.
Rottefella's 2007/2008
NTN Production Binding and Scarpa's Terminator X Boots
|
"It was the best of times,
it was the worst of times..."
|
|
--Charles Dickens |
|
Above: Trimming a T-X tongue,
hoping for improved bellows flex.
 |
|
by Mitch Weber
January, 2008-- It was confounding. We couldn't figure out
how people we know, and who's opinion we rightfully respect,
could be having such an entirely different experience this season
on the production model NTN and Scarpa NTN boots from what we
had last year on the demo series gear. But there it was, in email,
on our voicemail, and most visibly, on our Telemark
Talk Forum. in discussions initiated by retailers, and by
multiple early adopter type forum members. And the nature of
the most serious complaint was even more confounding: performance.
How could this be?
To be sure, the NTN bindings we
tested in our "100 Days on the NTN"
review were not perfect, and we noted a few areas that could
use some improvement. But we also felt strongly that although
there might be some very good reasons not to make an immediate
conversion to NTN, performance was not one of them, and we shared
this opinion publicly many times. Put simply, the demo series
NTN system rocked our world. Powerful and smooth on the down,
with unmatched convenience and usability everywhere else. It
was the best of times, we would never go back.
So what was going on with these
production bindings, and why were so many expressing disappointment?
The obvious change in the production
model from the demo series was that Rottefella had boldly decided
to go ahead and position the NTN within the market as a releasable
telemark binding. Calibration marks were added to the two different
standard spring cartridge options, and release settings were
charted and published. Could it be that the spring cartridges
had been softened up to accommodate the release function? Rottefella
assured us that this was not the case, telling us that the recommended
(for us) "Medium Power Tubes" (blue) would deliver
the same performance and activity level that we had enjoyed so
much in the demo series. And yet in post after post on our forum,
users were saying that the new system felt "tippy-toed,"
that the binding let the rear boot roll up on the toe in a telemark
turn, with little-to-no sensation of getting the ball of the
foot down. For a system with so much promise, this was harsh
criticism of the worst kind, and again, hard to reconcile with
our own experience.
We had been promised a couple of
pair of the production bindings for testing months earlier, and
yet as November turned into December and the number of negative
reviews on our Telemark Talk Forum continued to mount, we were
still in the dark as to what was going on. Could it be a technique
issue? It seemed hard to believe. Big Tim and I are just regular
tele skiers. Neither of us spend a lot of time agonizing over
the technical aspects of the turn. Sure, we have had the benefit
of skiing a lot of different gear through the years, and we have
grown accustomed to making subtle adjustments to get the most
out of all kinds of bindings, but our own NTN learning curve
had been steep and short. We skied a few runs one morning at
Alta (UT) last year, and filmed our first "Testing
the NTN" video that very afternoon. Today, looking back
at that little movie, we see no sign of struggle, just BT and
the BCA/Rottefella crew having a fine time in less than stellar
conditions.
Finally, during the first week of
December, Telemarktips Softgoods Editor Cate Mowell borrowed
a pair of demo skis with production bindings, and a pair each
of the Scarpa and Crispi NTN boots from our good friends at Mammoth Mountaineering.
Time was short that day, but it didn't take long for us to see
that Cate simply could not flex the bellows of the Terminator
X boots, and the Crispis were even worse, much worse, "an
order of magnitude stiffer" was Cate's report. After difficult
runs off and on the groomers in the Scarpas, we stood at the
bottom of the lift and I tried to get her to move her hips back
over her rear foot and really crank her weight down on the boot.
I showed Cate how my demo series boots flexed, encouraging her
to try hard to close up her stance and power her back foot. Even
in a static tele stance, she was unable to get anywhere close
to the amount of bellows flex I had demonstrated. Still, trooper
that she is, we headed back up the hill for more. Still thinking
that the problem was likely the softer, releasable spring cartridges,
we swapped out skis. I wanted to see how Cate would do in my
demo series bindings with stiffer springs, and in the new boots.
Encouraging her to really get on
her back foot, I filmed a short video of Cate doing surprisingly
well on the groomer-- a testament both to her tenacity and to
the importance of a tight stance and strong rear ski weighting--
but she made it clear that she was working way too hard to break
the bellows. Something was very wrong, and at this point we were
still thinking that the issue was likely with the binding. Back
home, I cooked up the video and Cate independently prepared a
report
of her first-ever NTN experience to post on on our forum. Though
noting a number of issues, including her difficulty in getting
the boots to flex at the bellows, Cate's post was surprisingly
positive. Still, to Big Tim and myself, it was becoming all too
clear that the NTN love we had been so stoked on the previous
winter, spring, and on into summer, had somehow gone sour in
the production model system. In a flurry of email exchanges and
phone conversations, the crew at Rottefella insisted that the
production binding was essentially unchanged from the demo version,
excepting some refinements and the addition of the release setting
calibration scale on the spring cartridges. To Rottefella's everlasting
credit, no one there tried to pass the buck, we were simply encouraged
to get hold of some production boots, ski 'em and come back with
our impressions, which is exactly what we did.
