Post
by Harris » Sun Nov 19, 2017 1:01 am
I should also add one thing... Back on the old telemark tips, when NTN first came out, there was a lot of quarreling as to whether NTN was a better telemarking binding. One of the central issues was that to duckbill telemarkers, and this was actually a rollover from newer, stiffer boots and seriously more active binding discussions, was that NTN was a much more "tippy toe" telemarking binding than old school was. There was much arguing about it. The Rott NTN was the only NTN during that time.
Having learned the trade on leathers before plastics came about or were accepted, but having made the switches as they developed, I started tele skiing in 1982, it is true the newest gear was and is much more tippy toe, upright tele. The boots and bindings don't flex back at BOF (Ball Of Foot) like they did in the old days, and this is much more pronounced using Rott NTN. To old schoolers today's telemark is most often a pseudo-mark. More parallel with fake tele thrown in for style points. But that is another matter. The real problem IMO with tippy toe tele is that at initial turn initiation the inside ski swims for a split second more than any duckbill binding does. IMO a lot of guys learned to deal with this and quickly moved past and learned to control the matter. And I did too. But I didn't like it. I wasn't as confident on it, turning wise. And I can't snap it with the same quick authority. It is all a matter of give and take. NTN is much less taxing to ski. The Meidjo was designed to ski more like a duckbill in this regard, giving a better BOF sensation with pretty significant initial heel off the top plate pulldown. In that regard it works as advertised. In that regard it works very, very well. And that is because unlike a duckbill active binding, even bindings such as the VICE, it still pulls the heal down much more significantly throughout the range whereas the Vice only after the heel is significantly raised, which at that point comes on strong. Rott NTN really feel strange in this regard. It comes on almost too strong and too early before a hard edge can be set, which in turn causes an instant inside ski tip swim when pushed. And then when the edge is set hard it is almost too ski stopping, biting hard, which is what snapped my ACL in two, tore my meniscus and fractured my calf bone where my LCL attached. Small mistake on east cost ice resulted in an unforgiving bite that resulted in large scale damage. However, NTN gives great stability early at heel lift off and therefore confidence when landing jumps in parallel or skiing through crud etc in parallel or etc. You see what I'm suggesting? You probably wouldn't do well these days entering an extreme/Freeride tele skiing comp on anything less than NTN. Not because it telies better, but because it significantly holds the heel down better for paralleling through big thing landings and blasting parallel through crap. Plus it pulls you back upright, saving quad juice. It is somewhere between an alpine hold down and a duckbill heel lift. Some say edge control. As far as turning in actual tele I call bullshit on that. I can snap turn a duckbill rapid-fire at will way better than on Rott NTN. But that is just my opinion and style. That said, I like the Meidjo except for the significant matter or durability. The binding is still in a crude experimental state of development IMO, and Pierre probably can't afford to make the big production changes needed to address his bindings durability faults. On the other hand, although even more crude, basic Frankenstein, but much more built on proven tech, the Outlaw works almost as good as far as turning sensation, and is far more stronger a design. However, the Meidjo is much more cutting edge and has way more room for taking the binding tech further and eventually better.
