JONG Dynafit walk mode question

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Am I missing something or is there no way to get into walk mode from ski mode without releasing the toes on Dynafit Comforts?

If I'm missing something obvious, ridicule away (after cluing me in, please).

[harpo-the-skier]

Look up AT Apostle's video set to a van halen riff over on a post on TTips. It works pretty smoothly with practice, but not with brakes.

[wendigo]

Lean down.
Put the handle of your ski pole between your boot and the volcano.
Lever the pole to pop the boot out.

or use your hand to twist - practice or you will pinch your fingers.

The toe throw has to be all the way up.
Brakes make this a bit more difficult.

[Jonathan S.]

Discussion/debate here:
http://telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=43537
(about halfway down)

[Chainsaw_Willie]

Well, at least it wasn't anything obvious. Thanks!

[snoboy]

I find that doesn't seem to work with the redesigned heelpost on the Verticals, but it works on Comforts and Classics.

[sethschmautz]

I've got the Verticals and it works alright for me. I get a little nervous putting the required torque on the binding to get the heel to pop out, but if it needs to be done, it's possible - even with the verticals.

[summit]

If your DIN is maxed out it is a bit harder to do...

[homi]

verticals with brakes are not a problem.

use your hand or you'll be asking dynafit for a replacement volcano.

[pechelman]

^ sounds like someone is talking from experience there

and whats the big deal really?
step out of one toe, turn the heel, step back in and done
do this one at a time and it goes much faster

as it is, if you're doing the heel twist van halen thing, you need to reach down to turn it from ski to tour....thats just me I guess as I like to be super nice to my gear and the thought of the amount of stress this puts on the toe doesnt make me too happy.

[plugboots]

I agree^^^^^. I've done the twist thing and it kinda freaked me out how stressed the whole thing looked.
Lots o' info here:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...t=62630&page=2

[harpo-the-skier]

^ sounds like someone is talking from experience there

and whats the big deal really?
step out of one toe, turn the heel, step back in and done
do this one at a time and it goes much faster

as it is, if you're doing the heel twist van halen thing, you need to reach down to turn it from ski to tour....thats just me I guess as I like to be super nice to my gear and the thought of the amount of stress this puts on the toe doesnt make me too happy.

With the Van Halen method, you need to turn the toe from ski to tour, but if you do it right, the pole handle will twist the heel to tour as it releases the boot. It gets harder to twist the heel when you are tired and off your game, but then you just have to reach down and turn the heel to tour with your hand or pole tip after you release.

The Van Halen method (without brakes) puts very little stress on the binding, I haven't broken anything in three seasons of using it. The other method, with pole tip in volcanoe, ski on snow, lifting your heel, puts much more stress on the volcano and I have broken several doing that before I saw the light.

Stepping out of the binding to switch is not a big deal, but the Van Halen method can save some seconds, even more if you are in deep pow.

[pechelman]

to say that the Van Halen puts "little stress" on the binding is a statement based on the fact that youve not yet had a failure.

do it slowly in your garage and watch how much you have to torque on the toe before the heel will release. Watch how its twisting your boot and watch what its trying to do to the front pins\arms. Then realize that all, if not most of this torque and shear is taken completely by the pivots on which the arms move and the plastic baseplate\mode selector. I have seen more than a couple failures where the baseplate cracked at the speedbump, so Im not sure its completely fair to say this is a "low stress" operation.

Ill also briefly add, that Im not sure the Dynafit engineers ever intended for a Locked toe to withstand repeated heel releases.

while it might take more energy, even in deep snow, if you do it one at a time and dont step off your ski, there is no issue with sinking into the snow.

while I might reccomend the van halen method for occasional use, when time is of importance, i would never, in a million years, suggest using a pole tip in the volcano to switch from ski to tour. never ever.

ill also go on to add that if you have your brakes setup correctly and have removed 1 of the springs, that the additional amount of "stress" associated with using a Van Halen, is extremely minimal. See that "can dynafit brakes be used on dp120s" thread for my ridiculous dissertation of sorts on the frictional modes and amounts when using brakes on dynafits and their contribution to DIN rating.

last edit
i promise
I have also been waiting for someone to make a device like that prototype on wildsnow that was posted above.
I went to sleep last night trying to think of something a bit more elegant and something that wouldnt effect the tour height in that one mode.
I have a couple ideas, but nothing im sold on yet. Trying to think of an easy way to have a peice like the "forward pressure" heel shim that you can either affix to the heel above the pins or just have it be a quick attach to your ski pole tip...or maybe permanently affixed to your pole grip? like i said, still thinking about this.