour mode. Note that any version of the dynafit will twist out of the toe piece if it isn't fully locked down. Quote
Gary_Yngve Posted April 23, 2004 Posted April 23, 2004 I had issues with my toe-piece popping when I first got the TLTs, but it turned out I wasn't yarding on the lever hard enough (it goes through several clicks before fully locked). Quote
AlpineK Posted April 26, 2004 Posted April 26, 2004 Norman, All of the first year Tri-steps were recalled. Look into it. If they give you grief talk to Scott at Pro Ski. Quote
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