 Poster: A snowHead
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@Gored I think you made the point yourself more eloquently than I could:
“If someone has not engaged correctly, then that is user error.”
Yup, if there’s potential for a user error that could result in a board falling off, then it’s reasonable to require a safety backup.
I only had a brief try of the system, but the the potential for both user error and accidental release on a crowded chair was clear enough. It would be a very rare event for sure, but not vanishingly so. Also, as you say, mostly a newb issue but since they don’t hand out badges to confirm your l33t status, you’ll just have to leash-up with the newbs.
I saw someone get turned away from a lift in Tignes yesterday for not having a leash. I’m sure the lifties will forget soon enough, but for now there’s a rule and it’s being enforced.
I quite liked the system BTW. In / out seems like it should become second nature pretty quickly and they rode well enough, given that I was using someone else’s kit that wasn’t fully set-up for me (although it was pretty close). I’m a lapsed engineer and I do have a nagging feeling that we should be able to do better than effectively lashing ourselves to the board. Step-on feels like the right kind of tech. Flow, Supermatic, etc, no.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It is pretty hard to disengage if engaged fully & correctly.
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Agreed, I've never had a problem apart from the one time. But that was an eye-opener! The front foot had been locked in a couple of hours so definitely engaged correctly. The chairlifts you need to particularly watch out for are the older ones where the foot-rest is a steel tube rather than a wide plastic step - just narrow enough to sneak in the gap and catch the release.
Spent ten minutes swapping the levers to the inside this weekend, then rode for a couple of hours at Trafford. No harder to unclip, and much better protected from interference. Surprised this is not detailed in the user manual as an option - the bindings are clearly designed in a modular fashion to allow it. This isn't a great option for my split though, as the levers would be on the inside for walking. Will definitely be using a leash on that.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Okay, 1st hand experience here. We hired kit in Andorra a few weeks ago, and were pleasantly surprised to be offered the Burton step-ons.
Morning of day 2 we'd just caught a chair. Safety bar came down and the assorted shuffle to get your skis and board onto a rest started. As my wife lifted her front foot up to the foot rest the end of the bar caught on the release lever. And the board dropped straight off her foot.
Yes, she had been clipped in properly, we'd just come down a longish piste. With your back foot already released the board itself makes a long lever for unclipping from the boot once the release catch is pulled.
The good news is that we were still over the fenced off area right in front of the lift.
Once we realised how it had happened we were super careful for the rest of the day, and looked out some bag straps as temporary leashes for the rest of the week.
Other than that I liked them. I don't normally take much time doing up a normal binding, but after a day or two I did like being able to come off a chair and just keep moving, stepping into the binding whilst on the move. I've done that before with normal bindings, but only when it's very quiet. With these I could stay stood up, keep my head up and see where I was going whilst clicking in. No noticeable looseness or loss of performance for me as a casual piste cruiser.
If I had a choice when buying kit between Step-ons and normal bindings for the same cost, I'd go with the step-ons - a little more convenience, and also no wear and tear on your boots from the binding straps.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I was also stopped this week and was bemused at being told to use a leash. It was before getting on the De Fresse lift above Val Claret. Apparently the rule is new this 23/24 season, only for Step On bindings and I was told that there'd been ten incidents of boards getting detached from owners and luckily nobody had been hurt so far. I was allowed to proceed.
I wandered around 4 shops in Val Claret and couldn't find any for sale. Gave up looking. Haven't been stopped again elsewhere across Tignes nor Val d'Isere.
I've been using Step On for three seasons now and never had the system disengage unintentionally. Given the double clicks at the heel alone then the single on each of left and right toes, I know from experience that it stays on without all four being fully engaged. I agree that these incidents must be due to the lever being pulled, however so.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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A couple of anecdotes from snowboarding in the 90s with hard boots and always a leash.
I once ripped the front binding off the board. This was a light Voile split touring board, with the bindings screwed directly into the wood core, rather than inserts. Fortunately the read binding stayed attached. I'm pretty sure the main damage was from an earlier crash; it gave way completely on a relatively innocuous run
On chair lift I always detach my rear foot from the binding. When getting on non-detachable chair lifts I'd swing my rear foot back to hit the chair with by boot to slow the chair down just before sitting on it. Once (I think a on chair up to Les Menuires), the impact of boot to chair knocked the rear boot forward, and it caught and undid the clip at the front of my front binding, leaving the board dangling solely by the leash. I did manage to haul the board up and reattach the binding during the ride up, but it was challenging
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