Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

How risky is it to ski intermediate groomer slopes in stiff boots, like the Fischer BCX Transnordic, and NNN BC bindings? What would be the most common sorts of injuries and how to minimize those risks?

This is my first post here - what a great resource. Thank you for your thoughts!

In my teens through 30s I skied black diamond runs in the mountains. The last decades I've skied the flats and back country here in Minnesota with only an occasional telemark turns on gentle slopes. I have Rossignol BC 80 skis and Rossignol XC-5 boots. I am looking at the higher stiff Fischer boots for XCD skiing, but am concerned about the consequences of falling in non-release bindings.

Leather boots and NNN-BC bindings don’t make for a particularly stiff boot/ski connection. There is a lot of flexibility in that configuration. Injury is always a possibility, and frankly there is a percentage of people that don’t possess the ability to fall well. I’m not being critical, all humans have their strengths and weaknesses. There are just people that can get hurt in a rubber room. If you are reasonably good at falling, the risk of injury is quite minimal. If you are safe in your softer Rossignol boots, you shouldn’t have any problems in the Transnordic boot. While it should offer a big upgrade in downhill control, in reality the boot binding configuration doesn’t change. There is a lot of flex in the binding range of motion, and the rubber sole of the boot. The leather upper also has a lot of flex.

Thank you, @fisheater! Not to tempt fate, but in my alpine skiing days I had a tremendous amount of practice falling - in moguls, ice, slush and some powder. Hopefully my old tactic of instantly flexing my knees and getting the skis off the snow will serve on groomers in BCDish gear.

Though the flexibility in the NNN-BC configuration makes for less stability, maybe that flexibility adds marginal protection once control is lost?

New to the XCD world, I would be interested in the best ways to avoid injury. I imagine the old precautions apply: Don't ski too fast for conditions or tackle slopes beyond your ability.

The Transnordic inspires confidence on easy descents but it still has a lot of flexibility when things go sideways so caution is urged. I used mine on forestry service roads, single track, and the occasional blue groomer if its not icy. Feel kinda heavy after a long day of breaking trail.

Inspiredcapers wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 05, 2024 2:30 pm

The Transnordic inspires confidence on easy descents but it still has a lot of flexibility when things go sideways so caution is urged. I used mine on forestry service roads, single track, and the occasional blue groomer if its not icy. Feel kinda heavy after a long day of breaking trail.

Thank you for relating your experience. That is exactly what I have in mind. For long treks, I have the Rossignol XC-5 NNN-BC boots - lighter and comfier. In search of moderate downhill slopes for tele turns, I plan on wearing the Fischer BCX Transnordic boots.

I’ve done several lift-served mountain resort days on NNN-BC. You get some funny looks in lift lines.

For me, and probably for most here, you automatically watch speed more closely and ski a bit more conservative with any ski that doesn’t release. I don’t think a lighter binding is any more “injury prone” than any other gear set mainly because as a skier you just push more supportive gear faster and harder.

Oh and I would get a red flexor set. Provides a nice bit more resistance than standard black flexors to help encourage telemark stance (but still a lot more tricky than pins + cables ).

I think it's highly unlikely that set-up would pose any more risk than most any non-releasable free heel binding, and less than many. My biggest concern of injury these days is out of control yahoos loose on the hill.

Found this discussion from several years ago, made some interesting points…

https://telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?t=976