Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Hi folks,
I have bought new skis midway this sesason and looking to couple them to a new binding. I usually only have room to bring one ski, so I’m looking for a one ski / binding quiver. I ski pistes, lift serviced area half the time but also have a yearly backcounty tour with some good friends where we are skinning all day for 4 days in a row. I’m pretty new to this backcountry stuff but am loving it! Have done it for three years now and am going again in two weeks for the fourth time. I have skied Telemark for about 20 years now and I’m coming off som Rossignol experience 88 with NTN Freerides. I would ideally like som lighter bindings for touring with more pivot than the freerides, but I like the freerides on piste/side of piste. My new skis are Elan Ripsticks 106.

Ideally I am quite hooked on the meidjo 3.0 because of the low weight for touring and the release as I’m getting older (48 years). But I have TX Comps now and they don’t have inserts for the tech toe, so I’m looking at both spending for new bindings and new boots if I go the meidjo og lynx way. And IF I do that, I think it would be better to wait a year and get the new Scarpa lighter boots that are coming out next fall.

Therefore I’m looking at what to settle for this year? Should I just put my Old NTN freerides on the Ripsticks and go a year more with that, and in a year change to meidjos, or would I gain something with getting the Outlaw X which supposedly tours better given the better free pivot angle than the freerides? If the Outlaws are good I maybe even can stay with this solution and keep my old boots and save some money for some more years and wait to change to meidjos later on when the new scarpa boot has been reviewed and tested, as I only go backcounty for 4 days a year and maybe the weight of the outlaws are worth sacrificing for the frontside performance?

Also the fronts of my tx comps are getting chewed up by my freerides in the sides of the “tongue”. I read somewhere that the toepiece is different on the Outlaws so they might fit better / thighter again, if I change to Outlaws? However I’M holding a little back as to get them, as I don’t know if they Will be that much better touring than the freerides - what do you guys think?

Also I’m worrying a bit if the Outlaws can be dialed in to be neutral enough for soft snow in the backcounty?

Best regards from Denmark

My recollection of skiing the Freerides years ago is that they were very active and didn't have much in the way of touring capability.
The Outlaw X has a great mechanism for going into and out of tour mode. I have a review on them in the review section that shows range of motion of the tour mode.

https://telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=6471

It would be easy to make the OX less active than the Freeride. The Meidjo 3 is considerably less active than either the OX or the FR. The OX with a single spring (inner spring removed) is similar to the M3 with a stiff spring (and maybe an inner if dialed back). The M3 will tour way better than either the OX or the FR or the Freedom for that matter.

I'd get the Tx Pro (now, if available) and the Meidjo for your application unless you're concerned the M3 isn't active enough. Also, I think the Lynx would work well. The only reason I didn't get the Lynx is that I really like ski brakes.
If that's the case, I'd get the OX. And yes, the wings on the OX don't do nearly the damage that the FR or Freedom do.

I don't think any tele binding I've ever used is too active for DEEP light powder (I'm in Utah and get in around 80 days a year and that's never been an issue in 20 years).

You could wait for the new Scarpa.

I'm 100% certain there will be no delays in the rollout of this product, no glitches and absolutely no supply chain issues. I'm 71. I'll get it when it's available, but I'm not holding my breath!

The new TXPro are only 14kg each https://mountaineer.com/mens-tx-pro-ski-boot/. Paired with a Meidjo with brakes added and you've got a great, releasable, set up for piste and back country. Though, I do like Transit better than my Meidjo...

Thanks both of you for very good inputs and link to an interesting former thread . I also think the best setup spild be with M3 and the new scarpa boot, it just isn’t a solution for my upcoming bc tour in march

I think Outlaw X looks like a good match with the Elan Ripstick 106, which is a solid all mountain ski, but I have no experience with either. Freeride could also work, but I never liked the touring mode on it. I much prefer the free pivot on Meidjo and Switchback for touring, so I assume Outlaw X would be good for a 50/50 setup.

Meidjo is a very nice and light binding, and the weight savings will match better with a light touring ski.

