Baller down

[gator1]

So my ski buddy of 20 years just ruptured his Achilles about an hour ago. Absolutely classic fecking stuff the tip OTF around 2 ball. I think I heard the tendon snap from the drivers seat. Today was gonna be our last set, river is down to 49 degrees.

 

He was not using gatormod, and was in name brand pseudo hardshells. SAME EXACT BOOTS THAT HURT ME.

 

He saw me work through rehab on my Achilles rupture, suffered through being a pull gypsy while I was out, watched the screwing around I did on other bindings after I started skiing again, and watched the development and testing of gatormod. He's been my partner on lucrative inventions we have sold. He knows my stuff works.

 

And yet, despite my best efforts to convince him, he stuck with his setup. Said stuff like "I've never had a problem" "I'm comfortable with these", "I'm more flexible than you are", "I don't go OTF like you do".

 

He wouldn't use the gatorguard arm guard or any arm guard until last week, when another of us river rats stuck his arm though the handle and busted his wrist and about lost his arm. If the handle wouldn't have bent things would have been even worse.

 

What. The. FECK. is wrong with us?

 

Me included. I wouldn't use an arm guard for the longest time. Only reason I started is ego. Gatorguard is better. Does the risk taking thrill seeking gene that drives us to addiction to this sport also drive us to refusal to examine facts and take appropriate precautions?

 

I don't know. But I should have ripped his bindings off his GD ski and burned those bastards a long time ago.

[MattP]

Wow that's unfortunate. Sorry to hear that. What brand of bindings was he on? Was it his front or rear foot that he injured?

[gator1]

@efw, BOS policy, which I respect and agree with, says I can't mention which setup. It doesn't really matter. None of them will protect you in a perfect storm crushing OTF. Some are better than others, but if you comb through BOS just in the last year you'll find somebody got hurt on every one of them.

 

I know I know. Modern life and marketing makes us all suspect I'm just trying to sell something. Just remember I wasn't trying to sell my buddy a gatormod. Hell, I gave him the ski and bindings he was using. If I can't get him to use one I give him for free I'll never get the baller universe to switch. Best I can do is make it easy for people to try it.

[gator1]

@mattP: dude, what are you trying to do, get me arguing with @Horton again? I'm not supposed to say.

 

It was his front foot. This injury is ALMOST always the front foot. Sometimes front and rear, but almost never just rear. The mechanics of the crushing OTF put all the load on the front foot tendon.

[Skoot1123]

Sorry to hear @gator1. Trust a speedy recovery for your buddy!! Was your buddy running short line slalom or just "normal" skiing?

[KcSwerver]

I dont know the ins and outs but since this is a legitamate claim not just hearsay then the name of the system could help others form their own oppinions and feelings.

[gator1]

@skoot1123 As per previous BOS pissing contests, I don't know what constitutes shortline. He was at 32 off. He normally runs 35 or at least deep into it.

[Brewski]

@gator1 @Horton @MattP We/BOS should at least do a poll or something so we can get some kind of numbers crunched of who got hurt, what happened, and on what so there is a base line for work to help ballers reduce the chance of injury. I study them all and some bindings on the market are just plain wrong when it comes to safety and reducing the chance of injury. Input please.

[AKShortline]

I agree. We support the ski/binding manufacturers, not the other way around. Let's see the data!

[Horton]

The problem with the data you are asking for is – how the system is used is more of a factor than the binding design. I WREAKED my front ankle in a binding that was basically Reflex. 100% my fault. Not the binding design. The_Krista broke her foot in one of the D3 rubber bindings. Not the fault of the binding design. We were talking this morning and she stated that she had the top lace cranked down as tight as she could. If you go wacky with tape PowerShells will never release. If you crank the laces or spring on any binding system or set it up wrong you might get hurt. I swear by Radar Strada bindings but if I crank the laces they are instantly unsafe.

