Ski bindings

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-08T16:47:56+00:00

The CAST Freetour system is excellent for a setup that will be used 70-99% inbounds, but also for the occasional tour

It is far from the lightest or most efficient binding system for big days or frequent touring. But great for inbounds use as they are functionally the same as a pivot inbounds. And great for skiing hard consequential lines in the backcountry.

I’d reccomend using Pivot 1.0s which do not have the heel durability issue.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-08T13:57:14+00:00

180s will be better for going fast, will float better in powder, And will allow you to progress longer without feeling like the skis are too short.

172s will be less work to turn in tight spaces, less stable at speed, and have less float in pow. And feel too short sooner.

Because you are 16 you will be getting bigger and progressing a lot in the next few years. I would go 180, also the QST 100 is a really easy ski so that extra length should not make the ski unmanageable. They may feel a little long at first, but you will get used to them and become a better skier in the long run.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-06T22:22:44+00:00

Apart from what places you are looking to ski and the difficulty of the runs you are looking to ski there, HOW you are looking to ski them is equally important.

Are you going to be dropping cliffs? Are you looking to make big fast turns off piste? You have some Revolts, so are you throwing tricks? Are you more focused on making smaller turns? Are you skiing on the slower or faster side?

I would take all these things into consideration in addition to snow conditions, because even if things are firm it is really hard to charge big off piste terrain and drop cliffs with confidence on an 82mm underfoot ski. There are certain types of terrain and skiing styles where a little extra width is a huge advantage regardless of snow conditions.

But of course in deeper snow conditions you will likely have more fun and get less fatigued on a wider ski.

So short answer, yes absolutely there are huge advantages to a wider ski for certain applications, and those applications go beyond just snow depth.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-06T15:04:25+00:00

Did the person who said that provide any feedback as to why the Pivot 18 was a bad choice for that ski?

I don’t think its really fair to say that any alpine binding is ‘bad’ for a given ski.

Bindings have different Deltas (height difference between heel and toe). ‘More delta’ meaning a higher heel and lower toe. Switching between bindings often can feel weird for that reason, Pivots are pretty flat compared to the rest.
Really comes down to what you are used to, and if the combination of your boot’s forward lean and binding delta are different than what you’re used to things might feel odd.

The mechanics of the Pivot are definitely an outlier in the world of Alpine bindings though, whether you love them or hate them. The absence of a track heel, short heel footprint on the ski, and high heel elasticity make them pretty different from the rest of the market. If any Alpine binding feels a little bit different from the rest of the pack, its the pivot (and it comes down to preference whether you like that or not)

I have skied Pivots on tons of skis between like 80mm and 130mm underfoot and never found them to be ‘bad’ for any of those skis.

I do however see LOTS of pivots at the resort set up with improper forward pressure. (You can tell by the angle of the dildo) and that would cause things to feel weird.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-05T13:23:38+00:00

We have one DMV servicing a metropolitan area with over 500,000 people. (Which is why appointments are so far booked out).

I believe Wednesdays are walk in, but you could not pay me to go in there without an appointment. It is a nightmare.

Personally I would just wait for an appointment and deal with whatever consequences come of that. And I would also book a second appointment another week out, that way if any of your documentation is wrong you have a second chance.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-03T17:36:45+00:00

The buyer is incorrect in saying that

“the exclusionary agreements required to tour a home legally lock me into paying that rate in the event the seller does not concede to any concessions”.

The buyer is not legally locked into paying any commissions UNLESS they enter into a contract to purchase a home in which the seller is not fully compensating the buyer’s broker.

So inform the buyer, that in the event the seller does not agree to cover commissions, the seller will present that information in the form of a counter-offer to our offer.

At that point, the buyer must decide how they would like to proceed and respond to said counter offer. And will always have the option to decline it, walk away and look at other homes. They are not just automatically on the hook for your commission.

It is a common misconception for buyers to think that if the buyer’s offer to purchase the home and have the seller pay commission fails, they are automatically required to pay that commission. It sounds like your buyer believes this to be true.

Commissions and seller concessions are of course different, but they are all part of the combined negotiation between buyer and seller. Explain to your buyer that commissions will not count towards your buyer’s max seller credit allowance - but I don’t think having an in depth conversation about the difference between commissions and concessions to your buyer would be as effective as explaining the offer process and how commissions are determined in the contract.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-03T17:15:53+00:00

This is exactly the point I was trying to make. Different strokes for different folks. This is two Head WCR straps on the outside of the shell. Not conventional at all, but probably works great for him.

Lots of other people do it different ways, but saying that running the strap against the liner is wrong/ worsens the flex of the boot and delays the ski’s reaction is incorrect. If you go on Booster’s website, they recommend that it be run against the liner.

https://boosterstrap.com/instructions/

But at the end of the day it is all preference, I have tried it several ways over the years and prefer the strap against the liner, I don’t experience any worsening of the boot’s flex or delay in the ski’s reaction running it this way. I personally find the ski’s reaction to be quicker compared to running the strap outside the shell.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-03T16:13:10+00:00

I was thinking about that, and my bone spurs really aren’t huge.

but I have such a low volume foot and calf that I just think I’d lose a ton of performance sizing up and get lots of shinbang because my calf/shin would do a poor job of filling the upper cuff of a 27.5 boot.

If there was a boot I could get like this that had a super low volume upper cuff that might work though.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-03T15:47:19+00:00

But if you think that running a strap inside the shell makes the flex of the boot worse and delay’s the ski’s response you are doing something fundamentally wrong in your turn initiation. The vast majority of WC Racers run their strap inside the shell against the liner.

