Dynastar GS 1984

[anemic]

Project Straight Ski Update
I have purchased two pairs of used BD 02 bindings for the purpose. I find it's easy, entertaining and quick to shop craigslist nationwide for such things. Pricing is a tad better than ebay. However it's tough to find exactly what I've needed. Examples; both pairs have large cartridges (midstiffs & ridstiffs). I was glad to see that if I thread the rear cables way into the large cartidges, I am able to use them. I'm excited to try the ridstiff and free flex cartidges now. My wife & I have only skied the midstiffs and have been happy. So I'm waiting on the second pair to come in, and BD shipped me short rear cables yesterday with some fresh mounting screws. I think I will mount the straight skis with the 3-pinline on balance point. Maybe a hair forward of that in order to make for easier turn initiation.

And, pray for snow. It's bad around here.

While shopping I also ended up with a pair of Hardwires. This is cool because I recently discovered rocker launch on my flat mounted voile cable bindings. HW will be a GREAT upgrade for my BD Stigmas. These will be a fabulous mountain ascender, super light weight and I like the idea of the HW upgrade plus the risers underfoot. Seems like a better matched system for that ski. I recently fell in love with the Stigmas on a lift served day, with the bindings on Click2 (a revelation) and my garmont ener-gs. Amazingly better on ice than expected.

[fisheater]

Anemic, feel free to check for other opinions. I would mount the straight ski, center of boot, to boot center mark on the ski. You're using this ski lift served, I would mount the boot in the place the ski designer planned on mounting the boot. Pins on BP is for optimum cross country performance, and pins on chord center is generally just an arbitrary point between those two locations. It is often a good compromise when mounting a soft alpine ski for back country endeavors. Just my 2cents. BTW, a friend nailed the steelhead this past weekend in your neck of the woods.

[anemic]

Thanks for the easy tip fisheater. I decided to do that. The skis had a sticker that would approximate boot center on the ski. The tele boots don't have a mark, but I measured the actual BSL and there is an orange logo like a vibram logo, which is spot on the center, so I lined that up.

We put the fly rods up when kids came around, so we will have to pick 'em back up to celebrate our upcoming empty nester years.

[anemic]

Ready to rumble!


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[Woodserson]

There is some serious MANLINESS going on here

[anemic]

Heh! It seems like the perfect time to deploy the rid stiffs n'est pas?

[anemic]

The complete story has yet to be written but I do have an update. Firstly, my wife took one run and said, "I'm going back to the car to get my new school Dynastars." She loves 'em, they love her, she skis great on 'em. It was a fun experiment and yielded a nice pair of bindings for something else someday. She says I would enjoy skiing her old gold Dynastars.

I gave it about 4 hours before I yielded to the newer skis. I tried the rid stiff cartridges and I've since swapped out to free flex. I tried hard to get my new tele self to drop down into a proper stance, but with all that cartridge tension and my limited skill set, I just could not get my feet separated very much.

Free flex ~ 77 nm
Mid stiff ~ 101 nm
Rid stiff ~ 133 nm

I don't have them at hand, but that's roughly the range of BD cartridges. So despite the name, free flex still has plenty of spring. I have a failing snow situation. Hoping it hangs on for another go so I can close this chapter out! May have to dawn patrol the local mudhill for a a final answer. This morning was rainy and and 56 now it's 48 & bluebird.

Run 1: felt like I'd never had skis on my feet
Run2: felt like I was finding some stability
Runs 3-6: I was able to add some speed and those old Volkls liked it and I discovered how to ski them kinda fast (trust!) and it was really fun!
Later on: I felt like I had limited stability due to a position that was not quite spread enough, but I was unable to get there. I think the free flex cartridges will allow me to spread out a bit more and really enjoy the ride. I think there is something to it. I had a few turns that were very blissful and reminded me of the best rides these skis had given me years ago.

Newer skis provide unmistakable stability. And I think that is what drives some boredom in alpine skiing today. Straight skis bring back a lot of excitement and it's good fun. Very much not ever boring! This is worth figuring out. Also, if you are learning tele on hard snow on straight skis or XCD skis of a similar shape, I believe that it is much much more difficult to master the fundamentals of tele using such gear. I'm certainly not a certified all- conditions tele master, but I am able to get around fine on newer gear, but straight skis definitely revert me. I now realize that I should have recorded photos and videos. Next time.