At this point, credit should also
be given to Scarpa-USA CEO Kim Miller, and Marketing Director
Chris Clark. In a mid-December conference call, both were very
forthcoming in regard to differences between the demo version
and production model Terminator Xs. Despite being in a difficult
position, they did not hesitate to send us a couple pair for
testing, and encouraged us to share our thoughts. Meanwhile,
our production model NTN bindings had arrived from Norway.
On a snowy, cold day in the Sierra,
BT and I pulled into the parking lot at Mammoth's Chair Two with
fresh, production model Terminator Xs, and a selection of skis
mounted with the latest NTN bindings. Before getting on the lift,
we checked out the usability of the NTN's advanced features.
The much appreciated by us step-in function worked a well as
ever, but as I had noticed during Cate's demo, the tour mode
lever was very difficult to actuate, even by hand. This was in
stark contrast to the earlier version, which had actually been
too easy to move up and down, resulting in a (very) occasional
unwanted mode change in heavy, late spring and summer snow. Had
Rottefella gone too far in tightening up the tour mode lever's
action?
From the beginning, our first turns
in the new rig were disappointing. We were running the blue spring
cartridges set according to Rottefella's recommendation for release
at our weight and skier type. A few inches of fresh snow had
fallen overnight, and flakes continued to fall all morning as
we rode the smooth groomers. What should have been an easy morning
of groove skiing turned out to instead be something of a struggle.
I tried everything, all the tricks in my little book, moving
my weight around, changing my transition, adjusting for more
angulation, then less. Nothing worked short of a full-on fake-a-mark,
which seemed to be the only way I could compensate for what amounted
to a complete loss of back foot sensation. Tim appeared to be
doing a bit better, but at lunch he nixed that idea pretty thoroughly,
"my rear ski just seems to disappear on me during the first
half of every turn, it's as if all the good performance qualities
of the NTN have simply disappeared, gone away, poof, just like
that." We stuck with the setup for the rest of the day,
though it felt like a sacrifice of what would have otherwise
been a fun sort of almost powder day.
Holding out hope that the answer
to rekindling the NTN love might still lie with improving the
activity level of the releasable model, that night we rigged
up a couple pair of NTNs with the black, super stiff spring cartridges
Rottefella had sent with the new bindings. We also took a look at the tour mode lever
issue, hoping to figure out why the lever would bind up when
we tried to flip it into free-pivot mode. Without the boot in
the binding the lever worked fine. With the boot in, even without
a foot in it, the lever was very difficult to flip up. Taking
the boot out, I pressed down with my thumb firmly on the toe
area piece Rottefella calls the "mid-part," surprisingly,
I was able to recreate the bind by doing this.
|
We then put our demo version boots
next to the production model Terminator Xs and discovered that
Scarpa had removed the slight bit of rocker into the very front
of the boot that had been built into the demo version T-Xs. Without
this tiny bit of rocker, the new boots put pressure on the mid-part,
just as I had done with my thumb, causing the tour mode lever
to bind up, almost to the point that we could not flip the lever
up at all by hand, let alone as we had previously
done with a ski pole in the demo version system. |
The old boot (left) has a
little more rocker in the tip.
|
|
|
The next day we set out with one
pair of skis with the super-stiff "Extra Rigid" black
cartridges and another with the "Rigid" red cartridges.
It didn't take long for us to conclude that the black cartridges
offered no improvement. In fact, Tim deemed the black spring rig to be "nearly unskiable."
Still, we stuck it out for most of the day before eventually
deciding to exchange the new boots for our old demo version T-Xs.
Changing out our boots (and swapping out liners) off the back
of the Montero in a very windy, cold and snowy parking lot, we
laughed out loud at the thought that gear testing is usually
considered by many as just fun and games, and an excuse to go
skiing (as if an excuse is needed!).
The next couple of runs in the old
boots, and on the new bindings, were a revelation. The NTN love
returned, as strong as ever. Even the black, "extra rigid"
spring cartridge equipped bindings skied great, so much so that
BT chose to ride that rig for several days, even on the first
big powder day of the year. In fact, it was this rig that Tim
had on his feet when he rode an inbounds avalanche down a few
days later, as recounted in our recent "Never
Gonna Be The Same" story.
Over the course of the last few
weeks we spent a lot of time skiing the binding with our old
demo version boots, removing the new boots as a variable in order
to test the production binding thoroughly. We halso spent time
in the production boots, hoping that the bellows would soften
with use. Much discussion has taken place as well, with representatives
from both Scarpa and Rottefella, and with others having knowledge
of the situation. After first discussing this with Scarpa and
receiving their blessing, we tried filling the shells with boiling
water and flexing the warm bellows in the binding to speed up
the break-in process. And at Rottefella's suggestion, we recently
cut off the portion of the tongue that extends below the bottom
buckle in an effort to improve bellows flex.
