 Poster: A snowHead
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@enigma, It's only touring bindings where you can raise or lower the height of the toe pieces to accommodate various boots where you need to play round with that (those models have a screw to adjust it). I swap between touring and alpine boots so there is a lot of difference in the curve of the sole. You can check roughly on any binding by seeing if a credit card or better still a 0.5mm feeler gauge grips slightly but can still be pulled out smoothly between the AFD plate and the boot sole.
"The AFD can be a sliding mechanism or a low friction fixed device on the binding's toe piece that sits under your ski boot. It is a smooth piece designed to minimize friction between the binding and the boot during a lateral release. The purpose of the AFD is to allow the boot to slide sideways more smoothly during release.
Toe Height Adjustment
Toe height is the height of the gap between the top of the toe piece and the AFD. Bindings typically require a clearance of about 0-0.5mm between the boot sole and the AFD to function properly. Many alpine bindings feature automatic toe height adjustment, while others should be manually adjusted by a certified technician." http://www.evo.com/guides/how-to-choose-ski-bindings-and-din-setting-chart
If in doubt get a ski tech to check them, forward pressure is another thing that needs to have been set up right. I'm far from an expert but have had a bit of experience in adjusting various bindings and then asking someone more qualified to make sure I am correct 
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 11-10-16 12:13; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Thanks for this the story gets more interesting, for me I think the idea of changing the settings to match the conditions is the most radical, like so many things obvious once pointed out
Thanks for the link and reply
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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No worries. You always hear about someone on a gnarly couloir no fall zone cranking their bindings up, but not much about someone skiing slowly in low light on mounded up snow taking them down a notch. All done at own risk of course 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thank you everyone for replies and anecdotes. I haven't been back for a bit but the season is coming up fast and I need to pay attention ... now! Time flies by like nothing when you have deadline ...
OP
Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Thu 8-12-16 19:07; edited 1 time in total
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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All the stuff about slow falls being risky, and knees just being one of those things, are very helpful. I am not going to be a super-uber binding expert, I am likely way over the weight for my binding settings, but that is the whole point ... now I am reasonably convinced not to just start tightening them up because one ski came off and one didn't ... No, my bindings are not 25 years old, I had the skis from second hand about 3 years ago and probably ought to get them serviced, the bindings are probably 4-5 years old. I have had quite a few "premium" lessons over the years, preferring that to the mill of ski school.
This is the only "invalided out" fall I have had in all those years, and I have had much harder falls with no significant knee damage. So I have probably been very lucky.
Lose weight <cough>. quite right @Pam I've been a pretty stable 9-9.5 stone all my life till middle age hit me like a sock full of sand a small number of years ago. And they always put Christmas just before the ski season! 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| johnE wrote: |
| http://www.mechanicsofsport.com/skiing/equipment/bindings/din-calculator.html |
Thank you! After a half a lifetime of ski hire shops trying to strap me into 5, I find that the calculator gives me 3.5 ... the only difference, as far as I can see, is my age ... Thanks for that, a revelation. My belief is that many ski instructors and most hire shops assume everyone who skis is aiming to be a champion slalom skier and ski jumper ... things have got better over the years, at least now when I say "3 in front and 3 behind please", they waggle their eyebrows a bit, but do it. Which I appreciate.
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
Part of the issue is to accept that as skiers knees will get tweaked and hurt - it's just a reality of the equipment we use. While the knee binding may help in certain types of fall it too cannot possibly be foolproof. Doing a whole heap of leg presses or squats ramping up to the ski season is probably more efficient in protecting your knees.
The other thing is training yourself to fall properly - I definitely take more sacrificial falls onto a hip then I strictly need to because the consequences of failing at a recovery from the backseat could be very bad for my knees. For that there is no substitute for practising falling. |
Thank you. Nobody has ever suggested practicing falling ... although when I was horse riding I even did judo for a bit to improve my falling. But the fall I suffered on the not very steep ground, I didn't get a chance to adjust anything ... just there went the downhill ski, and then I was turning over ... probably if I had been able to Bend More Ze Knees really quickly I might have got to the ground faster ... you dont' see it coming.
Food for thought.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Those are good points.
I think you learn to fall, rather than practice it, if you see what I mean. I have come across snowboard drills somewhere which actually teach falling (don't try to break your fall with your wrists etc).
A certain amount of physical damage is to be expected in life. There's no point in having it if you don't use it. You may as well thrash it as hard as you can and then even if it goes badly you're no worse off than if you'd avoided the whole thing through fear. This does not constitute financial advice/ your mileage may vary. Pretty much everyone I know (including washed up professionals) has taken a reasonable amount of body damage from sports. It's not a problem unless you give in to it.
If it was me, I'd certainly find out the best bindings and get a brand new set of those set up by an expert I trusted. Then I'd forget about it.
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No advice............ However............ We have a winner for the Darwin Award.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Buy a mountainbike and do some decent downhill sections, you learn to fall properly very quickly.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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And there goes second prize!
