Johnny Law

$$$$ The answer to every why are the closing is $$$$

Crazy, so if you bring a pair of skis with another binding you bought some where else they won't mount them ? This is actually the holy grail so to speak. The problem with modern bindings is they only release from the toe. So for phantom foot or a backwards twisting fall, the femur locks into the hip, the force of the fall travels not into the tibia but across the tibia due to the lack of force down at the foot hence phantom foot. Obviously the universe seeks equilibrium and that force has to go somewhere well it picks the weakest spot which is your acl and pop goes the allograft. This used to be about 70% of all knee injuries but with death of straight skis it seems the numbers have gone way down. The other biggy is slip and catch or valgus external rotation, essentially your body moves forward in relation to the ski with the addition of an outward twist and you get essentially the same thing going on as phantom foot. No force reaches the foot and bye bye goes the ACL. This is believed to be the biggest knee wrecker in the game right now. The third I mentioned BIAD or Boot Induced Anterior Draw is when you overshoot a LZ and instinctively you shoot your legs straight out the tibia moves too far forward relative to the femur and rips the ACL, this also happens when you get hit from behind. For the first two a heal releasable biding like the knee binding would really eliminate that type of injury. So why hasn't the industry done anything about this ? The problem is in general skiing there is an awful lot of lateral heal force and its a mechanical ski binding so it can't tell if your about to rupture your ACL or if your just doing the Pocono shuffle and again pre-release is worse than not releasing. So the dude who invented the knee binding was a look dude who actually worked on the SE2 team I mentioned above. His solution is to decouple the vertical heal release from the lateral heal release. Problem is it never really got off the ground, he lives in Stowe and brought on some capital guy to try to take this thing commercial some shit went down and cue the lawsuit. Eventually it was dismissed or maybe they settled, its doesn't really matter, he got some IP and the company got the binding and his agreement to stop talking shit about them in public. At a demo last year these were around and I didn't try them but others did and didn't have good things to say. If you had knee issues and were super smooth they would probably work but for the general populace they just don't hold you in enough. LOL That one is on me, I'm certainly opinionated but really I just love to stir the pot a bit, it gets boring around here if everyone just loves each other and wants to give hugs.

I didn't mean the older guys who have been around, I'm just saying there are bunch of young bucks running around various shops and they don't know a damn thing other than what marketing people and the tech manual tells them. Smooth is a good thing, I wish I didn't take the hammer approach so often. I didn't know they had that VIST design on their own product, I know they spent a butt ton of time trying to get it work like they wanted but I thought they threw their hands up and said fuck it and sold it off. It would be interesting to know what went on internally, I know they spent a hell of alot of money on it and reps use the bankruptcy word though that is probably general puffery. The only thing I didn't like about Solly's was when they had the manual forward pressure screws in the toe wings, without locktite they would slowly run out and all the sudden your launching out of the binding every ten seconds. Though to be fair this did result in some pretty epic double ejects..... Somebody is going to get rich on the lateral heal release, it fixes phantom foot and slip and catch which are 80% of knee injuries and knee injuries are about 40% of total snow sports injuries. The mechanical binding seems so old school in such an electronic world but battery tech certainly would be a hold up. I know Marker has screwed around with an electronic binding since the early 70s. With a proper battery an e binding could theoretically kill it, particularly if it could "learn" and individuals skiing. The line reactor was a terrible product but had some interesting features, I wonder if you could make it work with an all metal housing. Its ability to release with a lateral force directly behind the binding should have been a game breaker....... I did forget about ramp angle, if you are used to a particular binding it has a specific ramp angle or the difference in height between the toe and the heal. This varies by manufacturer and is generally a positive number however some touring bindings are negative ramp and that can be very weird in a subtle way. Some people can really tell a difference others can not.

Love the MT stoke, the greybird pics have so much feeling to them....

