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This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips / Telemark Francais Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web since 1998. East, West, North, South, Canada, US or Europe, Backcountry or not.
This is the World Famous TelemarkTalk / TelemarkTips Forum, by far the most dynamic telemark and backcountry skiing discussion board on the world wide web. We have fun here, come on in and be a part of it.
I have VERY limited experience mounting Telemark skis and Telemark bindings- all of my past downhill-oriented touring skis have been mounted on chord center.
The instructions from Altai speak of mounting "86cm from tail to pin line"; but the instructions also mention how to find the boot center mark on the ski:
Kōm 162 cm. Mount the Kōm with a 3 pin or 3 pin cable (or equivalent
telemark binding) by measuring 86cm in a straight line from tail to pin line.
Boot center can be found by measuring the boot from toe to heel (minus
the duckbill). Measure ½ of this distance back from the pin line to your boot center
mark.
Does this mean to mount a 3 pin binding at 86cm from the tail- or, is this to be modified, based on the size of one's boot?
Is the boot center mark note for mounting an Alpine binding?
Cross-country AND down-hill skiing in the backcountry.
Unashamed to be a "cross-country type" and love skiing down-hill.
Is the boot center mark note for mounting an Alpine binding?
From your post it sounds like there's not a boot center mark on the ski?
I'm guessing they offer both methods you mention for people who expect one method and don't like the other method (nordic vs alpine). Or for when people have either very long or short boots so a short-booted person isn't too far forward and a long-booted person not too far back. Their short skis are getting skied by people of a much wider range of height and weight than trad skis so this may be something they are hearing about.
I think boot center should be over the narrowest point of the waist so if it were me I'd measure the waist carefully and make sure the pin line put my boot center there.
The Altai guys are big on forward mounting for a lot of reasons that make sense when I read up on their site. So I think the narrowest part of the ski may be further forward than on other skis. Just a guess.
It's a weird ski that doesn't follow the rules. Follow the designers recommendations. I have talked to both LoFi and Grand-Poobah-Architect Nils at Altai about this, pins at the distance they recommend. If you look very carefully there may be a small engraved arrow on the ski that indicates where to mount the PIN LINE on your binding. Mine have this little arrow, but I double checked with my own measuring tape.
– Mounting position –
150 cm – 78.5cm straight line from the tail to the 3pin line – (not the boot centerline).
162cm – 86cm straight line from the tail to the 3pin line – (not the boot centerline).
174cm – 92.3cm straight line from the tail to the 3pin line – (not the boot centerline).
– No inserts
It works. The only time I have been let down was skiing the eastern Mt. Washington snowfields that clock in around 25-30deg and I would catch my back tip on my front binding in firm corn snow. I ski with a tight stance and the skis are 162cm. You can see me catch a tip in my "Altai KOM east snowfield" youtube video at 22 seconds.
