How is it that really good skiiers can tighten down their bindings so tight? Will the ski still come off.....

Question

Will the ski still come off before the leg breaks? Is the skiier THAT good that he knows he won't fall or is it that when you're that good, if you do fall, you know how to do it so that almost always its in such a way that doesn't torque your leg. Exactly how dangerous is it to have bindings really tight....In case you're wondering, I just watched a clip of a pro who wiped out and ended up having to have his leg amputated because it got twisted up so bad.

Answer 1

Austrian skier Matthias Lanzinger did have his leg amputated because of a broken shin bone that cut off the circulation to his leg. They did eventually regain circulation but because of the amount of time without circulation it could not be stabilized. This was partially because his ski did not release, and a defect in the binding. Also because the proper medical care was not available to him It was poor planning on the race organizer and FIS officials part to not have a medical helicopter on scene.

Racers and expert skiers tighten their dins to prevent themselves from pre-releasing. Pre-releasing is when your ski comes off before you have made a mistake or for no apparent reason. Pre-Releasing is caused by a variety of different reasons but the one we are talking about now is your din not being high enough. A lower level skier can ski with a lower level din without worrying about pre releasing because they do not bend the ski or ski at higher levels. An advanced skier bends their ski causing increased pressure on the binding so the lower the din the more likely it is that they will pre release.

Most skiers who increase their dins take into consideration whether it is more important for their ski to stay on at 60 MPH or whether they want it to come off if they fall. Both situations can end in injury. There is a fine line between the two in which your binding are set perfectly.

Answer 2

Expert skiers always have their bindings very tight. This is for a variety of reasons & I know; I've been an expert skier for over 35 yrs. & my bindings are tight.

First, expert skiers rarely fall so they don't need to worry about their skis coming off to make the fall safer!!!

Second, expert skiers, ski very fast & rough; particularly on their turns, moguls & stops. If their bindings weren't tight the skis would simply come off while they're downhilling. Skis can take a terrific beating by some expert skiers. In fact, one time, while I was skiing, my ski actually broke but my binding never released & I still had no problem when I fell.

Thirdly, an expert skier does know how to fall, simply because of experience!! You don't become an expert skier overnight, so you've obviously have fallen many times to reach the level of an expert skier.

There are definitely expert ways of falling if you know it's unavoidable & knowing this will protect you from injury. For example, the worst thing to do if you know your going to fall; is never tighten up any part of your body & stay as loose as you can.

In other words, go with the way you are falling & you will eventually come to a stop. Lay your body out flat until you slide down the hill & never go against any momentum of your fall. If you do, this is where you can break an arm or leg.

Most falls are relatively harmless & remember most snow is soft & this will cushion your fall when you body hits the snow. Most problems occur when skier trys to stop, while falling, by trying to use their skis to stop. Also, they try & break their fall with their arms & this can result in a broken arm.

One final thing is that it's extremely important for you to know how to get back up after you fall so you can continue to ski down the hill. You have know how to get your skis back on if they've fallen off & if your bindings have closed, because of the fall, you must re-open your bindings so you can get your boots placed back in the bindings to start skiing again.

To get up you must remain with your skis facing to the side of the hill so you don't start going down the hill. Also, get up towards the top of the hill & you won't have to lift your body as high to stand up on your skis again.

After this, simply start traversing, i.e., going side-ways down the hill until you feel under control & then you can start skiing down the hill again!!! GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 3

I'm a freestyle skier and it gets dangerous when your ski falls off.  I was doing practice runs for a competition once and my ski kept coming off as I was going off the jump and as I was landing the jump.  Its pretty difficult to land a jump and go immediately ski the moguls with one ski, therefore I fell a few times and banged up my knee.  So it that case it was much more dangerous to lose my ski for no good reason than it was to have my ski stay on when I fell.  Also you don't want to have to take the time to put a ski back on if it falls off during a comp b/c that can cost you points.

Answer 4

When skiing aggressively or in deep snow, pre-release of the binding can cause huge problems.  The sheer force exerted on the binding and ski from the ski boot at racing speeds requires a very high DIN setting (above 20) to effectively hold the ski in the binding.  Losing a ski at 90 mph is just as bad as one not coming off during a crash at that speed.  In off-piste conditions, the deep snow will also try to pull the ski off your foot if you are not using the proper technique, and if the ski comes off in the deep stuff, chances are you are going to have a hard time finding it.  Imangine you binding pre-releasing on a 50 degree slope covered in about 4 feet of pow.  If that ski comes off unexpectedly, chances are you are going to tumble halfway down the hill and your ski is gonna stay up there, causing a nasty fall and a nasty hike back up to get your stuff.  Or the opposite thing could happen.  You could lose a ski, and the ski could rocket down the hill under the snow, and you will never see it happen.  Ski brakes arnet too effective in the steep and deep.  

Basically, once you get to a certain ability level, the risks and consequences of premature binding release outweigh the risks of keeping the ski on your foot at all times.

Answer 5

Racers need to have their bindings set tighter because of the increased force they are applying to the ski.  Its not a good idea to have the bindings too tight if you're just recreational skiing.  The only reason people hurt themselves is because they have set the bindings too tight and don't know what they are doing.  The ski shops know how to adjust the DIM setting.... let them do it.

Its not a case of being THAT good, its a case of having the equipment work with you rather than against you... too small a DIN setting and your ski will come off too easily and you'll fall, too tight, and it wont come off and you'll damage your knees.

The Racer who had his leg amputated was travelling at nearly 70 mph.... the damage to his leg had more to do with the speed and how he landed, rather than the DIN setting.

Answer 6

The ski will maybe come off before the leg breaks, but not always.  If you see a downhill race and the skiis come off, it is not usually a fracture from the ski binding  set so tight, rather that the impact of landing on the leg at 60 MPH that breaks the leg.

For the average skier, it is very dangerous to have the bindings set too tight.  The DIN settings on most bindings for the general public go to 14, for international racers the settings go to 24.  The average skier can not close the heel piece of a race binding.

At speeds of 60+ MPH, I would rather have the ski stay on my foot than risk the impact with the ice, most skier never ski above 20MPH, few ski at 40MPH.

Answer 7

Well im a racer and i have my bindings set at 8 and my GS skis at 9 just because of the fact that i go so fast and im hard on my edges it would be worse if i my just fell of when i was racing (it has happend before) so i set them tight so they dont fall off. I noramlly dont fall but when i do i fall hard enough that my ski falls off. So my bindings are set to my weight and how strong i am. Its pretty dangeous to have them too tight. To get acurate binding adjustments go to your local ski shop and they can help you out.