Markers are shit. Lets get in the time machine and provide you with actual information. 8000 years ago it snows, man takes wood planks and stands on them, realizes this is a pretty hot way to get around in snow and is kinda fun. Man realizes you need some straps for control. Awesome but that plank or a ski is now a giant lever with thousands of pounds of force to snap your tibia and due to the torque its a spiral fracture. In 2013 you get a sweet erector set called an external fixator for spiral fractures, in 1900 you were lucky if they didn't cut your leg off. Fast forward to the early 1900's man is pretty fucking good at skiing, millions of people are taking trains all over the EC to ski and watch truly balls to the walls skiers. Dudes are hitting 60mph at the Thunderbolt and Toni Matt just hucked the headwall at Tuxs, this strap shit though has become a major problem, estimated to be a 1% chance for a skier for every year they ski. So next you get Kandahar style cable bindings, the spademen and the cubco. Eventually these crap out but the idea, a pivot under the toe blows up in a revolutionary binding called the look nevada in 1950. The Nevada which every binding afterwards is based on uses at first a single pivot and then slightly later a duel finger pivot on the toe, then in 62 they add in the Grand Prix heal with allows for upward release from the heal and pretty much owns the market until everyone else copies their design. Every single binding on the market is a Look Nevada with better materials and an afd, even touring bindings are a look nevada with some kind of bar system. All bindings can do the following, heal release is a pretty much straight up fashion, toe release almost 180 degrees, no true upwards only no matter what they say. Here is what they can't do, Phantom foot, BIAD, a slip and catch, these are all specific types of injuries to the knee that currently plague the industry, the supposed fix is a lateral heal release that is decoupled to the vertical heal release but nobody has actually made this work. So really the only difference in bindings is moderate levels of build quality and materials and elasticity, essentially how much you can get out of order before the binding lets you out. A long long time ago Look made the SE2 a revolutionary idea in which the entire toe piece pivoted up, to this day this is the only true pure vertical release toe piece. Problem was it would let you out alot and this is far worse than a binding not releasing because once the skis are off physics takes over and your traveling in a straight line. Lots of people got seriously hurt and the industry had a revelation in that retention is often far better than release because blunt force trauma ( the binding releases prematurely and you crash into a tree) often is many times worse than a blown ACL. So look dicked a little with the old Nevada design and came out with the FKS, the FKS has the most elasticity on the market. Its going to give you the most time to get your shit together before it lets you out. This is important because it allows you to run the binding at a lower DIN which is good for your knees while at the same time only letting you out when you need to come out. Marker is a shitty company that makes shitty plastic toys they copied from Look, after they shit the bed in the 50's/60's with their own shit that never worked and eventually sold to 4frnt (4frnt did a major redesign) favors release. You need to be a very very smooth skier to ride markers at similar DIN as a look assuming you are a decent skier and give the ski a little work out. So marker skiers compensate by running at a much higher DIN, its a hammer approach to a scalpel problem and is the singular reason they have a 22 DIN consumer binding. Buy a look binding or re badged look sold under the Rossi name, shit buy a solly biding if you must but for the love of god do not buy a Marker, Tyrolia or the re-badged Atomic shit with blinking lights and unobtanium all which do jack shit. I really liked the FKS155 which I don't think they sell anymore though Jeff apparently can get them. The FKS 18 is an all metal workhorse that will last a life time however some people don't like running a binding at the lowest end of the DIN spectrum. I prefer the older P series but the newish PX series is a direct drive which most people prefer, it is a high quality binding that got the design right in terms of elasticity vs retention. Do not listen to people that work in shops around here unless you know and trust them, shitty 18 year olds read a tech manual at Buckmans and think they know what the fuck they are talking about which they don't. This ski industry has a list of shit that didn't work/hurt people a mile fucking long, Solly two years back put out a tech fitting boot that was shitty from the start and it fucking changed people's lives and not for the better. If your mounting bindings a ski can do two no problem, three with helicoils or if the ski has some metal, four if you like to live dangerously but by four there is pattern interference and your riding those fuckers on the tails. Justo if I remember right has alot of knowledge about the current PX series and I know Jeff rides them so if you want a specific recommendation maybe ask one of them. There is a totally different alternative in tech/dynafit bindings but they require lots of $$$ and a need to go uphill or long flats.

Nice, if Blue shuts the doors early Plattekill is a good move.

The crazy part is its nothing right I mean its like a 1/8 of inch but my brain notices and I don't like it.....humans are funny animals...

Two thumbs way up ! Loving the Taos stoke. Remember hands forward, knees up, smooth take off, controlled body, drop the landing gear and ride away. Whatever you do don't drop your legs straight down if you overshoot the LZ or its a guaranteed blow up or worse BIAD. If your going to beef it go with it and roll, I like the shoulder roll but its rider's choice really.

Nice going to have to test a pair out soon

What's the last ? 98mm? I really like Lange boots but my stupid feet don't fit.

Or driving to the mtn, driving is far and away 100,000x more dangerous than anything else 99.9% of people will do in there life. I do think its funny that peeps have no problem taking two six foot long, metal, plastic and wood planks around a turn at 50mph balanced on 1/2 inch of metal edge and plastic and then be worried about riding a moving couch. Perception is reality.

Too much convergance moisture couldnt move north....shit happens

In the last half hour the snow line moved from about 20 miles north of Jim Thorpe to Walcksville, that is maybe 5 miles as the crow fly's from Blue, nothing life changing but I'm going to hit up the RAW session and 1" of cream cheese to smooth everything out is better than nothing.

ehh This year has been about the funny storms dicking with the models. This one would be a great storm to go to WV for, higher elevations south and inland do better than Blue or the Pocs. 1-3 seems about right but if it moves 20 miles north or south the amounts go from jack to a foot maybe. Kinda bummed shit was set up right but nothing really worked out this year for PA, really wanted a 2" qpf noreaster bomb for PA.....want to ride blue the true in knee deep PA cement.

Nice dude and don't be so hard on yourself on the form front you look alot better than just two years ago.

Nice dude, killing it, super jealous.

hahahahha lol

Trail work is tough.....alot of people like the idea a hell of alot better than spending 10 hours trimming trees and burning brush piles

“If we start criminalizing what we all think is dumb, we’d have an endless avalanche of legislation,” said Sen. Joe Benning, R-Caledonia. LOL Good to hear, keeping people safe is far more important that the minimal amounts of money we are talking about.

