Post
by fgd135 » Fri Oct 22, 2021 4:25 pm
If I wanted touring gear for mostly rolling terrain, and low/mod angle descents, but with a ski wide enough to turn nicely in powder conditions I'd want the lightest boot binding combination available that would still give the lateral support needed to actually turn the ski and control it while setting an edge on icy/hard snow when traversing trails or slopes. That's always the trade off, isn't it? Speed on the trails v. control in all conditions.
AT gear is certainly lighter these days, but it's not for kicking and gliding on rolling terrain--has an unnatural gait and stilted stride. It's for up and down. And lock down heel bindings for tele boots? That's a surrender to the dark side of the force.
NTN has some advantages, but it's mostly aimed at the same market--up, then down, and there aren't very many choices for ltwt NTN touring boots. NNNBC, in my opinion, is perfect for long tours in rolling terrain, but is just too light for good control on moderate descents unless you have superior skills and are matched with skis that don't overpower the leather/syntho fabric uppers.
That leaves the old standby 75mm bindings/cable bindings systems. Lighter boots like the T4, and the older Garmont/Scott Excursions, and probably others, have more support that NNN BC boots for turning, have flex patterns very reminiscent of leather boots for kicking and gliding, which is far superior to AT boot/bindings, are very lightwt for the control provided by the plastic uppers, and have good lateral support for turns, if your skis are not so wide as to overpower them. Plus, cable/pin bindings give touring and turning flexibilities...fwiw, I often use T2s for (steeper) touring instead of T4s', but the T2's are not as heavy as the old leather doubles I was using.
Just my 2 cents.
"To me, gracefulness on skis should be the end-all of the sport" --Stein Eriksen