Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

https://rottefella.com/en_GB/backcountry/75-mm

With riser or not- that is the question.

And- if so- which riser?

Depends a lot on what ski you're going to install these bindings on. More specifically, the width of the ski and type of boots, too. For tele turns and lifts, or steep terrain in the bc, with a wider alpine flexing ski, and plastic boots, I'd use a riser for faster edge to edge control, turn initiation, and binding clearance on the snow. For backcountry trail skiing on a medium width or narrow skis, and nordic cambers, with lighter wt. plastic, or even leather boots, I'd forego the risers, I'm not sure there would be a benefit, just extra weight.

While I agree with @fgd135 from a performance perspective, and I did mount my FT Xplore flat to the ski. The reason for the riser is to be able to clip the cable to the back of the riser. The Rotte ST cable can transform a soft boot like my Alaska 75 into a powerful downhill performer.
The more I scratch my head about this, the more I’m thinking about doing it.
As for the riser, that is a good question. I believe the for my Voile HW is ramped. I’m not sure in I need or want that ramp for my leather boots. I am going to look at the riser for the Voile Traverse as well.
Are there any other risers I should look into?

Definitely a riser with a ramp angle if using plastic boots. Due to the rocker in the boot. Rocker launch…. Best not to have your heels suspended mid air. Depends on the boot but my old T2X are terrible.

Otherwise I’d save a little weight and no riser. I don’t think it makes that much difference for edging power or leverage even though they say it helps, so I guess it does!

(I read they were putting really tall risers on race skis for a competitive advantage but it had to be banned as a safety issue. There is some maximum allowable now.)

Put the riser on! With the increased elevation you’ll see much more of the landscape and you’ll get a bit less spindrift in the face, as it stays close to the ground. Not only that, you will avoid having an inferiority complex when you come across Scandinavian amazons on the route.

Right at this moment I’m in the throes of doing one myself. Same binding – purchased to replace a Rottefella Super Telemark. As the cable will only be in use when necessary, the ability to clamp the heel-lever down under the wire/bar is not to be sniffed at – apart from the extra height creating less drag in existing ski tracks and giving increased leverage when edging.

On the previous set-up I had the Rottefella flat 10mm riser. This time I ordered BOTH risers from Voilé, the 10mm and the 20mm, as I couldn’t be sure if the 10mm heel-piece would be high enough to accommodate the lever. I needn’t have worried – it fits perfectly. I’m sure I’ll find a use for the 20mm riser some other time.

The heel-piece is going on with just the rear heel-lift bar. I’ve never ever felt the need for any kind of heel-lift on my nordic tours – on alpine tours with alpine touring equipment, yes, but nordic-touring topography is different.

For those who are as fussy as I am about weight, here is a comparison. In each case the weight given is for ONE riser with all the bits included in the package to mount that riser, cover the screws, etc. Binding screws not included:

Rottefella 10mm, Front-Piece, Heel-Piece, 4 x mounting screws: 119g

Voilé 10mm (“Traverse”), Front-Piece, Heel-Piece, 2 x heel-lift bars, 6 x screws, 2 x washers, screw covers: 178g
Removing the front heel-lift bar saves 22g

Voilé 20mm, Front-Piece, Heel-Piece, 2 x heel-lift bars, 6 x screws, 2 x washers, screw covers: 237g
Removing the front heel-lift bar saves 27g

As can be seen from the above, the Voilé 10mm without the (unnecessary) front heel-lift bar is just 37g heavier than the simple Rottefella riser. The Voilé 20mm is a good bit heavier, even without the front heel-lift bar.

Jurassien

@Jurassien Can I use a Voile paper template to mount my Super Telemark binding? Since I live in the States I called Voile today. A nice young woman in customer service verified that there is enough room on the heel piece of the Traverse riser for the heel throw to latch.
Sure would be nice to remount just using the Voile template.
Thank you,
Bob

fisheater wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 29, 2022 7:30 pm

@Jurassien Can I use a Voile paper template to mount my Super Telemark binding? Since I live in the States I called Voile today. A nice young woman in customer service verified that there is enough room on the heel piece of the Traverse riser for the heel throw to latch.
Sure would be nice to remount just using the Voile template.
Thank you,
Bob

If you’re referring to the Voilé template for the riser (10mm or 20mm) then no, you can’t, as the template shows only the screw positions for the riser. However, for the Super Telemark binding, you can use the paper template that comes with the Voilé 3-Pin Cable or Mountaineer, as the pin line is the balance line of the ski and the screw holes are normed.

I hope I’ve understood your question correctly. If you mount a Voilé riser using the Voilé riser template then you don’t need a separate template for the Rottefella binding.

There is NOT enough room under the lip of the 10mm heel-piece to park the cable heel lever – you clamp the lever down under the rear heel-lift bar. On the 20mm Voilé riser, which I have on another ski, it is possible to park the lever under the lip of the heel-piece, but on the 10mm heel-piece the space is too tight.

Perhaps the nice young lady from Voilé customer service could refer you to a tutorial video which proves me wrong.

I went with risers for just because and other reasons already said on a Madshuss Panorama M68. I’ve only meadow skipped this season in leathers. I’m excited to add the cables. T4’s should benefit from the risers too.

WARNING!!!

To my astonishment, the Voilé 10mm riser is not compatible with the Rottefella 75mm Cable Binding (nor with the Rottefella Super Telemark). The holes do not align. Even more surprising is that this is not the case with the Voilé 20mm riser – both the 75mm Cable Binding and the Super Telemark align perfectly with the 20mm riser, so I’m now forced to use this higher and heavier riser.

Even by removing material from the back of the binding or from the part of the riser that the rear of the binding plate abuts on, it still wouldn’t work. The front hole aligns, the two rear holes don’t.

The following pictures explain this better:
Photo #1. 75mm Cable on 10mm riser. The front hole is aligned, the rear holes are off-centre:



Photo #2. On the ski it’s easier to photograph the Super Telemark, as it doesn’t tilt. Again, front hole aligned, rear holes off-centre:



Photo #3. Super Telemark (and 75mm Cable) on the 20mm riser. All holes align perfectly:


This is all the more difficult to understand as, with the 10mm and 20mm risers placed together, bottom to bottom, the three binding holes align (but the four riser mounting holes don’t).

@Jurassien Thank you! Believe it or not you have given me the confidence to order the 10 mm risers. If I’m wrong someone will get a good deal on risers!