JohnSKepler wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 26, 2024 5:04 pm

The new TXPro are only 14kg each https://mountaineer.com/mens-tx-pro-ski-boot/

Boots which weigh 14kg apiece might be good for skiing on the moon, as they could help compensate for the lack of gravity.

Perhaps Scarpa have sniffed new marketing potential, far in advance of their competitors.

Jurassien wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 27, 2024 8:01 am

JohnSKepler wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 26, 2024 5:04 pm

The new TXPro are only 14kg each https://mountaineer.com/mens-tx-pro-ski-boot/

Boots which weigh 14kg apiece might be good for skiing on the moon, as they could help compensate for the lack of gravity.

Perhaps Scarpa have sniffed new marketing potential, far in advance of their competitors.

Yeah, I'd accept 3lbs 6.5oz, but if my mountain bike weighed 14kg, I'd be shopping for upgrades. It looks like they're about 6 Oz (170 grams?) lighter than the current Scarpa, so it would help for touring for sure. I'd be more interested if the torsional rigidity of the sole ends up being stiffer than the current Tx Pro. But I used the comp for a while and didn't see a huge difference in stiffness between that and the Pro.

Roat wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 27, 2024 2:30 am

Thanks both of you for very good inputs and link to an interesting former thread . I also think the best setup spild be with M3 and the new scarpa boot, it just isn’t a solution for my upcoming bc tour in march

If you plan on touring in deep snow the Meidjo design can be finicky. Any touring setup is going to compact snow but some are easier to clear than others. Between the M3, Transit, 3-pin, and Xplore I'd rate them, from my personal experience, on a scale of 1 to 4 where 1 is best and 4 is worst and assuming boot equivalence*:

------------Activity----Simplicity----Touring----Downhill----Clearing----Durability----Transition

Transit------1---------------3------------2-------------1--------------2------------2----------------1

Meidjo 3----2--------------5-------------2-------------2--------------4------------4----------------5

3-Pin--------3--------------1-------------3-------------3--------------3------------1----------------1

Xplore------4---------------2------------1--------------4--------------1------------3--------------N/A

The Meidjo and 3-Pin can be quite laborious to clear when the snow is heavy and sticky and you can wind up doing it a lot under some conditions.

*Boot equivalence is binding dependent. I'm talking about performance with that binding, not the 'same' boot.

I'd be interested to see how others rate things, especially against a Bishop, Outlaw, Rotte, none of which I have any experience with.

We will see how the new TX Pro performs, but at least one initial report is promising: https://www.backcountrytalk.com/forum/b ... post130628

My experience is that Xplore with the hard flexor is more active/performs better downhill than regular 3-pin, but less than 3-pin cable. Support is dependent on boot much more than the binding. The regular flexor is not much active though, but very nice for kick and glide. Durability remains to be seen, but apart from an initial production problem with sticky pins and one case of pullout of a possibly faulty mount I have not seen failures so far. I have seen failures on NNN-BC and 75mm though, as well as on Meidjo. Any system can/will fail, but the actual percentages are hard to get and must be seen over time, so which is better is hard to say. Meidjo is by far the most complicated, so I agree on that. Transitions on Xplore are fine, but a version with a switch from free pivot to ski mode could be very nice and easier.

I have only used leather boots with 3-pin, but both Alfa Skaget and Free with Xplore. I have also used Meidjo with old Scarpa TX, but have not used Voile Transit or similar. The different systems will have quite different boots, so comparing activity/downhill performance is hard.

telerat wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 27, 2024 3:20 am

I think Outlaw X looks like a good match with the Elan Ripstick 106, which is a solid all mountain ski, but I have no experience with either. Freeride could also work, but I never liked the touring mode on it. I much prefer the free pivot on Meidjo and Switchback for touring, so I assume Outlaw X would be good for a 50/50 setup.

Meidjo is a very nice and light binding, and the weight savings will match better with a light touring ski.

Thanks - i might go for the Outlaw X and try it out. Right now however I can only find it in Europe in size large with the one heel riser and not the newest version with two heel risers. Do you or others know if there is any other difference (than the heel riser) between the two versions of the Outlaw X?