Equipment for PMTS

[John Mason]

Never heard of the "chip" falling off. I've had my I75m's for over a year and the chip part is still fine. (what a fun ski to open up on and ski fast with!)

We did have one in the group at big sky experience a pre-release on Atomic bindings. But he was slightly shimmed. Scuttlebutt was they do have a general problem though.

I have atomic and head. My atomic gs-9 and my head xrc 1100 both rode on a roof rack in some nasty salt spray. By the time I had gotten home the atomics had some rust to deal with while the head was still shinny. Don't know what if anything that says about the quality of metal used in those too skis.

As far as PMTs technique and equipment goes, I would think the boots and boot setup is far more of a factor than which ski one chooses to use. The only think ski wise I can think of is a ski that pressures and bends progressively is more versitile than a stiffy ski. Since PMTS at it's higher levels is an excellent way to achive high levels of carving, a progressive ski becomes a better tool to use pressure to change turn shape than some other choices.

[Max]

Hobbit,

Looks like you jinxed me. Today I was laying down some agressive carves and I prereleased! I'm cooking along at 30mph or so and half way through an agressive carve my ski is gone. And this on fairly soft snow with no bumps. Nasty crash too.

My bindings are set for skier type III so in theory that should be high enough, but I think I may need to go up a notch to keep them on my feet when I'm skiing agressively. I don't think it has much to do with the fact that they are Atomics because many of the local racers are on Atomics and they don't have any issues with them.

However, I have read over on Epic that some people think Atomics prerelease alot, then others say they work great.

[Hobbit]

Epic is full of references to Atomic pre-release.
For people who say they work great -- I wish them all the luck. I think they need it (especially if they like to ski aggressively).

Last year I crashed on a groomed blue slope (the bottom ob the Jabberwocky run at Winter Park). The snow conditions were beautiful. I lost one ski for no particular reason and was flying in the superman position for 5 to 10 yards (hard to tell exactly) and landed on my ribcage. Three weeks break in the ski season thanks to the bindings. So I read a bunch of epic posts where people were saying ?crank it up?. Than I set those from 6 DIN to 8 so that I won't see it happen again. I was doing OK for a while but this year (last Saturday) I paid a price for this again. While skiing bumps I end up going down the slope with my back facing downhill. The binding just would not release since it was set to 8 so I tore the calve muscle. So either way you are taking the risk. That?s why I said I am very unhappy with Atomic bindings. If you study the DIN chart it looks like a black magic. I am getting tired of trying different settings and at this point I feel like a test dummy. Most people set the DIN to the higher setting but they do take a gamble. Having a reliable binging is so important and I?ve seen the best marks for Tyrolia brand. That was one of my reasons for switching to Head. If you buy Atomics you will be stuck with their bindings for sure.

John, I completely agree with what you are saying about the ski ability to bend progressively. This is what I was trying to express in my previous post.

[*SCSA]

Ouch!

I'm on Tyrolia's, have been since day 1 with PMTS. I have the Railflex 12 on my ic160's and the Mojo 14 on my i88's.

Both skis are set to 8.5, per Diana. I've never touched them. One day, I thought my Railflex setting was too low. Instead of changing it, I changed my technique. I don't ski really fast, but I do like to get on it.

When I've come out of my bindings (knocking on wood -- my head ), I should have. When my ski comes off it's because I've made a mistake, like loading up the front of the ski in the bumps.

I've had the Railflex pop off in deep snow when it probably shouldn't have, but then again, the ic160 is a little narrow for deep snow. Never had any problems when carving with the Railflex.

The Mojo has performed perfectly. I've had it in deep snow, going a pretty good clip. No problems.

[snocat]

Atomic bindings seem to work better with a little more forward pressure, I have the screw recessed about 1mm instead of flush and I've never had a problem with them, run them the same DIN as other bindings I've used, about 8. I've heard people recommend having the screw recessed 1-2 mm.

Overall I think Atomics tend to be more sensitive, like if you have any snow at all on your boots it can affect release. A shop tech told me occaisionally the binding will fail their release test with a customers boot, but if they put another boot of the same size they work fine. He had no idea why since boots are supposed to be standardized, but could be some kind of irregularity or wear pattern that affects it. This was previous years models, don't know anything about the new redesigned Atomics.

I also have a couple pair of Tyrolia railflexes and they seem good overall, but I've had them release a couple times in deep snow on my Gotamas when maybe they shouldn't have, like when I was cruising in some windblown at the top of Mammoth and hit a patch of ice and my ski popped off and ended up at the bottom of Mammoth

Looks have the most elasticity, so they tend not pop off due to sudden jolts that may make another binding release and cause you to crank up your DIN. A lot of freeride skiers seem to like them.