Torbjorn Ragg and Rottefella's
New Telemark Norm (NTN) Binding-- Part Three
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February 6, 2006--
In part three, Rottefella's Marketing Manager Torbjorn Ragg begins
by further discussing performance goals and advantages to be
found in this first NTN binding's "second heel" design.
He then moves on to answering a few questions concerning business
issues and implications of the New telemark Norm (NTN).
Key points include:
- A key goal of the design is to provide
a binding that engages right away, one that becomes "active"
as soon as the heel begins to be raised, helping the skier apply
forebody pressure to the front of the rear ski at the very top
of the turn, an important key to easy carved turns right from
the start of the tele turn.
- Torbjorn believes that with this new design
the above goal can be reached without having to crank down the
springs to get a lot of preload or by having pivot points located
far back under the boot. He also explains that in his opinion,
this new second-heel design eliminates the need for boots with
a very stiff forward flex in order to have a system that engages
immediately as the heel is raised.
- Concerning the business aspects, including
the possibility of licensing use of the second-heel, Torbjorn
repeatedly makes clear that Rottefella is very interested in
having other binding makers participate in this part of their
NTN. "There is a lot of evidence that (having a monopoly
in any business) is not necessarily a smart place to be... we
don't want to end up as the Microsoft of the telemark industry
here, we are not looking for a monopoly. What we are definitely
looking for is something that will be better, as well as give
us some return on our investment in the future."
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Torbjorn goes on to emphasize that the
heel and toe are an open platform, "anyone can design a
binding that hooks around the front of the NTN boot, and we think
that's pretty simple to do actually, and I expect that people
will do that, the other binding companies are not left out of
NTN, it's up to them to be as creative as they have been the
past and design good bindings that will fit to a different shaped
symmetrical toe and still use the same old heel we have had in
the past." Making Rottefella's position on this as clear
as possible, Torbjorn continues, "it's important to remember
that the use of the second-heel is a Rottefella invention, and
something that we have patented, yes we control anything that
hooks onto the second-heel, and yes we control the use of a second
heel in a boot, but all of these three (boot) companies have
been with us in this project and they all have the right to use
the second heel. Any new boot manufacturers who might want to
bring in a second-heel boot will have to talk to us and we will
be absolutely willing to negotiate that, and any binding manufacturers
who would want to design something that grips onto the second
heel, well, we are absolutely willing to discuss with them about
use of the second heel, but don't expect us to give it away for
free. With all the money and time we have invested in this...alone,
why should we do that? It's reasonable that if they want in and
want to use our technology that they should also invest a little
bit into that."
Author's note: When
Torbjorn says "With all the money and time we have invested
in this...alone.." what he is saying is "With all the
money and time we have invested into this second-heel binding
concept all by ourselves..." This is an oblique reference
to the decision other binding makers made in the past to pull
out of what was once optimistically called "the consortium."
Until a couple of years ago, Telemarktips reported extensively
on this group of boot and binding makers who were then working
cooperatively on the NTN. Eventually other binding manufacturers
pulled out, leaving Rottefella to go it alone. A veil of secrecy
was then pulled over the entire project, leaving many to conclude
that the NTN was dead. But the three boot makers stayed in, giving
them a stake in the outcome, and today they enjoy free use of
the second-heel concept. a tangible reward for the for participation
should the NTN take off.
With other binding manufacturers having
abandoned cooperative developmental work with Rottefella on an
NTN binding (for whatever reason), Rottefella now feels it is
reasonable to ask them to help defray the considerable costs
in bringing this concept from drawing board to market. What we
would seem to have had here is a case of "if you want in
you have to gamble a little with us now, or pay more later if
it is successful." Only time will tell if the decision of
the the other leading binding makers to choose the latter option
was a wise one.
The wild card in all of this is Utah-based
Black Diamond. When they pulled out of the NTN, ended their association
with Scarpa, and later announced they were going to begin building
their own tele and AT boots, it became obvious to some of us
that their plan includes developing an entirely new NTN of their
own. Thus sidestepping making a large investment in Rottefella's
nascent second-heel concept, as well as avoiding any licensing
issues down the line.
The battle is on. What will BD come up
with? Can Rottefella get its new norm established and be far
enough along with it before BD is ready with something of their
own? Will BD find itself forced to play ball with the Norwegians?
Or will BD hit the ball out of the park in a couple of years
with the so-called "Holy Grail" of tele bindings (step-in
with brakes, release, tour mode, high performance)? What about
rumors that G3 has been quietly calling other binding manufacturers
inquiring as to their interest in working together on an "alternative
to the NTN?" That might be kind of tough without boots.
And of course lingering in the background, as always, is giant
Solomon, now owned by the Amer Sports Corporation, parent company
of Atomic Skis. As one industry veteran told us the other day,
"if Solomon sees tele taking off they might very well want
in, and and now they have that connection to Amer and Atomic,
who's been making plastic alpine boots in huge quantities for
years."
Only time will tell. One thing is for sure
though, tele is taking off and the next few years should be very,
very interesting for all the players, industry observers, and
participants alike.
Next:
In part four, the final instalment, we talk about a few outstanding
issues (weight, secrecy, etc.) and finally get a foot in a boot
and into the binding... |