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| The Holy Grail is HERE |
| Written by Tom Conway | |
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I checked Telemark Tips today, and there is endless foaming about the new "Holy Grail" binding that MAY be available in 2 more years, following on the previous 8 years of development. And by the way, it weighs more than 3 pounds.  Dynafit TLT Classic: The Holy Grail Well guess what? The Holy Grail ALREADY EXISTS:it's called Dynafit TLT Classic ! Here are the stats on it:
Maybe it's so hard to perfect a tele binding because the tele concept is inherently flawed. I'm not sure a binding can ever fix that. I'm not saying tele is BAD; I did it for years and I loved it. It just seems to me that if you want to tele, there are plenty of great cable bindings that work fine. They may have limitations, but I say if you want the "stoke" of tele skiing, then deal with the inconvenience and lack of efficiency relative to AT. That's what I did, and I didn't complain. When I decided I wanted convenience, efficiency and safety, I knew that it already existed and I switched to Dynafit. Mitch and Big Tim would say that I have lost the stoke of the tele turn. I'll admit that for me tele skiing was a big rush because I was always on the verge of crashing big, even when I was skiing pretty well. There is a sense of accomplishment in completing a tele run without falling. But on AT gear I can ski agressively, safely, and have a blast while falling a lot less and not being terrified as often. Still pretty fun. I guess I'm just amazed at the interest, time, and money being spent trying to come up with this "holy grail" binding. when it already exists. Trackback(0)
Comments (2)
  written by Daniel C Law, December 26, 2006  written by jonas, March 21, 2007
I keep seeing it on TTips of how the "Holy Grail" system will be the reinventing of the wheel through the Rotefella NTN system. My impression? Let's just say I am skeptical. I would not give anything "holy grail" status until it has undergone several design iterations and revisions. BUT the prospect of creating a tele/AT interface offers a lot in terms of diversity, but will it be as light as the TLT? If so, then I would say, one had achieved holy grail status.
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Indeed, the entertaining blather on Telmark Tips relates to what has come to be known (in self-deprecating religious fervor) as the "holy grail" of telemark bindings incorporating features such as a release mechanism, a free toe pivot for touring, effective transfer of boot forces to the ski, brakes, crampons, etc, all features that are present in the Dynafit TLT. Of course, we'd also like it to be light, strong, and inexpensive (chose 2, as the saying goes). But axiomatic in all these discussions is that telemark gear geeks are talking about a telemark binding.
The tele concept is no more "inherently flawed" than jazz music is flawed. It is what it is: a method of turning skis that appeals to many people for many reasons - hopefully, not just because we're on the verge of crashing big. There is probably no one holy grail as the needs of hard-charging lift-served bump skiers is surely different than those of turn-earning backcountry powder foamers.
If Tom means that present telemark equipment is flawed in the way it has evolved from much lighter cross country touring equipment, then I agree, and this arguable evolutionary dead end is precisely the basis of the holy grail discussion.
The excitement flows from the potential of designing equipment to a set of requirements (however defined) free from the encumbrances of the old 75mm 3-pin boot/binding interface and its derivatives. Telemark skiers should no more accept the status quo than whoever dreamed of a better AT boot/binding system that resulted in the elegant engineering of the Dynafit TLT.