The winter of 06/07 has indeed been kind to us northwesterners. We’ve had fantastic ski conditions and reliable snow (except for a brief and dry pineapple express beginning of Feb.) Between a half-dozen great days of skiing at the Stevens Pass ski area up the road and countless days touring in the backcountry around Washington, Oregon and British Columbia, I’ve personally had more days on the misery sticks than ever before.

But despite the many comments my friends will make about telemark skiing in general, my ‘misery sticks’ have been bringing more joy then ever before. Part of that is due to the snappy G3 Tickets I purchased at the end of last season. A very responsive and fairly stiff telemark ski with mild dimensions (81 mm at the waist) it’s a ripping ski in most conditions. But about a month ago I was faced with having to replace my reliable Hammerhead bindings. As a poor starving artist this wasn’t necessarily an easy decision. I could spend just over a $100 and find something to get me through the rest of the season, or I could throw down an extra $100 and go with either the  G3 Targa Ascent or Black Diamond 01 telemark bindings, both of which integrate a pivot point that allows for AT-like uphill touring  (that is, zero resistance while climbing.) It didn’t take much convincing before I pulled out the plastic and found a great deal at Eastern Mountain Sports on the BD 01. It wasn’t long before I realized how much of an advantage most of my skiing buddies have on AT gear…or should I say, had.

And here I am. I’ve managed to get about 6 days on the BD 01 bindings while touring around Glacier National Park and the volcanoes of the Oregon Cascades. I like a pretty stiff binding so initially I was a bit concerned about the (lack of) stiffness of the 01 versus the Hammerhead, which is a well-known big-mountain binding for driving large skiers and larger skis. There was, and is, absolutely no reason to be concerned here. The mid-stiff springs are burly and stiff, at times I feel too stiff. But it’s when things start going up that you realize how amazingly inefficient all those ‘older-style’ telemark bindings really are. With the simple push of a tab located at the front of the binding, a hook releases and suddenly climbing becomes fun; no spring resistance at all, which translates into mush less effort as well as ski tips that won’t dive into the snow if you’re breaking trail.

The BD’s aren’t perfect though. Under certain conditions (such as warm and wet snow) I’ve had some difficulty alternating between climbing and skiing mode as it appears snow can build-up around the hook area. All in all though, these bindings rock and it won’t be long before everyone, and I do mean everyone, who tours a lot will be on these or similar type telemark binding. 

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