Skin to Ski transition trick

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.