FWIW, I've experienced similar heel rub and the boots do break-in over time. But until that happens. 1. Consider using blister heel pads. 2. Experiment with different sock thickness. This can make a lot of difference in my experience, even relatively small changes in sock thickness can help. If the ...

Found the pictures. First is of the unfixed bevel. IMG_1042.jpeg Tool used to fix it. IMG_1044.jpeg Fixed bevel I’m late to the discussion but would like to say “well done”. It must have taken a very steady hand to bring that edge down with a rotary tool. If I may ask, why didn’t you use a base edg...

Ultimately, for setups like this it's the boot that matters, not the binding. For telemark turns you need some torsional stiffness in the boot. For parallel turns you need support in the ankles. For me the point of Xplore is that at least at the high end( Alfa Free) it has much better support for bo...

Here is Rossignal’s size chart for a reference. It is based on How Tall You Are. Which is a really lazy way to pick ski length. Skis for turning care a lot more about how much you weigh and how good you are at pressuring the ski. Most skis come in 4 or 5 lengths. Better to think of them as xs-xl th...

One last thing, if you have a pair of XCD skis that you like except for hard snow performance. I would try tuning them to put a reasonable bevel and side edge on them. With their waxless base XCD skis won't work in most automatic tuning machines and they require hand tuning to get a decent edge. The...

FWIW, I've also tried the Madshus Annum (78mm) waist skis and disliked them quite a bit compared with Voile Vector/V6 or Fisher SB98/112; they seemed like the proverbial planks to me. FWIW, I'm light and generally prefer shorter, not longer, for maneuverability - given adequate stiffness. Those are...

FWIW, these wouldn't be terrible as an XCD binding with a reasonably light boot and a soft touch on the spring tension. I certainly spent a lot of time going uphill with them in the 90's and early 2000's on skis that would be considered XCD skis today. The reputation for breakage is way overstated. ...

I'm skiing an older pair of Madhus Glittertinds with the Xplore boots/bindings. They do just fine on harder stuff. No longer sold, but they are roughly camber and 1/2 skis with 68-55-62mm. I'd guess anything with steel edges in under 70mm with some sidecut would be fine. I bet the modern version of ...

The real question about scales is, how do you stop that baseball card in the bicycle spokes vibration thing??? I asked Heaven for more powder, but the results weren’t consistent! Skin skis are a huge upgrade like the Fischer twin skin, buy only come in XC versions as far as I know. I have to imagin...

Not that great a size selection, but REI is selling all it's remaining stock of Alpa Xplore boots at 60% off...