[telemike]

I am a fan of waxless skis for touring, especially longer rolling terrain. Currently I use tele gear with Rossi BC 125 skis. I would like to go to AT gear with a ski like the Voile vector BC or the Charger BC.

Has anyone got any experience with such a set up? Can AT binding even be mounted on telemark skis? I've not gotten any info from telemark tips and some other ski sites.

Thanks for any replies. I'll answer on the weekend after four days on Mt. Shasta, the (very) big one.

 

[John Svahn]

I am a fan of waxless skis for touring, especially longer rolling terrain. Currently I use tele gear with Rossi BC 125 skis. I would like to go to AT gear with a ski like the Voile vector BC or the Charger BC.

Has anyone got any experience with such a set up? Can AT binding even be mounted on telemark skis? I've not gotten any info from telemark tips and some other ski sites.

Thanks for any replies. I'll answer on the weekend after four days on Mt. Shasta, the (very) big one.

Hi,
I have a lot of experience with this. In short this is kinda the elusive thing that everyone wants but it never performa how they want it. The pattern slides out really quickly with a t gear. It works sorta in place of kick skins for traversing a frozen lake or meadow on an approach. The charger and/or vector is the best ski for this imo as they ski great. So this with a combo of skins can work for versatile touring but it aint the use scales to get up your favorite low angle hill for some turns.

 

[kovarpa]

I run Rossi bc125 with old silvreta bindings and once they break I would put dynafit on the skis. I like the set up a lot, efficient for eliminating short transitions and/or rolling terrain when the snow is soft. When icier, the scales are no good.

 

[telemike]

Thanks for the replies. I'm looking for left over Vector BCs in a medium length right now and will probably mount AT bindings if I find a pair. Then, it's trying to find a comfortable AT boot and get it fitted. Money is, of course, a factor here and bad nut prices this fall will prevent boot buying. My pistachios buy bikes and skis so lets hope the price is up!

In my early backcountry ski days some of the crew used old silveretta bindings - the old swiss army bindings that had a heel lock but no release. Be careful - the lack of a release broke one fellows ankle and another friend ripped his ACL and has regretted it for a lifetime.

 

[kovarpa]

I have silvretta pure, at its time it was the lightest frame binding, release and all.
I like how the skis ski, you should have no problem on the vectors. Check out the reviews on blisterreview for light alpine touring bindings, very good info there. And so much to choose from, what a difference from 14-20 years ago....

 

[telemike]

An aside. Two years ago, I parked at the Brokeoff trailhead in Lassen park to ski to Forest lake. I was confronted by a steep 25 foot climb off the road and had neither crampons nor ice axe. However, down the road, there was a ten foot climb to the snow so I walked down and tossed the skis up. One disappeared!

I climbed up and saw that the low point in the bank was a stream and one ski, complete with skin, was about 30 feet down an overhung hole. I fiddled and hemmed and hawed for a while until another patroller came by. We scoped out the descent down the overhung hole and I decided that I was lucky to have a second pair of skis along.

That ski sat there for three months in the stream before I could recover it. It cleaned up find and skis just fine after that immersion. In fact, once I cleaned the algae off the skin and reglued it, it also skis works just fine!

Rossi BC 125 and Black Diamond skins, yea!

 

[jibmaster]

...That ski sat there for three months in the stream before I could recover it...

Ha!
Can't wait to get up to Shasta this year. I got some business to finish up in the Coast Range first...