shattered dynafits, shattered dreams...

Here's this season's repairs...

Broken Heel Riser on Vertical ST.  This broke while prying the heelpiece with a ski pole switching from downhill back to tour mode. It cracked the plastic piece just below this layer as well.

This was a bad casting job right from the factory.  Started as a minor imperfection, I thought it was merely cosmetic, but it later turned into this gaping crevasse.

That's freaky. Have you guys been logging any air time with those bindings? I've never seen/heard of a broken toe pincer like that. Looks like I'll be carrying lots of Voile straps in my pack...

I really rarely have the bindings on a ski rack (maybe one trip up to stevens from seattle?), most of the time they are in a box on the roof. I did drop some small stuff with these bindings (less than five or six feet or so), but only in deep pow and did not have any big wipeouts. I'm not too worried about the downard pressure, its the thing that the bindings did not release before breaking troubles me the most. The screws are about 1/16" diameter so

area * ultimate stress for strong stainless steel in psi * 4 screws = load in lbs
[((1 / 16 / 2)^2) * pi] * 90 000 * 4 = 1 104.46617

But its cantilevered, so only the two front screws take the load - apply any reasonable safety factor for infinite fatigue life (subject to vibration, releases, etc...), I usually use 4, and the top plate can only take 114 pounds! Thats really not much.

The new Salewa rep got back to me, and they are sending me a new heel piece for free! Hopefully the other heel piece isn't cracked, time to go cleaning...

Sorry - my telling Scotsman how reliable some Canadian ski guides claimed the Dynafits are on a recent thread possibly jinxed ya...

I wasn't going to say a word, honest!

Plinko, I noticed you are running brakes on your ST's. FYI it's not recommended that you switch to tour mode from ski mode with your boot still engaged in the heel when using brakes. Some people do this, and are successful at it, but are probably not using brakes. I don't know if that was the case for you. Also, even when the boot is out of the binding, I make a habit to push the brake down manually and turn the heel into tour mode. It seems to me that too much tension is created by the brake mechanism when turning the heel into tour mode. One way to relieve some of the added tension created by having brakes is to remove one of the two springs that engage the brake....FWIW in this thread, I have Comforts and ST's and have only broken a "volcano" on my Comfort's when I first got them. That bad casting is a bum deal... Also, I am experiencing problems with my BD 01 telemark bindings at the moment, so it seems to me that gear (material things) SUCK in general, BUT we can't ski without it!

TobyT,

Thanks for the tips. Yes, the practice is not sanctioned under current international rando bylaws, but it's still practiced in a few backwater haunts here and there. I skied Comforts then switched to Verticals, and my bad habits are what broke it. Now, with the Verticals, I step out completely, then change to uphill mode. Thankfully, the Salewa/Dynafit folks have been great about promptly getting replacement parts. Despite the minor issues, I'm still a huge Dynafit proponent!