Dynafit ski to touring mode ??

[gunniride]

O.K. I know this is discussed in various places, but I could not locate a definitive thread/post in either wildsnow or here. Saw something about the "Van Halen" trick, but no real discription.

With my brakes removed, just how bad is it on a pair of FT12s to spin the heel of my boots out of the heel unit. It seems to be pretty fluid after I've done it a time or two.

I'm getting used to no brakes, but noticed some people use only one spring that helps out some. With brakes on and only one spring can you still do the twist out method?

[pechelman]

yes you can twist out with brakes, but its much harder to also twist out AND get the heel to spin around and lock the brake underneath it.

i use the 1 spring in the brakes, and really, i think ive only sucessfully twisted out and got the brakes locked down 3-4 times. I generally twist out, put down a knee, and twist the heel by hand.

Or take off my ski.

[gunniride]

Thanks,

So, most importantly, are you not damaging the binding by twisting out with either setup?

[wooley12]

Been playing with comforts(older brakes) and St's(newer brakes) all summer. No snow so gotta do something. My OPINION is that doing the Vanhalen with brakes is not a good idea. Just trying to spin the heel by hand at DIN 6 requires a lot of torque. Here's what I KNOW. I cut one spring off the newer model brakes from the ST's and the brakes won't even hold the ski off the carpet. Never gonna stop a ski IMO. I THINK that the older brakes had stronger springs so cutting one off would prevent the heel from spinning in tour mode. Plan is to skin a lot of horizontal (no vert here) with old, 2 spring brakes on one ski and new, 2 spring brakes on the other and see what happens.

[harpo-the-skier]

Search Van Halen on Telemarktips.com. It doesn't work with brakes.

[pechelman]

Thanks,

So, most importantly, are you not damaging the binding by twisting out with either setup?

ive never felt i was torquing anything that hard

im gentle though

its not just about wrenching on it like in the video, but also slightly leaning forward to pick up your boot out of the pins.

sometimes ill even turn the heel piece with my hand by picking up my leg, tip on the ground, leaning forward on it a tad. sounds weird, but youll figure it out.

but honestly, if going from ski to tour is a priority, and you cant be bothered with the possibility of the 30s to step out of a ski and switch it to tour, dont use brakes.

to be clear, i use brakes for a few reasons
-so i can ski them inbounds without a leash
-so the skis dont slide around when im putting skis on or during a transition
-really helps secure the skis to one another for carry on shoulder or pack.

for me, those outweigh the negatives of not being able to easily go from ski to tour.

[Meadow Skipper]

[kidwoo]

Man that video is just as informative as it was years ago.

[gunniride]

O.K. From more research on TTips and wildsnow, it would appear the Van Halen method is an acceptable practice to do without brakes. I've gone without brakes happily thus far this season, and can get out of ski mode with the flick of a pole (not reaching down with my hand), so I guess I'll continue to do it, not worrying about the wear on the binding.

For the tinkerer, looking for an easier way out try this

[LeeLau]

Man that video is just as informative as it was years ago.

Yes that video's really unclear.

I reach down and twist the heel piece to the side while simultaneously twisting the boot in the same direction as the heel piece and I'm out.

Me - din 10- Dynafit Comforts or Verticals with brakes

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Yes that video's really unclear.

I reach down and twist the heel piece to the side while simultaneously twisting the boot in the same direction as the heel piece and I'm out.

Me - din 10- Dynafit Comforts or Verticals with brakes

Do you lock the toe piece first? Does the brake pad go under the lip for tour mode easily?

[LeeLau]

Do you lock the toe piece first? Does the brake pad go under the lip for tour mode easily?

Yes i lock the toe of course. "Does the brake pad go under the lip for tour mode easily?" I don't understand

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Yes i lock the toe of course. "Does the brake pad go under the lip for tour mode easily?" I don't understand

You are using brakes? When you lever the heel, does it retract the brake easily as it spins into tour mode? It feels like I'm forcing it if I don't take my ski in hand and depress the brake pad while turning the heel to tour mode.

[LeeLau]

Yes I said I'm using brakes.

The brake pad is already depressed. My foot is on it.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

Yes I said I'm using brakes.

The brake pad is already depressed. My foot is on it.

Sorry if I'm being obtuse, I don't want to break them, even used they were more than $300, Vertical ST. Thanks.

[GeezerSteve]

I snapped off a Comfort volcano doing it, althought it may have been fatigued. Comfort volcanoes are eventually gonna break anyway but you can still ski and skin fine if it does.

Never heard of anything else breaking using the VH technique, although I sometimes wonder if doing it might eventually result in some slop and/or fatigue in the toe fixture, which does get momentarily reefed.

[LeeLau]

Steve - I don't use the pole. I use my hand and twist the heel piece. It seems like it'd stress the pole a lot if you did it

[harpo-the-skier]

The way that really stresses the pole and binding is to keep the ski on the snow, try to pull your heel up out of the binding, insert the pole in the volcano/elevator, and twist the heel piece out of ski mode. I have broken a volcanoe and a pole tip doing this, and it sounds like this is what LL does, except he uses his hand, not the pole.

The van halen method inserts the grip of the pole between the volcanoe/elevator and the heel of your boot, brings the tail of your ski off the snow, and levers the pole between the boot heel and the volcano to get the binding out of ski mode. I forget if you twist the poles clockwise or counter clockwise, play with a little and it should be ovious. I have never broken anything doing it this way, although I only twist the heel piece all the way to tour mode about 1/3 of the time. The rest of the time, I manage to release the boot from the heel piece, but then have to rotate the heel piece by hand.

In all cases, lock the toe before you try any of these methods. I don't use brakes except at resorts.