If you are going to use high-end bindings you need to have some judgment.

 

[tjm]

Even with good judgement, sometimes things just happen.

[gator1]

My buddy did not get hurt in Reflex, Strada, EXO, fogman, Stealth, Wileys, D3, powershells, or any other binding model in production over the past two seasons.

[Gloersen]

@Horton is spot on. The more intricate the safety design aspects, the greater the user's input into its effectiveness is required. How many dry-land test the capacity of their hardshell release system even just once a month?

[Horton]

I once mixed really good booze with bad ice. whose fault is that?

[skidawg]

The booze's fault for showing up on the glass?

[tjm]

Depends if you make your own ice or if you buy it.

[Horton]

so there are no easy answers

[tjm]

The easy answer is drink it "neat", not "on the rocks".

[skidawg]

No IPA.....no care!!!!!

[gator1]

I was down at my Ortho surgeon today getting the third round of blood injected in my knee. The surgeon skis with us, fixed my Achilles when I ruptured it, and is fixing my buddy's Achilles this Friday.

 

I hate it when they miss the vein drawing the blood, so I do a bunch of pushups there on the floor of the exam room, and I bring a 6 pack of IPA. Tell the nurse if she hits the vein first time, she gets the beer. Otherwise its going home with me. She hasn't missed since I started the motivation program.

 

Anyway, Doc says he's not skiing again until I build him a gatormod. LOL.

[ToddA]

@gator1, what is a gatormod?

[gator1]

@toddA search BOS "gatormod patent is filed"

[Zman]

@gator1 - link to gatorgaurd?

@Horton - what is bad ice? Any ice that pollutes good booze, or do you freeze ski lake water? If freezing ski lake water, don't get it from the drop zone.

[gator1]

@zman check BOS link under "show us your armguard" Or maybe it was handle guard? Pictures in there.

[Horton]

@Zman

http://media.tumblr.com/fe497dd337d9af8479bb6398b9565d16/tumblr_inline_mg6n5ltl6X1rxe4lt.gif

[Texas6]

Congrats @Zman, I've always wanted one of those. Nicely done

[teammalibu]

Dawg cold IPA waitin on ice tonite!

 

[gator1]

@Horton, @gloersen,@akshortline,@brewski,@kcswerver: Snowskiing has its DIN governing body that sets standards and performance requirements for bindings. We have heresay and rumor.

 

I just admitted summer is gone, and started reading my "gear guide" issue of snow skiing mag.

 

There is an interesting situation in snow skiing today I hadn't thought about until fresh look last night. The percentage of ACL injuries in snow skiing is ridiculously high. My family of 5 seems typical: 2 of us have had ACL surgery as a result of snow skiing.

 

The industry doesn't like to talk about it for obvious reasons.

 

There is a new snow ski binding company called "KNEE", that added a release mode to the rear binding, and patented it. Basically, when you are falling backwards, weight on your heel, and you introduce a twisting motion strong enough to rip your ACL, a standard binding won't release. The "KNEE" binding allows a pivoting release from the heel in the rear-twister type fall.

 

To my understanding, there is no standard in the DIN that requires a twisting release from the heel.

 

From a basic mechanical understanding of the type of fall, it is clear that the "KNEE" approach should work. It is clear, simple, obvious mechanics.

 

The ACL-busting fall is well understood. There are articles written in ski mags discussing HOW to fall to avoid ACL injury: if you are going backwards and the ski is twisting, don't fight it, collapse in the snow.

 

Also interesting is that there are almost no ACL injuries in snow boarding. Both feet locked in.

 

So what do the "KNEE" guys do?

 

Certainly the snow ski mags won't take any editorial stand until the evidence is overwhelmingly clear that many of their biggest advertisers are making a dangerous binding.

 

DIN itself is a body composed of current manufacturers (I think, need to check this). Can't drive a new standard through that body which requires twisting rear release, as that would give "KNEE" a monopoly.

