I had to do it!

Popped on a new pair of skis.

Only a little over $200 and I now will own a pair of Madshus Annums (I'm only a ski away from the whole line)...

Question is what bindings to put on these ones.  I'd like to use them as ski I could take to a resort... but I could tour in them as well... and of course they'll be a fun play ski on any small hill that has snow and enough room to maneuver.

I'm leaning towards a Voile Switchback but I'm really deterred by actually using the for touring them... and well, no release.  Could always put inserts in and switch between a regular 3 pin and a real tele binding.

Or there is the old venerable Voile CRB, which are no longer made, suck for touring but maybe at least give your knee a fighting chance.

Paging Telemark Dave to the white courtesy phone...

What boots are you using with the Annums? The Switchback would be a good choice, more power to drive the ski, the climbing feature is handy and they are relatively light.

I would also highly recommend the Burnt Mountain Lite Spike, it is designed specifically for use with this type of ski. I have them on my Fischer S-Bound 112s, which are very similar.
http://www.burntmtn.com/00SPIKE3pin/sp3pinindex.html

I ordered the detachable heel thingie but rarely use it. The toepiece alone is enough to drive that ski.

Boots... uhhh... depends on what I'm gonna ski with them.

At Gore or the like I'd use something like a T2 (I don't have any - so whatever I could rent comparable).  For hill hunting I'm thinking an Excursion, maybe this other pair of boots I'm trying to get, Crispi Svartisen.  The Crispi will be more a heavy touring boot in my mind.  We'll see if I can actually get a pair.  I'd even try them with my Alpina Alaskas.

I like that binding you linked... I've seen them before.  Looks a bit heavy but having the pins AND the wide wings is KEY!  I'd never use the tail.  The brakes would be nice for a resort.  I think you may have me sold!

They are not as heavy as they look. The step-in function is pretty sweet. Easy to mount if you or your local shop has a four hole BD/G3 jig. I mounted mine successfully with two random alpine jigs. When you deal with BMD, you deal directly with the owner/inventor/assembler, Louis D. Nice guy, great tele skier and delivers top-notch customer service. Ask MattChuck, who blew up his Spike NTs (the NTN version).

A picture of install at local shop:

Yes, my Spike NT blew up, but I'm pretty tough on gear (I guess). Also, the NTN boot (without a duckbill) necessitated a smaller toepiece. The toepiece in that pic looks a lot more stout than what the NTN version looked like. Pics my NTN thread (just search for it). I still like the "company" (the guy) and would consider using the Lite Dog (or whatever they're calling it) in a future setup.

Just to add another option, the Rotte Super Telemark is always available cheap. That's what I have on my BC110s

In my limited tele experience I think the voile's/g3's are both good options, then bd01's, then rottes.

With any of the flagship models I think you can tour and run the lifts no problem, so why worry about two pairs?

Wow, nevermind... those g3 ascends are expensive!

All my other skis have Voile HD Mountaineers.  Same thing (in concept) as the Super Tele.  Super Tele has bit nicer bail action IMO and I've heard some people quibble other small differences... but the Mountaineer works for a basic 3 pin.

Starting to waffle a bit on my thoughts here.  Was daydreaming in the car on the ride home and the Switchback was calling to me... mainly because I've always heard how nice it is climbing... and if'n I'm going to go look for hills and do some laps with these, that might be nice... but well touring flats with that floppy pivot would suck...

This is why I decided on pins on my Epochs... but do I really need good touring ability with the Annums when I have the Epochs to go to?

I may not decide until snow hits the ground...

Missed this somehow....

Mike, I use the Voile HD mountaineers on my Guides (Annums).  That's all I find I need with Garmont Excursions.  Pin to win!
I had the 3pin Cable, but after using the cable deal once, never bothered again as t made no difference  - maybe it would have with leather boots, with plastic, pins only work fine, tour better, and save weight AND fiddling.  

The Annums are so light any cable binding is overkill.  That being said, when I first got the skis, I mounted G3 Targas on them, 'cause that's what I had sitting around.  They skied well, but were a bit restrictive for kick and glide. (Had the softest spring cartridges too...)

Simple and cheap is best with these skis.  

TD

I should have added, all the above (my advice) is backcountry applicable.  I would seriously caution you against using the Annums for lift served/managed snow, except on really soft or the occasional resort "powder" day.  They do not like hard pack.  Waaay too torsionally soft to hold an edge, unless you are either a incredibly talented finesse type skier, or a honey badger. (Ie. don't give a damn)

Though it's fun to ski by a crowd with your fish scales making that zippy sound... "WTF?"

I use them to poach runs at the local ski hill, right in the broad daylight.  Ski (scale?) up the edge of the back runs, right by the patrollers on a "safety meeting", and then ski down the fringes looking for fresh..

TD

Thanks for the advice TD.

