Last Thursday the Western Winter Sports Reps Association, WWSRA, had an on snow demo day for industry professionals at Loveland Ski Area. I was on hand to try out the latest and greatest. In the next few articles I’ll give you, the Telemark Ski fans, a run down of what I skied and what I thought.
The one product I was very excited to try was the newest version of Rottefella’s NTN binding. I’ve skied the very first version and every version since its inception. Below are the stats and the design modifications and below these I’ll write what I thought about the binding.
Rottefella's NTN binding will be available in two sizes this season, a "large" for mondo boot size 26.5 - 32.0, and a new, much anticipated, mondo 23.0 - 26.0 "small" version. With two standard spring options in each size, NTN skiers will have four models to choose from in NTN's newest version.
In designing the smaller binding with its shorter flex plate, Rottefella made some modifications to last year's binding in order to allow everything to fit, most notably shortening the spring cartridge "Power Tubes," and changing the way they attach to the "hook," the part of the binding that engages the boot's under-the-forefoot "second heel." The new approach is said to make it easier to adjust the springs, but more importantly it moves the redesigned, shorter spring cartridges back approximately 15mm, probably a necessity in the shorter model and likely a desirable change in the larger model as well. Rottefella says that moving the rigid cartridges further out from under the area below the boot bellows results in a "smoother and more even flex," as does improving the angle at which the cable enters the spring cartridges. This smoothes things out even further, reducing the amount of required spring travel and allowing the flexible plate to bend more naturally. In combination with the reengineered Power Tubes, these changes are said to engage the springs earlier as the heel is lifted. Eliminating what Roottefella calss the “dead Spot”.
With new NTN boots from Scarpa and Cripsi already finding their way to dealer shelves, and with an exciting new high-performance NTN boot from Garmont, the Prophet, not far off, the industry's commitment to NTN remains strong.
I was excited to try this new version. I do feel NTN is the future of telemark binding design. I was wearing the Scarpa TX Pro boot and I’m a big fan of Scapa tele boots even though this winter I’ll be in Garmonts new VooDoo tele boot. The Rep put me on a large NTN and adjusted the power tubes to 2. The tubes can be adjusted from 1 to 3, 3 being the stiffest. I had some difficulty getting them on but I believe it was the brake design and the brain design in my head. Immediately I could feel even with the power tube position in 2 these things were stiff. Right when I lifted my heel I engaged the tubes.
My first run was horrible. I could not, for the life of me, make a tele turn. Now I’ve skied the 22 Designs Hammerhead in their number 5 position and I could still make a turn but these NTN’s were crazy stiff. I gave the bindings one more try and took the lift up higher. I had my friends watch me to see if I was doing something wrong. Once again, I looked like a hack, which is easy for me. I think the redesign to get rid of the “dead spot” has made this binding way too active and bottoms out the power tubes too soon. I felt like the binding was skiing me and not me skiing the binding. I’d like to see the brute who can ski this binding well.
All in all, I think the folks at Rottefella need to go back to the design table. I still think the NTN is the future but I don’t think I’ll live long enough in the future to see this thing be a realization.
No comments:
Post a Comment