 

Ski shops aren't likely to dog cuss all of the bindings on their shelves, or admit to their customers that there is a 40% chance they'll need ACL surgery sometime in their snow skiing career if they don't switch to "KNEE". Certainly not until "KNEE" is proven solution beyond a shadow of a doubt. And even then, they don't want to create a monopoly any more than the other binding guys or rest of industry.

 

The guys making the "KNEE" binding are, in essence, running a BOS poll. They are taking out full page ads in the ski magazines that say something like "of the 200,000 bindings we have sold, there has been NOT ONE reported ACL injury with the use of our bindings". They AREN'T saying in those ads "and if the industry data is correct, on average other bindings would have seen 1000 ACL surgeries by now". Which is probably true, but a very good way to get sued, and probably not allowed by the mags running the adds.

 

 

[Drago]

DIN is Duesche (German) institute norm */-. Regulates boot/binding interface. Makes certain all boots are of a certain hardness, specific heel and toe dimensions, so I can put my Lange in an Atomic binding, and a "7" on Salomon has the same release value as a "7" on a marker.

Snowboarders are suffering from the same ankle injuries as us. The problems are very similar : can't release a ski boot straight down at the heel, just as we can't seem to release straight down through the ski, crushing our ankles like snowboarders .

There are some bindings that release up at the toe: Atomic, Head, Knee(?)

[gator1]

@drago, but WE can tie a rope to our heel and pull it up off the ski in the cases where we wish we could release the toe down thru the ski. Because of the unique constraints on how we move on a slalom ski the rope won't get in our way. Lifting the heel or pushing the toe down thru the ski results in the same lack of a crushed ankle. Gatormod if effect ties the rope to your heel.

 

I bow to your superior knowledge of DIN. Sure you are right. But do they spec the required release in the acknowledged ACL busting fall? I think they only spec a 7 results in a release at the same point in all approved bindings in an artificially created test which does not represent the ACL buster.

 

I don't agree with your statement on snowboarders, but that's based on my canvassing of the ortho surgeons here in town. Don't seem to be any snowboards busting achilles. If you've got data on the snowboarders please point me at it. I don't want to be popping off in the face of facts.

[gator1]

@drago, one way we could both be right on the snowboard data is that in Europe the boarders tend to use hardshells that are mounted facing almost forward, and carve the ski much like a water ski. In US, they tend to stand much more sideways on the board and use softer boots, much like that wakeboarders.

[skinut]

@gator1-does your mod work with reflex?

[gator1]

@skinut, nope. Only with setups that keep both feet in during a fall. My patent has a provision in it to allow grafting the mod onto a reflex, but I'm not going to design it because its not as good a both feet in.

[Drago]

@gator1: my snowboarder ref. is based only on what my Ortho said, "I see this all the time". Nothing to do with Achilles.

. Not sure how to address the ACL issue in skiing , kinda off topic , but the only real way is to get rid of the ski boot (lever), or have a release person, like trickers do, with a Bluetooth remote. Seems with ACL and Achilles there is more luck involved (genetics, body comp).

There are safer ways in both sports, but they go away as it gets more competitive(we want performance )...so far...apparently those little accelerometers in our phones are pretty cheap. Placed on the proper parts of our body, they could say, Nope, you in the wrong position, and release us from our planks of destruction.

Gatormod without the string! If you add that to you patent, I would like royalties;)

[gator1]

@drago: between your accelerometers and @eleeski 's explosive bolts we could give somebody one hell of a ride. I've always said I should wear my bird dogs remote shock collar and hire somebody who runs 41 to sit in the boat and just hit the button anytime I drag my ass. Now with your bluetooth and the explosive bolts it'd really be highly motivating.

[eleeski]

Exploding skis and some fire fountains at the gates could really up the spectator appeal. We'd displace some poker on TV! Exploding bikini clasps and we might be able to take over a couple other channels...