What about the hardwires?  http://www.voile.com/voile-telemark-bindings/voile-hardwire-3-pin-telemark-binding.html

They have pin mode and the cable can be clipped down to the heel piece for touring.

Yeah I don't plan on skiing them on groomers.  If I hit a resort it will be a small hill with no people and good snow.

3 pin hard wires?  Sure.  Save the cables for the resort days.  Or stuff them in your pack when touring.  That's what I did with the cables from the voile 3pin-cable... But like I said, used them once, but didn't ever bother to since.  

Seeing as how you started off spending so little, you might as well continue on that note and buy whatever binding is cheapest (and that works for your intended use of the skis...)

Damn... every time I get new skis someone talks me into the basic 3 pin.  I want some variety on my skis!

Nah, eff that.  I'd rather just spend the money on more boots.  I'm with ya.  I'll probably be able to ski whatever I want with pins and plastic with those skis.

I keep thinking backup in case I blow out the pin holes but I've also read the wire puts more stress on the pins and makes it more likely for a boot failure.

That's the spirit...the dirtbag spirit.

You'll need some bigger bindings when you pop for the Chargers.  

Td

MikeK wrote

Thanks for the advice TD.
  If I hit a resort it will be a small hill with no people and good snow.

MikeK is the ying to snoloco's yang

Congrats mike, anyone else wanna Do it! You can Do it for stupid cheap on STP!

freeheeln wrote

MikeK wrote

Thanks for the advice TD.
  If I hit a resort it will be a small hill with no people and good snow.

MikeK is the ying to snoloco's yang

Snoloco is probably a better skier than me though...

So I googled the annums and they are basically the same dimensions as the Rossis.  (Sorry I wasn't paying attention.)

Mike I'm speculating that in your relatively recent past you'd have considered an old XCD setup - Asolo Snowfield or Merrill Doubles and e99s or Karhu xcdgt - a standard rig.

Basically for me it comes down to not caring much about any extra work created by the extra weight of the gear.  The downhill or even gradual down dominates for fun.

Then again that's coming from a guy who has ridden his MTB on the roads for the last 10 years.  To me the extra weight is exercise and I don't care.

Harvey.  I have a pair of Madshus Epochs (Old Karhu 10th Mountains) and a pair of Madshus Glittertinds (Old School Tele skis).  I don't see myself buying any Eon (XCD GT) type skis because the Epochs and the Glitti's bridge a pretty good gap.

Glitti's are my ultralight skinny tourers (basically a wider, softer XC ski).  The Epochs are my heavy duty tourers (still pretty light).  What I use depends on snow conditions and terrain.  Funny thing is the Epochs probably are wider and have more sidecut than the skis I started with for Alpine

I also ski my Glitti's in groomed tracks (Epochs are too slow and too fat to fit).  I don't own any traditional XC skis anymore.

The Annums will be more dh focused I think although I may use them in snowshoe mode for breaking trail with soft boots when I want a lot of float.  We'll see how good they go in a straight line...

If I buy another ski* it will be a wax version of the Glittertind or an E99 (I don't think they make them new anymore) so I have the option to go wax or waxless depending on my patience and the temperature.


*besides the charger of course, but I can't stomach $650 + bindings right now!

Nice quiver!  No redundancy, but enough overlap to cover all middle ground.  (Extremes being groomed tracks at one end and steep&deep pow at the other. )

Remember, the N+1 / S-1 rule applies to skis as well as bikes.



TD

It's a small quiver but with the Annums I think it will keep me more than busy throughout the winter.

I'm constantly scouring ebay and the net for a ski that might fit in where the others don't...

I actually ordered another set of skinnies (Madshus Voss), some NNN bindings and boots last winter but it turned out the boots weren't in stock so I nix'd the whole order.  I had a moment of madness where I wanted some NNN for groomed tracks.  I couldn't see putting pins on those skis as they'd be so similar to my Glittertinds.

A wax tourer would be a nice edition.  A fat powder ski would be a nice addition as well.  The vector was actually on my radar as the fat powder ski before you mentioned the charger.  Sounds to me the like the charger is actually a better ski.

I'd really like a set of E99 waxless - they have a nice bit of camber and enough stiffness to really cruise, but I'd settle for a Glittertind.  About the only metal edge, skinny tourer still offered waxless.

Fischer makes something called the country crown wax now, but no metal edge.  Despite being a stiff, high camber ski, the E99 will still cut a turn on hard snow with those edges.

Anyway this is my reference list.  I'm sure you've seen it.  When I look for used skis (pretty much fruitless) I use this as my guide:

https://home.comcast.net/~pinnah/DirtbagPinner/dirtbag.html

I've come to find that I don't like compacts.  Those are about the only ones I avoid (but they are popular and what you usually see).  Too wide for how straight they are - like an XC ski on steroids.  Good for beginners maybe but my wife is not an experienced skier and she's always done the best with a tele type ski.