Skin to Ski transition trick

I happened on a skin to ski transition trick that I really like since it reduces my bending over time, and both lets me clean the snow under my
pins, and stay in my leash. Watch the heel cover. It only works if your heels are like mine with a pin flap.

Looks pretty normal.  Not sure why he unclips his toes.  That seems pointless.

Looks like the heel piece doesn't rotate or slide so the walk mechanism relies on a riser to keep the heel from engaging the ski mode prongs.
Is this what you use Mike? Seems to be a nuisance to not have a flat touring mode a-la-beasts.

Seanyboy wrote: Looks like the heel piece doesn't rotate or slide so the walk mechanism relies on a riser to keep the heel from engaging the ski mode prongs.
Is this what you use Mike? Seems to be a nuisance to not have a flat touring mode a-la-beasts.

Hi Sean. Yes, I've switched all my heels to this plum heel. It does rotate, but I never use flat mode. It's either flap over pins for touring, or flap up for skiing. If I don't want to clean my toe pieces, the transition is super slick... Flip the plate, step down. But I've started cleaning my toes regularly, thus this goofy little trick.

With both my F1's and Aliens, the free ankle articulation has resulted in me not really missing a heel riser. And surprisingly, it feels just fine on flat or going downhill. I think boots make a huge difference in what you need from your binding.

It's interesting that you click out of the toe pins during the up-to-down transition. You mention cleaning the toe pieces regularly, which I guess is what you're shooting for. My experience has been that the toe pins are clean and bomber after a climb, so I don't step out during the up-to-down transition. I just unlock the toe piece after I've switched the heels to downhill mode.

I also remove my skins before locking my heels down. I'm old and stiff, and I find it easier to remove the skins with my heels free, especially with sticky fat skins.

There are many ways to cat a skin. (Cat is actually a verb! And it almost fits here!)

Lowell_Skoog wrote: It's interesting that you click out of the toe pins during the up-to-down transition. You mention cleaning the toe pieces regularly, which I guess is what you're shooting for.

I guess I mis-spoke. Maybe this is an east side snow issue. When there is fresh snow (and it seems at all temperatures), I seem to get snow packed under and around the springs of my toe piece and this has resulted a couple times in toe release when not wanted, and so now I try most times to get the snow out from under the springs. I was using sloppy language. 

Until recently when doing this cleaning, I would take off my ski, pick it up, operate the toe piece a few times until clean, and then put it back on. I was excited to find this new way to accomplish the same thing without actually picking up my ski.  I've solved a problem that other people don't see as a problem. 

Interesting that you bring this up. I upgraded from Vulcans to the new Mastraele RS, which has significantly more ankle extension/back flexibility. I need to tweak my vipec toes because there's currently too much play. I mitigate most of the play by using a single riser, and I hardly notice it even when on the flats- possibly spelling a trend for the future of bindings.

mikerolfs wrote: When there is fresh snow (and it seems at all temperatures), I seem to get snow packed under and around the springs of my toe piece and this has resulted a couple times in toe release when not wanted, and so now I try most times to get the snow out from under the springs.

Yes, I've had issues with snow packing around the toe piece springs too. Usually, for me, the problem is snow between the pincer-springs and the top-sheet of the ski, which prevents the pins from fully pinching the boot-toe sockets. Sometimes even popping the toe pincers a few times won't clear them. This can cause a pre-release.

I normally address this problem when I'm putting my skins on at the bottom of a run with my skis off. I carry a scraper in my pocket and I made a little modification by attaching a nail to my scraper (see photo). The nail makes it easy to clean the snow/ice out of the pincer mechanism. Then, at the top of the run, I remove the skins without removing the skis.