Plate binding fever at Look…

When I began working as a product manager at Look, in the fall of 1975, freestyle skiing was all the rage in North America. Champions skied with Besser, Gertsch, or Americana plate bindings, or variations like the Burt retractable plate, Spademan bindings that clamped the ski boot on the sides, or Moog bindings, a large box placed under the boot. 

Recently, following Robert Redford’s death, clips from "Downhill Racer," his famous ski film, were shown everywhere. He was seen with his new Head JCK skis equipped with… Gertsch bindings, ready to tackle the Lauberhorn descent, while the "standard" equipment were Look Nevada and Marker! What a clever product placement! 

Joe Jay Jalbert (a University of Washington racer) was the skiing double for Redford in the racing scenes. He also did the skiing action camera work. This film launched Jalbert's directing career, primarily focused on ski films. Then there was Bernard Monod, head of marketing at Look, a freestyle skiing enthusiast and passionate about plate bindings. He had relentlessly pushed the company's design office to develop a Look plate. 

We weren't the only ones to react impulsively: Salomon had developed its own version, produced in a limited series. I had the opportunity to ski on it in February 1976 thanks to my friend Michel Duret, who let me try this model, that was soon abandoned by the Annecy-based manufacturer. Look, on the other hand, persevered with its LK5 plate, which, despite a few unique ideas, was an aberration in terms of weight and functionality. It was nevertheless included in the 1976/77 line up. 

I remember my colleague Jean Barbier and I testing it in Val d'Isère in December 1975 with just fair results, and also mounting a pair on my skis for the four-week "National" ski instructor course in Chamonix, a sign of questionable judgment at the time, but where I still managed to get my pin! The LK5 only survived one season before being quickly abandoned, marking the end of the "plate fever" at Look.