Alot of ski areas in popular areas are essentially permanent leases. Its a 99 year lease with pretty much unlimited re-ups. So Alta is no boarders right but Alta is just the buildings and the little big of land under the lift pads, everything else is FS. Now Alta leases that land from FS in a 99 year dealio, in exchange for expansions and shit you normally do some kind of land swap. So Dick Bass owns the Bird, Dick Bass wants to expand the Bird, Dick Bass is very important mining dude so he goes to the FS and says I'll give you 10,000 acres in no where's ville UT for the 500 acres I want near the Bird. Done deal. More accurately he calls his congress person who he golfs with and says get me a deal for Mary Ellen Gulch and the congressperson and FS work something out. The other problem is some spots have historical abnormalities so when Alta wanted to put a lift up flagstaff for avy mitigation they released an ownership map of LCC, it looks like the most complicated jigsaw puzzle ever. Basically FS owns the vast majority, Alta has a little and there are a bunch of little private plots all of the place. Single acre jobs that were before the FS/National Park system. These people can cause trouble because mostly they own the land for lease $$$$ though there are certainly some houses here and there. In the NE you have a couple of problems, first the Daks have the strictest laws anywhere because they provide all of NYC's drinking water. You can't have a trail wider than 10ft outside of Whiteface though they have some really draconian shit to deal with as well. In the Whites its predominantly FS but with random private pockets from 100's of years ago. Randolph Mtn Club was an old rich dude's play houses and when he died he gifted them to his club, the FS essentially says run this shit for us but you better follow our rules. Hence why RMC has three cabins/huts and pretty much runs the show in the King/Castle area. ADK too, the JBL/LOJ are historical private plots merged into the larger ADK park rules. Shit outside of the high peaks most of the Daks are a private/public partnership as people lived there before it became a park. The Greens are a real clusterfuck, the state owns some shit, the feds own some shit, UVM runs shit on the behest of the state, private parties own shit. There are tens of agreements resorts have entered regarding everything from expansion to simple trail maintenance. Jay got popped about 10 years back for getting too crazy on the tree trimming and had to give some $$$ and sign a we will be nice to the trees contract. So when those two red necks clear cut little jay shit got nasty for the resort even though they didn't directly do anything. Additionally most of these places need to do Environmental Impact assessments and probably some kind of mitigation. For Mary Ellen Gulch that's a two year process though that probably isn't the best example. LCC/BCC shit is touchy. Add in financing for the larger expansions and the shitty nature of ski area expansions and it can be a long ass process. For Blue I believe they are in a far better position, most of the land there is privately owned by them. They have some rules regarding the AP trail and shit but the permitting process is more streamlined. I assume they have to do an Enivo Impact Assessment but honestly don't know. Additionally any land up there would be state or local which is a hell of alot easier particularly because I have to believe Barb is a kinda of a big bopper in that neck of the woods. I haven't hung out in Palmerton every really but what they hell else is in that area with that kinda $$$. A particular problem to PA is electricity/water usage. Spring can blow alot of snow because they can drain that river and are positioned very close to lots of houses so the local plants have the necessary peak capacity for when the pumps and guns switch on. Bear on the other hand has to go ponds and can't run everything at once because the power company can't provide that kind of peak power. I don't know about Blue's power issues I assume they don't have any really due to their location and I think the high voltage lines go that way anyways. I think they used to have water issues, about the time they did the Paradise expansion I remember a bunch of water trucks parked near the newish pond next to the quad. I haven't seen that shit recently but I was also about 12 so maybe I got that expansion wrong in my head.

Sick Bird!!

I think it's even further than that, like toast said about a mile down the ridge or half way to schaffer rd.

Assuming they are a rossi binding you got a decent chance its a P series and there is a worm screw on the heel, adjust that correct the din and off you go. PX series has a tab FKS has about a 1bsl adjustment in the arms Most skis can do three mounts and be ok, two no problem. Four if its got alot of metal but your probably out of real estate by then anyways. If the patterns overlap drop a heli-coil in the hole and that fucker ain't going no where. In other news the Look Nevada is 63 years old this month.....crazy because every modern binding is essentially a look Nevada with less metal.

They have to get approval from the state to move the road so that alone takes forever. Blue needs more trails, they need to thin the noob herds across the mtn. ....lol like that will ever happen.

That's actual reporting with like numbers and stuff..... The ski industry certainly doesn't need it but this should be one of a billion reminders in why throwing money at a hill can fuck your shit up. Read the article and the real problem sticks out like GSS in a memorials conference, 12 million for the snow cove with 4 mil in annual income. That's a Vegas like bet that peeps are going to flock to Scranton to ride a lazy river. Anyone know Blue's situation, Cash and debt, straight cash ? They are in a much better position to borrow money but you can see the same underlying problem, too big for your britches syndrome. What is wrong with just having a place with frozen water on inclined planes, throw up a couple lifts and a building to cook shitty food in. Every place doesn't need a million room hotel with spa and conference center, water park, casino and a banana stand.....