Conclusions
The boots: It's a frustrating situation
that we find ourselves in with the Terminator X. To this point
we have had very limited success using the boiling water approach
to break-in and soften the bellows. Limited as in close to none.
We will report back if we find that modifying the lower portion
of the tongue helps.
In particular, it has been frustrating
because it was always crystal clear to us that boots for the
NTN should have a soft bellows flex in order to take full advantage
of the NTN design. Rottefella's lead NTN engineer Even Wollo
explained it like this, "When the bellows is very stiff,
the boots override the springs. Ideally, NTN boots should be
almost as soft as an old leather tele boot from the 'second heel'
(the underfoot attachment point) forward, and stiff like a high
performance duckbill boot everywhere else. This allows the user
to control the torsional rigidity and activity level of the boot
and binding through the selection of the appropriate springs."
Apparently, this has been well known
by others for quite sometime as well. Nearly a year ago, during
the on-snow demo at the Outdoor Retailer trade show, we interviewed
Even Wollo and Oyvind Aanes. About a minute into our chat, I
asked Even how it is that the NTN binding can be made to mimic
such a wide range of levels of activity and feel-- from that
of the very neutral Targa, on through a very active HammerHead
with the pivots in position five, and beyond-- simply by changing
the springs. Wollo explained that the "soft front"
of the NTN boots is what makes this possible.
Unfortunately, in our opinion, all
of this has been lost with the current, production model boots
from both Scarpa and Crispi, and for now, there are no other
options. It's a huge disappointment for us, making these, by
far, the worst of times in our year-long on-snow experience with
the NTN.
The binding: To date, Rottefella's
NTN binding has been working very well with our old boots. Going
into this latest round of testing we were very curious to see
how the binding would perform for us when set up according to
Rottefella's recommendations for release. With the old boots,
the answer is that the bindings skied as well as ever. BT and
I will likely settle on using the slightly stiffer red spring
cartridges, perhaps trading out some of the lower range of release
for increased activity and torsional rigidity, but we have been
okay with the blue cartridges when using our old boots with their
softer bellows. We believe that another advantage of the softer
flexing boots is that, when flexed, more of the rubber sole is
in greater contact with the binding plate, increasing the amount
of friction and thus significantly reducing the amount of "play"
within the interface between the boot, binding and ski, in particular
while using the softer spring options.
Rottefella introduced a number of
refinements in the production version, and will no doubt continue
to identify area's in which improvements can be made. It is through
this process that good products become great products. For now
though, the big news here is that the NTN binding has arrived,
and the sport of telemark skiing finally has a binding option
that includes step-in, brakes, an on/off tour mode and a release
function, all of which appear to be working quite well.
Final Thoughts (for now)
Help is on the way. Responding to
the problems this year swiftly and decisively, Scarpa has already
reworked the Terminator X for next season, giving it a triple
injected shell with a softer bellows flex. They will also be
introducing a 4 buckle, version to be called the Terminator X
Pro (see Tele News pg. 100). Prototype
boots have already been built, and we are very much looking forward
to getting out on a pair next week at the Outdoor Retailer show.
Garmont is back onboard the NTN
train, and according to Paul Parker, is on track to have an NTN
boot of its own next season. Parker has been involved with the
NTN from the beginning, working with Rottefella in a number of
ways. He understands how the NTN system is supposed to function,
and the possibilities the basic design offers for a boot that
is optimized to take full advantage of the NTN's unique characteristics.
One key difference in Garmont's
approach to building a boot for the NTN: we think it's quite
possible that they won't try to make their boot work for both
telemark and alpine touring, something that might look like a
fine idea on paper, but may turn out to be not such a great idea
in practice. The basic needs of the two users-- tele and AT--
seem to us to be diametrically opposed, or very nearly so. The
analogy that keeps running through my head is that of the motorsailer.
On the face of it, putting a nice big engine into a sailboat
might seem like a great idea to many, a best of both worlds sort
of thing. In reality, what you end up with is a very slow motorboat
that doesn't sail very well.
Only time will tell, and perhaps
the boot makers will figure out a way to balance the modern tele
skier's need for bellows and ankle flex against the über
AT skier's desire for stiff, alpine boot-like performance, and
yet at this point we can't help but feel that it would be best
to focus on building tele boots that are fully optimized for
NTN. The possibilities here are many. NTN boots with a soft flexing
forefoot and a stiff upper will allow users to customize the
feel of the binding according to personal preference. Lighter
weight men, women and youth could have a boot that flexes easily,
with a solid "ball of the foot on the ski" sensation,
and without sacrificing any of the torsional rigidity those of
us with more heft now enjoy in the biggest of the big tele boots.
Last summer in our "100
Days on the NTN" review, I wrote that "when contemplating
the implications of the NTN design on future tele boot technology,
it's easy to see that the journey may have just begun."
With all due respect to the boot makers, in particular to Scarpa,
who has our complete and total respect for having gone further
out on the NTN limb than anyone outside of Norway, in our opinion
it's high time to saddle up the palomino and get on with that
trip.
|