NTN binding newbie, any advice?

[tellieG]

Hi everyone!
I've been telemark skiing for 10 years and always on 75mm bindings, but now I got new ladies scarpa NTN boots (in 265) and over the weekend tested a few bindings and skies at an event. With every binding I tested so far (1x NTN freeride and 2x meidjo 2.0, on 3 different skies) I keep getting lots of pivoting of my rear (uphill) ski as soon as I skid instead of carve at higher speeds. (and lots of torsion on my knee) Carving works fine, just not the skidding bit. It did take a lot more effort to weigh the back ski to get it on edge than I am used to. I normally use skidding out of turns to control speed/brake on steeper bits but now I sometimes switched to parallel on steeper slopes (as I was afraid to hurt my knee). Skidding parallel worked fine on all skies.
Apart from this problem I really liked the additional stiffness of ntn and how it works in the crud, but on the icey groomers I kept on getting this weird behavior of the rear/uphill ski.

My boots are at the very low end of the L binding size range, but they could not fit in the S range so I could not test those. Could that be causing this problem?
or do I maybe need a less stiff type of ntn binding? (they were all medium stiffness, I weigh 65 kg and not the most agressive rider ever especially not on groomers )
I am also in between 260 and 265 as I have a slight size difference between my left and right foot. Would a smaller boot size help? (felt a bit loose)
Or do I need to put the binding more forward on a ski than bigger riders would?

any advice would be highly appreciated as I am looking to get my NTN quiver complete but not sure what to get now.

[teleclub]

Like you I'm an NTN newbie this season so can only say the FreeRide is a very active binding and the Meijdo is reviewed as pretty active too(?). I'm used to skiing more neutral bindings and have had some of the same impressions you describe when I've been on a more active one. This is why I chose the Rottefella Freedom because it's reviewed as less active / more neutral. That might be one to demo next time out. (Or adjust technique to more active bindings.)

Most of my downhill boards still have Superloops so I'm making a big jump going to NTN. I've skied some of the more active 75mm binding like HH etc but continued to prefer a more neutral binding. I ski the Superloops with the pivot in the first hole--least active even for Superloops.

Anyway that's one guess as to why your experiencing this.

--teleclub

[TomH]

First things first, with the boot size you have, you have to use a large binding. The distance from the boot toe to the attachment point (duckbutt) is a fixed distance for boots that go with large bindings, and a different fixed distance for boots that fit in the small bindings. You won't be able to fit a large boot in a small binding.

On the boot front, check your shell fit with the liner out of the boot. Toes to the front of the shell, and you should have 1-2 finger widths of space from your heel to the shell. If it's more than that, you should probably size down. Dropping a size to 26 in Scarpa would put you in a small size binding, as that's their shell break (i.e. 25.5/26 are the same shell, and 26.5/27 are the same shell). Otherwise, if it's good, make sure you mold the liner, and a good boot fitter can help you out with any further fit issues (i.e. heel lift).

That being said, knowing what bindings/boots you skied previously would be a help, but in general, based on your weight I'd probably put you into softer than blue springs as far as the freeride goes (probably go green). From what you're saying, you might also be happier with the Freedom binding, as it isn't quite so precise as the Freeride. I haven't skied the meidjo yet, so can't comment, but what I've heard is their lateral control is on par with the freeride.

If you're really torquing out your rear knees when trying to let your tails release/scrub speed, I'd say you're getting too spread out fore/aft. With the NTN offerings there is much better lateral control over the ski as you have very little lateral slop compared to most of the 75mm offerings, so without proper weighting, they'll be a lot more subject to chattering. Try closing up your stance a bit and really weighting that rear foot.

Lastly, if your boots are brand new and not second hand, given them some time to break in as well.

[tellieG]

Hi Tom an Teleclub thanks for the advice. I normally ride a G3 zest ski 172, 100mm under foot with rottefella cobra bindings and garmont 3-buckle shoes. (also size 265)
I do like to ride steeper terrain not just easy groomers that's why I am looking for a stiffer shoe and binding combination. Also like to do more tele touring (I also do splitboard and AT touring but want to switch the AT back for tele so that's why I am very interested in the meidjo. There are some stiffness adjustment options in the meidjo as well but just tested in the standard settings.
I'll check my shells! see if I could go for the smaller option. (my AT boots are 260 and on the verge of being too small but still skiable) The boots were brandnew and not yet molded or broken in.

As for the torqueing, it feels, as soon as I skid, as if the tip of the ski is pulling uphill and then slaps back towards my downhill boot. the more pressure I put (or the steeper the slope) the more force I feel and the higher the frequency becomes in this uphill pull and slap-back.