A ski “binding”...

Recently, as I was watching some videos featuring early extreme skiers Anselme Baud and Patrick Patrick Vallençant , I noticed their “release-proof” ski binding set-up that, interestingly enough, were similar to the one I used for a few seasons, in the late sixties and early seventies.

The system consisted in a Look Nevada toe unit paired up with a Look Competition Turntable, and without any piece of plastic or Teflon pad under the ball of the foot. Friction was king in that system and the single pivot toe unit was certainly not meant to work well with the crude heel piece.

Retention was guaranteed with little hope for “release” which is certainly what Baud and Vallençant were looking for! A Look Nevada double pivot toe with notches on the front of the boot sole should have been used instead. But who am I to say this when I skied injury free for three or four seasons with a similar set up!

Serge Cachat-Rosset, another “extreme” skier was using the more modern and releasable Look Nevada II and Grand Prix set with Teflon inserts, but never attained the fame of his two main competitors in spite of claiming a few daring descent firsts, too.

What's ironical, though, is that Serge was hired by Look at about the same time I joined the company and was – at long last – instructed on the proper way to pair bindings up!