Ski Bindings - advice

Hi all,

Just completed my second season - began hesitantly on blue slopes in Saas-Fee in January and ended by skiing blacks and off-piste in Chamonix as late as last week (the advantages of living in Geneva!). But now I'm wondering whether I still have appropriate skis and I've noticed lots of incomprehensible technical talk about ski bindings on here. Can someone give me a quick and easy lowdown on what all those binding numbers etc mean and what I should be looking for? I thought all that was needed was weight information but apparently it has to do with skill level also? Also now that I'm a better skiing whether I should be thinking about getting a different type of ski? Currently have a pair of dynastar 8 which seem quite lightweight...

Thanks!
CT

Usually the better you get the harder you will ski and if you had a pair of skies set to for example 6 when you started to ski you will probably need to set the bindings a little bit harder otherwise you could press you boot out of the binding if you ski hard enough... just what happened me with a pair of rental skis. http://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/12550.page

Take your skis to a ski shop and ask them to help you with this... You may also want to test some other skis since you are a much more advanced skier now. Check if there are any ski tests near you in the beginning of next season, can really recommend that to go and test a lot of different skis to check what suits you.

The reason for increasing the Din number (release pressure) as skill level improves is an assumption that you will tackle more difficult terrain at higher speeds. This then becomes a compromise between the risk of injury from a fall in which the bindings do not release, and the risk of injury in a fall caused by the bindings releasing too easily.

You can find DIN-settings calculator online to work out the settings that you should be using. Every setting is a compromise between release and retention. The theory goes that as your skiiing improves retention function becomes more important. You apply more torque and if DIN is too low you can "walk out" of your ski. Or the heel piece may release unintentionally in steep moguls.

The above posts clearly explain those numbers.

May I add the following.

1. You should know "your numbers" that is your release value by heart. Insist that this value be always used!

2. You should once a year have this value checked via "an electronic" or manual test bench. All very very good ski shops have them.

3.AS important that this DIN value is the rear tension setting ( which has no indicated value). That tension must be done by a qualified person. You do not learn on internet how to do this .

Trust me. Just knowing how to do DIN value without this rear tension adjustment will cause you much grief.

Your safety and legs are more important ! Get it done by a qualified technician or someone like Trencher!

In short
1-4 DIN values children women
5-8 90 % of skiers fall in this range
8+ very heavy skiers or expert level racer type skiers

Pavel

Thanks all, very helpful as always!