DIN in the middle of the range?

This post inspired by a riff on Lou Dawson's post on DIN being the new macho meter and in particular a forum post response by one user on the wildsnow site.

The poster in above mentioned thread claims that it has been verified by testing for DIN characteristics of ski mountaineering equipment that it is best if your DIN setting is in the middle of the binding's range, because of the nonlinear characteristics of spring dynamics. Anyone have any thoughts on that? For ski equipment including regular alpine gear, and actually for a lot of gizmos, I have always gone with the general engineering principle that whenever an object has an adjustment that can fall within a range, you will get the best reliability and performance if the setting that happens to be "right" for your needs at that place and time falls in the middle of the possible range, but it's just superstition rather than me being a real engineer in that field and knowing what I am talking about.

(I also tend to not care that much about high DIN myself. I ski pretty slow and don't generate that much force. I ski slower not so much for skill reasons as for as a quixotic effort to milk as much downhill time out of all the time I just spent going uphill!)

I am also wondering about din settings and having had a few instances where I had wished my ski had not come off, I am now inclined to crank it up a bit. In the backcountry I ski much slower and more deliberately than I do inbounds. This means that if I do fall, the force would not be that great, and hopefully I can stop myself with my two intact skis instead of sliding down the hill trying to use my ski pole tips, etc... of course with this there is an inherent risk of injury- which I am willing to risk. As to the non linear characherteristics of springs- I have no clue, I barely was able to complete the spring problems in my physics class anyways... maybe I will consult the text and let you know.

Chris

Guy's if your concerned about wether the DIN setting on your bindings is correct for you any good alpine ski shop can perform a binding function test on them. This test will verify the binding setting is correct for your weight and ability regardless of the DIN number. You must have the paper work that came with your bindings because it has a chart that allows you and them to calculate your DIN setting through weight and ability. Most alpine shops don't have this information on file for AT binders. Also you will want to take into account the fact that most of us ski with a pack and add that weight to the weight portion of the scale.

Your binding spring rates will change over time due to the springs being under compression that is why these test are important. I have actually had binding springs break due to fatigue of the metal over time. All manufactures recomend that the binding springs be reduced to zero during the off season to lesson this effect. If your a true TAYer you won't do this because you use your skis all year long. So to summarize get um checked every year and you may save yourself a self rescue or your buddies from having to drag your butt out :