Sunday 26 March 2023

Pondering ski gear in the rain after learning something new in an outdoor shop

Braeriach from Craigellachie

Wandering up Craigellachie in the rain I was pondering ski gear and the novel, at least for me, experience of going into an outdoor shop with lots of questions and less knowledge than I thought I had. The shop visit was the follow-up to the discovery that my plastic ski touring boots were on the way out and needed replacing that I wrote about in this post.

My assumption was that I would replace the boots with a similar pair or possibly even the same model. I just needed to find ones that fitted my wide feet. But it had been twenty years since I’d last paid attention to ski gear, and I was to discover much had changed. I’d had a warning of this at the igloo building weekend where Andy Ince had shown me his current set-up – huge plastic boots, the widest skis I’d ever seen, and complicated new -fangled bindings – and said that’s what Telemark skiers were now using and that the old 75mm Nordic Norm three-pin and cable bindings were on the way out. I didn’t really take this in as I wasn’t looking for such a set-up anyway. If anything I wanted lighter boots, not heavier ones.

Cable-bindings & duck-bill boots. Out of date!

Then in Cairngorms Mountain Sports in Aviemore I was told that 75mm NN really was disappearing. I couldn’t replace my boots with the same model as they’d been discontinued as had similar boots. I aske about leather boots with clips and power straps. Gone years ago. My cable bindings were no longer made either and spares were unavailable so I wouldn’t be able to replace the cables when they failed (and they’re pretty worn, being over twenty years old). Oh. The Nordic touring system I’d been using since I learnt to ski forty years ago would soon be no more. It looked as though I needed new boots and new bindings. And to adjust my thinking. What was now available? 

My old duck-billed 75mm NN boots

The assistant showed me a new binding with a long-winded name, the Rottefella Xplore BC Offtrack Nordic Binding. It looked good and very different to 75NN. No more duck-billed boots! I examined some boots designed for this binding. They looked the type I was after.

I didn’t make an immediate decision. I hadn’t expected to discover that I probably needed a whole new system. I was glad I’d talked to an expert and he’d given me good advice, including that the new bindings were not that proven in Scottish conditions yet and maybe I should do some research online. (I have and found rave reviews from Norway and the USA but nothing from Scotland). It was decades since I’d needed such assistance in an outdoor shop and it was useful to be reminded how valuable it is to discuss with an expert gear you can actually handle in a bricks and mortar shop. Such places are well worth supporting.

Craigellachie birches

Leaving the shop I went for a walk up Craigellachie, that steep, rugged, mostly wooded crag that rises directly above Aviemore. Rain poured down. The paths were slippery and muddy. The woods glistening and fresh. Big stands of birch trees were silver and purple, waiting for the first pale green tinge of the coming spring.

In the rain


Once above the trees Aviemore spread out below me. My eyes though were drawn across Strathspey to the Cairngorms, to the dark cleft of the Lairig Ghru and the snowy corries of cloud-shrouded Braeriach. Dark, grim, grand. And probably not the place to be today.

The Lairig Ghru

I descended in the rain, thinking about new boots and bindings. I still am but it does look like the Xplore bindings – trying something new is always exciting – as long as I can find boots that fit both me and them.

Craigellachie birches


10 comments:

  1. I had the exact same conversation in CMS a couple of days ahead of you. We even talked about your last blog post. I have a first rate 75mm setup and the idea that I have to switch to NTN is an anathema. I’m going to check with my younger son, who is a Royal Marine, as they use 75mm leather boots in Norway. Perhaps he knows of alternative sources

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    1. I'm certainly not changing to NTN! The Xplore binding looks good though.

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  2. My Nordic guide pals use NTN for piste telemarking, they use BC for hut to hut these days having previously used (relatively) light plastics like Excursions with 3 pin or light cables like Riva 3s.
    When my T3s give up I'll probably follow suit, in the meantime enjoying proper light skinnies and carpet slippers in Lapland!

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  3. As a long time Nordic skier and one time Trak nordic ski importer ... I have looked with dismay at the massive N boots and systems emerging over many years. The trend began 20 years and more ago and since then alpine has been getting lighter and Nordic going heavier. A few years ago I bought new when in France. This was a Salomon ski with fish scale base ( like the best TRAK one I used to sell) and Salomon Nordic boots, not 75mm but a new norm with X bar. I supplemented the fish scales with a new type of skin, adhesive of course, called 'Intelligrip' with a glide section from tip to beginning of the grip skin. A good compromise which I ues for my HardangerVidda crossing.
    The alt is to use Skimo' racing gear with 2 pin boots and bindings, much much lighter than the big N norms and lighter than alpine. But would need to purchase in alps. More info later if you need.
    If you think all this is complicated then the situation with boots and bindings for classic and skate skis is a minefield. There are 2 new norms and all boot brand have joined one or the other.

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    1. Thanks. I started out with Trak skis in the 1980s. I remember the fishscale base was excellent. I think I'm going for the Rottefella Xplore bindings, which are light, as long as I can find some compatible boots that fit my wide feet.

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  4. Chris, we have sets of exactly the same 75mm boots – both the leather and plastic (and a few others too). About 8 years ago we switched to a Salomon system, perhaps that mentioned by Mountain Marathon. But I see that is is discontinued: https://www.braemarmountainsports.com/ski-equipment/ski-boots/salomon-x-adv-8-nordic-backcountry-ski-boot__1862
    Have used it successfully in Norway and Scotland and the boots have a decent sole for walking to the snow but the bar at the front soon gets filled with snow when walking, and is even harder to get clear than the old 3 pin holes (and you have to get it clear). I carry an old credit card to poke out the ice. They are not very well made, have had one replacement pair, so can see why Salomon have given up. But will try and keep them going for as long as possible.

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    1. I tried the Rottefella NNN system, which are similar to the Salomon, back in the 1990s and had the same problem with the bar on the boots.

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    2. Mike Parsons here posting as Mountain Marathon and former importer of TRAL skis .
      I had exactly the same clogging up problems with the transverse bar on the Salomon and started carrying a bike tyre lever ( which is angled ) to reach around tip of boot and clear snow. The boots also were poor. I was nervous about buying these Salomon skis, bindings and boots because of previous negatives with Salomon. skis boots and bindings were all poor. Interesting to hear they are now discontinued.

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    3. We bought the boots/bindings specifically for Norway tours and ad hoc skiing in Scotland. Having invested in this system, we were pretty scunnered when we realised the boots were not robust (neither of us is heavy though there will have been the odd fall). They were very comfortable though compared to any of the leather 75mm boots I had. Kept to Fischer E99 fishscale skis. When I took my originals into Cairngorm Mountain Sports for new bindings, the guy said, these skis are older than me…

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  5. My track boots have the SNS light binding and it has a similar bar at the toe. Last week has shown that the folk who designed these live in colder places than Scotland, skiing in Finnish Lapland the temperatures were well down in the low blue wax, everything was lovely powder and the bar never gummed up... In Scotland of course it doesn't work like that (and as my boots have the extra mid bar for the skate binding they're usually worse than most).

    However, I find them easier to clear of wet snow than 3-pin holes, just scraping behind the bar with a pole tip and once that's out a whack on the toe will clear the bar. More of a faff than a Riva 3 cable, but not a deal-breaker.

    There seems to be a good range of boots for the Rotafella backcountry binding from different builders so I imagine you'll find something. The aforementioned Nordic guide pals were Garmont users by choice back in duckbill plastic days and they seem to have found happy options. I'll try and remember to ask Stefan what he's using instead of Excursions...

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