Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Last fall I was skiing on my Objectives and the binding toe piece (AT) ripped out. Local shops says the skis are not salvageable due to water damage. I just removed the Dynafit bindings but hate to see the skis go to waste. I’m contemplating mounting them up with a 75 mm binding and applying kickwax underfoot. Obviously I wouldn’t ski this setup anywhere I was concerned about a potential failure. My question is, does the BC version of the Objective have the same camber as the non-BC version? Would kick waxing be excessively draggy on the non-scaled version?

Yes, kick wax will work without drag when done right on alpine camber skis. When conditions are good it's better than scales, I've been doing it for decades.

I hope you had the chance to dry out those skis properly?
Worth trying a repair with epoxy and let it cure for a long time, preferably at constant room temperature.

Regarding the camber, it will be the same with either BC or waxable Objectives. I’m curious about water damage from your binding pull out though; was the ski exposed to snow or water after the binding pulled? Loose screws &/or insufficient or breakdown of glue for the mount can also let moisture in, but it would take a while to result in core damage.
I’ll try to attach a photo of what one of my Objectives after pulling two screws of a tele mount (and after 5 or 6 seasons of skiing them with tele bindings); also the pulled screws may have been due to imperfect mounting). Any way I re-used the same holes, repaired with wood plugs and epoxy, and have happily been skiing them again.
I’d think about filling the holes with wood plugs and epoxy if they’re not a big mess, or possibly JBweld or epoxy mixed with finely chopped steel wool, and remounting something over 1 cm from those holes; 2cm would be better if there really is rot.

You could also epoxy some Binding Freedom inserts in the skis. Because they are larger diameter, they may engage wood that hasn't been affected by water.

The old polyethylene cutting board as a bridge/riser plate trick?

The ski is most likely fine, a lot of shops won't bother touching stuff like that just to avoid the risk. Drill out the rotted wood and fill with a wood plug or dowel, using a slow-cure flexible epoxy to seal it all up.

Hey, I also had the same dilemma with the Objective BC. The BC has a bit more cambered bottoms for better kick. Waxing the non-BC version will be draggy, but on ideal snow conditions, perhaps it will work.

P.S. Try it out first on shorter courses to avoid catastrophic failure.

I enjoy skiing them with Xplore bindings. I’ve done 3-pin, too with better control but I bias towards touring.

Spiny Norman wrote: ↑

Sat Mar 15, 2025 11:15 am

The old polyethylene cutting board as a bridge/riser plate trick?

I make these so I can mount multiple bindings. 3/8” Polyethylene sheets from Amazon are perfect.