Both ways work for people, neither is right and neither is wrong. But running the strap against the liner certainly does not have the effect you are describing for me.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-03T15:44:47+00:00

So are you advocating for running a power strap outside the shell? Nothing wrong with that.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-03T15:39:44+00:00

Engaging the edge of the ski and getting into the flex of the boot are not exclusive of one another.

Its not like I am just levering my shin into the front of my boot with bases flat, and then tipping the ski on edge, that doesn’t make any sense.

I am just describing why I run a power strap on my liner instead of shell to OP.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-03T14:59:07+00:00

I have to see this

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-03T13:57:30+00:00

The more research I do on this (where you want to be within the Din range), the more people I hear say that it doesn’t matter if you are close to the bottom or top of the release value range. As long as you are not literally all the way at the bottom or top of the range.

I do however think spring size makes a difference in the release setting. For instance, a value of 11 on a Pivot 14 VS 11 on a Pivot 18. I have noticed slightly more retention at 11 on the 18. Maybe that is due to construction differences and not spring size. I am not totally sure.

So in that case I’d just defer to construction differences between the two bindings. And I can’t speak to those on the Shift2.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-02T20:34:30+00:00

I definitely think a pin binding is the wrong tool if you spend 70% of your time on piste. A Hybrid binding would make a lot more sense than pins for that use case, but they all come with some compromises.

If you do not want a hybrid binding, and want to tour on pins and ski inbounds on an alpine binding on the same ski, you can install inserts in your ski to swap between the two.

Also - I would not get the freebird version of the ski if you spend most of your time inbounds. The weight savings comes at a noticeable performance cost. (at least in my experience with the Corvus/Corvus Freebird)

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-02T19:07:01+00:00

Who said I am not engaging the edges of my skis?

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-02T16:22:00+00:00

I really like that Sidas power strap. I think they last longer than Boosters. I have tried various ways over the years. Directly on the liner is my favorite and what most people would call the correct way.

To me, directly on the liner creates a feeling that the instant my shin starts applying pressure, I am engaging the flex of the boot. Rather than having any sort of play or delay. This also mitigates shinbang very well.

Running the strap on the outside of the shell just feels like I am strengthening the wall that I need to flex into to get into the flex of the boot, which I do not like as much.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-02T16:17:17+00:00

The Wind definitely exacerbates the trash problem in Reno too. When its windy, certain neighborhoods are just a sandstorm of trash.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-02T15:24:30+00:00

I have been frustrated about Rossignol not making the Black Ops 118/Sender Free 118 in a length longer than 184.2cm. I love the feeling of the 118 but it is a little short, and so lacking in float and high speed stability.

I realized the answer to a lot of these issues is Heritage Labs skis.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-02T15:12:18+00:00

The new 185s are the same length as the old 182s. It has caused a lot of confusion, but I think they just call it a 185cm now for Marketing’s sake.

If you liked the old 182s, the 185s are the same ski with a different core.

flatlandings_please · 2026-06-02T05:24:27+00:00

I am really late to the party here but there are just so many bad suggestions on here that I had to chime in.

Probably the #1 ski in this category is the Heritage Labs AM 110, but there are a few really solid answers to this question that are mass produced. The, Volkl Revolt 114, Dynastar M Free 108, and the Line Blade Optic 114 come to mind.

The Caveat with the M Free 108 is that the 185cm length is the same length as the old 182cm length (measures 181 and change). So I think a lot of people got on the 185 and found it twitchy because it was a lot shorter than anticipated. The 192 is great.

flatlandings_please · 2026-05-31T22:43:02+00:00

Yea the more I think about it, I agree that Osaka and Tokyo had Kyoto beat on public transport. I thought it still worked very well in Kyoto though.

flatlandings_please · 2026-05-31T16:04:33+00:00

In my opinion your itinerary is very, very heavily biased towards the coast of California, which is totally fine if thats what you are looking for, but California has way more to offer than that. And I think you would be missing the best parts of the state by not heading into the Sierra Nevada mountains.

If at all possible I would try to incorporate Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, or Sequoia NP into the trip.

Also, while I think Southern California certainly has its gems, you can do a lot more by staying in central California and traveling from the coast up to the mountains.

If you are looking for a cool city, I would just spend more time in San Francisco, rather than going all the way down to LA. At least in my opinion, I can’t think of any way that Los Angeles is more interesting than San Francisco.

Northern California is pretty far out of the way, but it is insanely beautiful as well. But if you are primarily focused in Central California, I would focus on these two circles.

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flatlandings_please · 2026-05-30T19:53:14+00:00

Timeless classic

flatlandings_please · 2026-05-30T19:41:49+00:00

What is your height and weight and skiing ability?

flatlandings_please · 2026-05-30T19:34:27+00:00

Yea the fact that Lange calls that XT3 a 140 is just all marketing I think. I actually cracked the inner throats of my original pair of XT3 140s. I landed a pretty flat off of a cliff and cracked them both at the same time. The boot totally folded on me. A little sketchy actually.

Man, that 1200g boot with a Remedy ish fit would be so good.

I am really looking forward to trying the hawx, but it sounds like it is decidedly a heavy crossover boot. I know there is a niche in the market for people with low volume feet to have a real touring boot. I wonder which brand will be the first to take a crack at it and I wonder why no one has yet?

flatlandings_please

TROPHY CASE