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| Quote: |
A certain amount of physical damage is to be expected in life. There's no point in having it if you don't use it. You may as well thrash it as hard as you can and then even if it goes badly you're no worse off than if you'd avoided the whole thing through fear
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Yes but the trade off changes as you age. In my 40s I don't heal like I did in my 20s. I don't want to go, say, falling of my bike because often the recovery period takes me of my bike for a couple of weeks. I don't want to strain my Achilles because it can easily take 6 months to lose the niggle. And I definitely don't want to lose a ski season. It doesn't stop me doing anything (one exception - I do avoid riding my bike in snow and ice) but I'm not as gung ho as I was. I still fall when I'm skiing but nothing like I used to.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| arcsinice wrote: |
| No advice............ However............ We have a winner for the Darwin Award. |
Erm are you saying that learning how to fall in a way which mitigates risk to injury is a bad thing because it involves falling which is intrinsically risky. The vast majority of skiing falls are not risky at all if the person is relaxed and tucking and rolling.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@Themasterpiece, glad someone else does that. Pole plant, erm, under the ski. Doh!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Tim Heeney, are you sure the forward pressure is correct on your Salomons? I had a couple of pre-releases on one pair of skis after I changed my boots. Difference was only a couple of mm but it had a big effect on the forward pressure. After the 2nd pre-release I got the forward pressure increased and haven't had the problem since.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Hi all ... did I mention I used to do judo just to help me with falling? From horses, not from skis.  I have done a certain amount I am over 60 now - I would like to avoid being sledded off if I can, AFAE this happened to a friend to ours, they outran his son (no mobile phone, so he had no idea where his dad was for about 2 days), they took him to a hospital nobody knew were it was, and then sold him a taxi ride (owned by the same company, apparently) where the driver wouldn't help him to his flat (on a crutch) or give him a receipt. Talk about making things more scary! That guy used to be a demon skier in his youth, he's no softie, but he took a long hard look and just stopped skiing after that. His knee suffered some really serious damage, though, as in, needs another operation 3 years later. TG mine, as far as I know, hasn't.
I don't think I can afford, or need yet, top armour, now that I have done some looking-in, so I am looking to see if there is any kind of protective brace that I can afford for both legs. One enquiry so far has resulted in "you can buy this product, we don't have distributors, it's good for your patella." Very kind, but I don't have a patella issue as far as I know.
I am going to ask for recommendations on here, and talk to the ski shop where I bought my little pink former-Hire skis about binding solutions.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Wet, I use the Mueller HG80 knee brace to try and prevent further injury to my left knee but that is specifically because my left knee is unstable after damaging my ACL reconstruction... Apparently half of it is left. I discovered this after it gave way causing further damage to my cartilage which required two thirds of that to be removed to allow me to walk again! The point of the ramble is that most knee supports aim to protect / help specific issues. So it would be beneficial, to know what specific issues you have a physio should be able to help with that, otherwise, the learned opinion seems to be, just a cheap knee support will be fine for generic issues.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thank you, that is the one that the shop recommended to me  It's over £100 though, although I think I may be setting myself a challenge, looking for something that will minimise twisting damage if I fall, rather than one that "supports" the knee generally, which it doesn't seem to be asking for. (Mind you I have not skiied on it since the fall.)
I think I am going to go see our physio, though he is not a ski specialist.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Wet, I paid ~£60 for it. I am sure I saw it for so that price recently.
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That is interesting! I was looking at Google in general, I must look further. Thank you.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Non hinged supports offer no more functional protection than a tubigrip.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| skimottaret wrote: |
| The best set of guidelines for setting your bindings imo are the French AFNOR, an English version was done by Dr. Jonathan Bell of Wimbledon Clinics who posts here and can be downloaded here |
I do find that amusing. I know that it's guidance, but even so, like Scarpa says, suddenly I've got to change from running 6 or so (usual recommendation is 5 for me, and I've always run piste short radius skis at that, no probs, all piste conditions) to 3.75 just because I pass a 50th birthday. 
I know that us mature ladies can suffer some decline as we age, but actually I feel stronger and fitter now, and am a better, faster, more aggressive and stronger skier than I was before age 50 But apparently, I have to set my bindings at the same as a 25 year old beginner 
Does this advice apply to my new race slalom ski DINs too? 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@Grizzler, yeah, art not science.
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| dobby wrote: |
| @Themasterpiece, glad someone else does that. Pole plant, erm, under the ski. Doh! |
I really have perfected falling. Generally I slip, probably because I haven't committed enough, not got enough weight of the outside ski, in the backseat or some other sin. But manage to keep my skis off the ground, spin around on my back bottom/back, stand back up and ski off.
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You know it makes sense.
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| dobby wrote: |
| @Themasterpiece, glad someone else does that. Pole plant, erm, under the ski. |
Yep, I did that at a snowdome fairly recently. Well embarrassing  .
Spectacular long cartwheeling fall resulted - apparently that was pretty impressive. However, both bindings happily released, somewhere rather higher than where I ended up...
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@NickyJ thanks I am finding that there are lots of models, at various prices, not very easy how to tell them apart! I have a feeling that non hinged are basically just a pricy stretch bandage as DOM says. Working on it.
The folk I emailed seem to be counting me down through their price range with not much other information. I am trying Mueller direct to see if they can advise.
@ themasterpiece ... that is how our dear friend ripped apart his knee, ok until he got as far as the last comma and then things went wrong ... ! In fairness, he was years out of practice ... watching him in his first year back gave me valuable input for my theory that what you really need to be a good skier is a really strong pair of legs ... a few arguments with the Mr on this, he says it can all be done with technique, but then he's never had to ski on legs belonging to a lady couch potato. The dear friend was as tough a skier as you want for a grockle in his 30s, but in his 50s he just didn't have the same muscle tone any more. It alarmed him. If he hadn't had the accident, though, I think he would have got most of it back.
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Poster: A snowHead
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A NickyJ Sorry if this is a bit sick, but "because my left knee is unstable after damaging my ACL reconstruction... Apparently half of it is left." reminds me of that terrible old joke ... "Are you all right?" "No! I'm half left!"
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FAQ
