Diamir Fritsch Freeride binding release

A snowHead

Hi all,
I’ve had a pair of the above for a while, then 4 years ago I had an accident off piste and ruptured my cruciate ligament. Was helicoptered off etc.. luckily I’ve recovered and have skied for the last 2 years. However I haven’t used those skis and bindings since. But I’d like to as I used to love them.

When I had the accident they were set to a din setting of 5, pretty low, but they didn’t release. I’d like to ask about others’ experience with them. It was a pretty odd fall, I fell face forward on a steep slope in end of day powder, my ski was sticking perpendicular into the snow and my knee twisted agonisingly until someone got there and released my boot manually.

So was it just a bizarre fall? If the din was set to 4 would that be safer? Or are they known for not being great at releasing?

I’m going to the Dolomites next week and would like to trust them again.

(Note to self, will never do end of day powder again).

Thanks,

Sara

A snowHead

Sorry to hear about your accident Sara. The Fritschi Freeride should release at the heel if you fall forwards and should release at the toe if you fall left or right. I would get someone who knows about ski touring to check your bindings. The toe height can be set and that might help the release.

You maybe got unlucky. I don't think the Fritschis are as effective as an alpine binding.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Thanks very much David

You need to Login to know who's really who.

The 'DIN' settings on ski bindings are based on original research where the tibias of cadavers were twisted to establish the force required to break them. The original research did not look at the force required to damage the ACL, and there is nothing in the TUV certification of bindings that specifically assesses the ability of the binding to mitigate ACL injuries.

Bindings that release laterally at the toe (alpine bindings, Fritschi Freerides, Fritchi Vipecs and Tectons) have a 'blind spot' which exposes the ACL to a risk of injury, ie the binding will often not release when the ski receives a force which is likely to damage the ACL.

Pin bindings that release at the heel (Dynafit bindings, Marker Kingpin etc) don't suffer from the 'ACL blindspot' problem, and some research has suggested that you are less likely to damage your ACL when using that sort of binding. However, these bindings have a 'blind spot' which exposes your Tibia to a risk of fracture.

Knee bindings are designed to not have a 'blind spot' for either the ACL or tibia, but they don't make a touring version or work with touring boots. Additionally there is some debate about whether they work as well as the manufacturers claim that they do.

Re Davidof's point about Freerides v. alpine bindings. I agree that alpine bindings work better, although in my experience the big difference is that the Freerides lack elasticity so you have to ski them at a higher DIN setting to avoid pre-release. If you were skiing at a DIN of 5 that probably wasn't the issue in your case.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Oceanic, good summary.

Sara42, as Oceanic says, alpine bindings were never designed to prevent ACL injuries and your frame touring binding falls in to that classification. So it's highly likely that your accidient was one of those '$hit happens' moments.

However, there's a number of things you can check to ensure correct functioning of your bindings:

- get the forward pressure and toe height adjustments checked.
- Check your boots for excessive toe/heel lug wear &/or burrs etc.
- Check that the pivoting AFD is working correctly. There's an issue with the older Titanal/Titanal II/Freeride/Freeride+ models in that their AFD's jam solid so inhibiting the lateral release. Basically it's a crap design that pivots off the frame bar as opposed to being a proper lateral sliding AFD like the one which they've now fitted to the Freeride Pro model.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Thanks for that in-depth answer, it really helps. I think for this trip I'll hire. It's going to be mainly piste skiing anyway. I must admit I was really surprised when I checked the din settings, I hadn't actually looked at them since the accident and I always assumed that they must have been set much higher. It that had been the case I'd feel happier about using them again. Someone else suggested that the toe grip might be too tight. I'll take them time when I'm getting free ski carriage and it doesn't matter!

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Thanks Spyder, I had read up on the sliding plate of the freeride pro. Maybe it's time to trade them in!

Help!!

Diamir Fritsch Freeride binding release

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Equipment Reviews/Questions