I need a better breakable leash

[jesselillis]

Right now I have a cable tie through the tongue attachment point of my Spirit 3 boots, and the Dynafit cable leash attached to that. The leash extends and clips to the nylon strap/metal ring which is attached to my Dynafit binding (tour/ski toe lever).

 

The idea is the cable tie breaks if I give it a good enough yank, so the skis don't anchor me down in an avalanche. But the zip tie has now broken on three separate non-avalanche occasions. If you have a better breakable leash setup, please describe it for me. Elsewise, I'll just look for a beefier cable tie that still fits through the tongue attachment point.

 

I'm disinclined from breaks. Though I'm also disinclined from losing skis. So...

 

Thanks

 

[rob]

dude, get a fuse link

 

http://www.bndskigear.com/skileash.html

 

or something similar. Maruelli makes some too

[counterfeitfake]

I've been thinking about this lately. How is the fuse going to tell the difference between an avalanche and a good hard fall?

 

You can do a lot of fiddling about with breaking strengths, but I don't think anybody can tell you for sure what forces you'll encounter in a real avalanche. I'd wager it's very easy to create more force in a crash than you'll see in an avalanche. I'm thinking that if you really don't want to lose your skis on a normal day, but really don't want to get submarined in an avalanche... the right answer is brakes.

[rob]

I've been thinking about this lately. How is the fuse going to tell the difference between an avalanche and a good hard fall?

 

You can do a lot of fiddling about with breaking strengths, but I don't think anybody can tell you for sure what forces you'll encounter in a real avalanche. I'd wager it's very easy to create more force in a crash than you'll see in an avalanche. I'm thinking that if you really don't want to lose your skis on a normal day, but really don't want to get submarined in an avalanche... the right answer is brakes.

 

Brakes don't help when the ski gets buried in the pow

 

The maurelli fuse links break at 40kgf -- that's like 400 newtons. That's quite a fall, at that point they're probably stuck on something

[tvashtarkatena]

risk v cost of losing a ski down a chute or having one flapping during an avalanche.

 

Chute scenario way more likely and could present some real suck, particularly on traverses.

 

I put a key ring on my toe buckle wire and clip the leash to that. Don't think that'd stay on in an avi, but it's good for hanging on to the ski otherwise.

 

400 N is only 90 lbf.

Edited February 16, 2013 by tvashtarkatena

[rob]

fun conversation

 

The BnD fuze link has a companion leash that acts like a screamer -- it supposedly prevents falls from triggering the fuse, which instead requires constant force to break. The idea is to prevent peak load on the fuse -- a long, elastic leash allows the dynamic and static forces of the falling skier to be absorbed by the snow, allowing the leash to merely absorb the dynamic/static forces of the ski (not the ski + skier). Skis weigh, what, like 5 lbs? Because of this, they actually use an even lighter fuse -- like 40 lbf.

 

I've never bothered to test it. I'm not even using a fuse, I just clip right into the steel loop. Yee-haw!

 

I wonder if your keyring really would break in a burial? Some of those keyrings are super strong, and some of them I can bend with my hands.

[genepires]

disclaimer - I don't ski

 

why not use some flagging (or some other strong brightly colored material) tied to the ski and let it drag behind? That way if the ski is buried, you will have a easier chance to find it as hopefully part of the flagging may be sticking out of the snow. This used to be a old school resolution.

[tvashtarkatena]

fun conversation

 

 

 

I wonder if your keyring really would break in a burial? Some of those keyrings are super strong, and some of them I can bend with my hands.

 

The keyring wouldn't, but I'm sure the wire mount would tear off the boot. That would suck, but probably not as much as losing a ski mid trip. That's my twisted thinking, anyway. Not a recommendation, just my garage shop way of doing things, I reckon.