Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

(Wow! Great to see TTT back in action!

I see nice looking leather vintage ski boots come up for sale often. They're original alpine boots, made for cable bindings, often freeheel, it seems. (Semi free? Maybe not?) Pre 75mm.

They look like a 75mm boot except there's no "beak." The nose IS square, though.

So is there a decent tele/bc binding out there that works with such boots?

I guess there's not much to pivot with up front but the nose (no beak) could insert into a fitting that flexes or pivots, rather than the boot doing so.

I suppose they have stiff soles but, who knows, maybe there's a role they could play.

(My promotion of tele mostly comes via striding trails with some tele thrown in along with enjoyment of the technical skills needed for skiing hilly singletrack hiking trails. There's a gang that does this in downstate MI. We call it mtbiking on skis. Our gear is often touring boots, NNN/SNS-BC, and midlength nowax skis under 100mm wide. We also have a component of minor glade tidying and uptrack action in non-sensitive areas.)

-- Jeff Potter
proprietor
outyourbackdoor
hq for indie outdoor action

Hey Jeff - welcome home!

Hmm... you know I think I know what you are talking about but I've never really looked into it much. Best I can tell if you're looking for a 10th mountain type binding? I think there were different variants on this but I've see ones that basically look like a pin binding with no bale. There are usually a couple of adjustable wings on the side to kind of keep the boot in the toe piece and a cable in the back to wedge the whole boot squarely in there. Some of them had a leather strap that went over the toe of the boot to act like a bail of sorts.

These are what I think of and are labeled 10th mountains. I've seen different version but I think they work with what is basically an old mountaineering boot with a square toe.





It's quite possible you are referring to these type of boots too:



Which I think were designed for early style fixed heel, but maybe they were compatible with cables?

(I tried to link a picture here but I can't find one that isn't encrypted - search, you'll find pictures)

I like what you call your type of skiing - it's exactly how I've described what I like to do... XC mountain biking on skis! Sad thing is I can go a lot of places legally on skis that I can't with a bike...

I also found this... look at that perfect XCD form!

Those boots are used in the old cable or "bear trap" bindings that were used up through the 1960's. Here's a good article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_binding

^^^ Those "beartrap" bindings are better left retired unless you have good health insurance. My younger brother was skiing my hand-me-down beartraps (early 60's) when he crashed; nasty spiral break of his tibia got him a free toboggan ride down to the ski patrol shack.

thread drift: we used to call the ski patrol toboggans "Okkies" (sp?). Do any of you oldtimers know what that term is?
I'm thinking it might be the manufacturer, but.....

Haha... I was just reading about that spiral tibia break in that wiki article. It claims they were 'safer' without the leather strap. Johnny had a pair he showed on here earlier this year that looked like that but they had a spot to clip on a regular Voile cable. I'm not sure they'd be any less safe than a Voile cable binding...