I recently had my tecton toe release on me unexpectedly. It was about 2 turns into a steep couloir, after a boot pack.
My guess is that the toe of my boot got packed with snow and so the pins didn't fully engage.
I stomped the ski like usual and it felt ok, but then bam, it just fell off. I ended up with a severe shoulder dislocation, hiking out, one ski about 200 yards down slope, etc, which is it's own saga...
Earlier in the week a friend had a similar thing happen to him with kingpins, but he just spilled and was fine.
Point of this post is just to tell you to be aware of this potentially happening with your touring bindings, especially after hiking in AT boots. I don't really classify this as a malfunction, more my fault, just something that is easier to happen than I thought.
Tecton toe icing
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Please be respectful when posting - family and friends of fallen climbers might be reading this forum.
Please be respectful when posting - family and friends of fallen climbers might be reading this forum.
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pvnisher
- Posts: 1727
- Joined: 9/28/2006
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Re: Tecton toe icing
Experienced tourers - Any tips for avoiding this?
I use the G3 Ion 12 and always rotate my foot forward and backward several times after clicking the toes in an attempt to break up ice in my boot tech inserts. If I remember correctly, I believe the G3 pins have a slight ridge which makes them more effective at breaking up ice when you rotate the toe before locking into the binding.
I use the G3 Ion 12 and always rotate my foot forward and backward several times after clicking the toes in an attempt to break up ice in my boot tech inserts. If I remember correctly, I believe the G3 pins have a slight ridge which makes them more effective at breaking up ice when you rotate the toe before locking into the binding.
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SchralpTheGnar
- Posts: 1890
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Re: Tecton toe icing
I had a similar experience with dynafits and ended up selling them and going back to my freerides
Re: Tecton toe icing
I had several releases on a steeper skin track recently on a dynafit vertical. I've always done the toe rotation thing described above. That technic works better with newer dynafit (radical 1 and newer) because of notches in the toe pins which act as a scraper of sorts to clean out holes in boots.
The recent issue was icing under the toe springs which wouldn't let the pins completely snap into boot inserts. It took a bit to figure out the problem. Whippet pick wasn't quite small enough to clean it out. It took a knife. This was the first time this happened in probably 75 days on tech bindings. Glad I wasn't on a 40 degree slope.
The recent issue was icing under the toe springs which wouldn't let the pins completely snap into boot inserts. It took a bit to figure out the problem. Whippet pick wasn't quite small enough to clean it out. It took a knife. This was the first time this happened in probably 75 days on tech bindings. Glad I wasn't on a 40 degree slope.
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pvnisher
- Posts: 1727
- Joined: 9/28/2006
- Trip Reports (8)
Re: Tecton toe icing
Would shift binding eliminate that particular risk?
Might introduce others, I suppose, but dang, this sucks. I'll certainly be more sure about it from now on, but it would be nice to just stomp on like Alpine bindings and not think about it as much.
Might introduce others, I suppose, but dang, this sucks. I'll certainly be more sure about it from now on, but it would be nice to just stomp on like Alpine bindings and not think about it as much.
Re: Tecton toe icing
In theory the shift could be better at this due to the alpine toe while skiing, but there are also a lot more moving parts in the toepiece that have potential to ice up which make me nervous.
BKS - For icing under the toe spring does it work to just snap the binding open and closed a couple of times with your hands? I have done this with moderate success as the force from opening/closing usually breaks up the ice better than I can get a knife in there.
BKS - For icing under the toe spring does it work to just snap the binding open and closed a couple of times with your hands? I have done this with moderate success as the force from opening/closing usually breaks up the ice better than I can get a knife in there.
