Freehand Freeride Mount

Having never mounted a pair of bindings on skis before, I was a little intimidated by the formidable task ahead of me. As I found out though anyone with beer, tools, and some patience will be able to get a precise mount. The only downside to this is that if you screw up, you owe yourself a new pair of skis--not the ski shop.

Tools:

• Speed square
• Square
• Metric ruler
• Beer
• Metal yard stick
• Drill
• 5/32" or 4.1 mm drill bit
• Pencil or thin point sharpie
• Center punch
• Hammer
• More beer
• Sturdy work bench

Step 1
Gather all of your tools together















Step 2
Find the midsole line on your skis. On this particular ski (Dynastar Legend Pro) there is no line but rather two raised bumps. NEVER NEVER NEVER use a line on the topsheet as your guide as topsheets are an inexact science and could be off center. Instead use a point given on the sidewall. Here I used the square to draw a straight line across the ski, which can be seen at the 18" mark on the yardstick.


Step 3
Find the center of your ski by taking the speed square and drawing lines originating from each edge of ski from the boot center mark as shown. The point at which the diagonal lines intersect is your midpoint. Do this on each side of the midsole mark and you now have two points through which to draw a straight line.


Step 4
If you haven't started drinking some of that beer, you really should do yourself a favor and get to work.

Step 5
Insert your boot into the binding and set it on the ski so that the midsole mark on the boot lines up with the midsole mark on the ski. I did this by taking part of the square and lining it up with the ski midsole mark as it extended upward to the boot midsole mark.


Step 6
With the binding still on the ski, mark the fore/aft screw positions near the edge of the ski so you will be able to center your paper jig.

Step 7
Now that you have a center line on your skis, you can put your paper jig on which has courteously been provided by our friends at Wildsnow (For all those that find my directions incomprehensible, there is a slightly different version provided by Lou at Wildsnow.) Lou suggests that the rear screw holes for the toe piece and the front holes on the heel piece should be 341 mm apart, but I found that 338 mm apart was more accurate. Center your jig by using the fore/aft marks and center line.





Step 8
Once your jig is lined up and you've double and triple checked all of your measurements, you can use a center punch to mark where you should drill. Another and probably more popular option is to tape the jig on the ski and use the jig as your guide. However, I was using a drill press and did not find it necessary.



Step 9
Before you drill make sure you are certain about your measurements because you can't adjust once the hole is there...

Step 10
Hopefully your measurements were correct and everything lines up as it should. If so, the little red feet should be in contact with the ski, and the pivot should move freely without any friction. It should look like this:


Step 11
Celebrate as now you'll never have to pay a shop to mount a pair of bindings again.


*****This is only to be used as a guide, and the reader assumes all risks and responsibilities involved.