Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Hello--
I'm a recent alpine convert looking to mount a pair of old alpine skis with some tele bindings. I have a pair of scarpa t2, women's 8.5 boots. What bindings are compatible and what do you recommend? Having a hard time finding resources on this on the internet. Thanks for any feedback!
katie

Hi there and welcome,

It's great you've decided to try the free heel, I converted last season and I'm completely hooked.

Anyways, at the most basic level, you have yourself a duckbill. So you'll be compatible anything like three pins to typical cable bindings. Virtually all of these tele bindings are adjustable to your boot. The Roteffella NTNs aren't an option. Forgive me if you know this but i ought to mention it.

Typically the idea with a ski setup is that all of the levels of flex match. This means you might not want to have soft boot with really long and wide ski as an example.

I have the T2s as well and I've found that they work great with Black Diamond cable bindings and similar bindings. If your looking for a binding that has an adjustable flex, i highly recommend any binding from 22designs (keep the flex neutral starting out). I don't personally like G3 Targas very much.

Three pin bindings are great, but a "general" type binding might be wise to start out with.

I hope my experiences help you some, and I hope you can find what you prefer too.

Terry

kbarrettcleary wrote:Hello--
I'm a recent alpine convert looking to mount a pair of old alpine skis with some tele bindings. I have a pair of scarpa t2, women's 8.5 boots. What bindings are compatible and what do you recommend? Having a hard time finding resources on this on the internet. Thanks for any feedback!
katie

You have lots of options:

Voile Switchback or Switchback X2 (both have touring mechanisms), Voile Hardwire
Black Diamond 01, 02, or 03 (the 01 has a touring mechanism)
22 Designs Vice or Axl (Axl has a touring mechanism) (you might still be able to find the Hammerheads or Bombshells (earlier version without touring mechanism and Bombshells are for women, i.e., they fit smaller boots and perhaps have softer springs (not sure about that though))
G3 Enzo or G3 Targa
Rottefella Cobra (can't say I've seen these, but some love 'em)

You can find lots of reviews of them, but you may aim to simply locate the cheapest set-up you can find and upgrade later when you get a better sense of how much you want to tour in them and how much activity you like in your bindings.

You might like to not go broke and still get a
binding that tours and climbs quite well..
You can ski anything with 3pin Hardwires and they
are perfect for your old alpine skis..
111 bux new, shipped free to your door (are you kiddin'g me? )
or get some used on ebay and such..
http://www.backcountry.com/voile-hardwi ... 7AodZFgA6A

One of the better things about this place is the people, or at least that was the case on the old site. Seems there are always people at resorts or the BC with spare gear you can try for the day. Demoing is a great way to figure out what bindings work for you.

Depends on where you'd like to use the binding primarily. If just learning and mostly resort oriented, my vote would be for the 22-D Vice or the G3 Enzo R, just for the sole fact that you can easily adjust the pivot point to play around with different activity levels to find what you like/prefer. They're both pretty reasonably priced in the sub $200 range right now.

If you're touring, a free pivot is nice, but you'll pay more for it. Dschane covered your options there.

The Voile 3-pin HW is a nice middle ground, as it's pretty tourable on the pins only, and a very capable binding on the downhill. It'll work with your boot, but not necessarily on all duckbill boots (not all had/have pin holes).

You might also want to think about binding position. Boot centre (and variations, alpine mount) is the forward option which is best for carving, moguls and general resort skiing. Pins at half chord is further back, a nordic position which emphasizes tracking during the lead change and striding. Anywhere in between works as well so it is a matter of taste and choice of ski.