How is it that really good skiiers can tighten down their bindings so tight? Will the ski still come off.....

Austrian skier Matthias Lanzinger did have his leg amputated because of a broken shin bone that cut off the circulation to his leg. They did eventually regain circulation but because of the amount of time without circulation it could not be stabilized. This was partially because his ski did not release, and a defect in the binding. Also because the proper medical care was not available to him It was poor planning on the race organizer and FIS officials part to not have a medical helicopter on scene. Racers and expert skiers tighten their dins to prevent themselves from pre-releasing. Pre-releasing is when your ski comes off before you have made a mistake or for no apparent reason. Pre-Releasing is caused by a variety of different reasons but the one we are talking about now is your din not being high enough. A lower level skier can ski with a lower level din without worrying about pre releasing because they do not bend the ski or ski at higher levels. An advanced skier bends their ski causing increased pressure on the binding so the lower the din the more likely it is that they will pre release. Most skiers who increase their dins take into consideration whether it is more important for their ski to stay on at 60 MPH or whether they want it to come off if they fall. Both situations can end in injury. There is a fine line between the two in which your binding are set perfectly.

I'm a freestyle skier and it gets dangerous when your ski falls off. I was doing practice runs for a competition once and my ski kept coming off as I was going off the jump and as I was landing the jump. Its pretty difficult to land a jump and go immediately ski the moguls with one ski, therefore I fell a few times and banged up my knee. So it that case it was much more dangerous to lose my ski for no good reason than it was to have my ski stay on when I fell. Also you don't want to have to take the time to put a ski back on if it falls off during a comp b/c that can cost you points.

The ski will maybe come off before the leg breaks, but not always. If you see a downhill race and the skiis come off, it is not usually a fracture from the ski binding set so tight, rather that the impact of landing on the leg at 60 MPH that breaks the leg. For the average skier, it is very dangerous to have the bindings set too tight. The DIN settings on most bindings for the general public go to 14, for international racers the settings go to 24. The average skier can not close the heel piece of a race binding. At speeds of 60+ MPH, I would rather have the ski stay on my foot than risk the impact with the ice, most skier never ski above 20MPH, few ski at 40MPH.

Racers need to have their bindings set tighter because of the increased force they are applying to the ski. Its not a good idea to have the bindings too tight if you're just recreational skiing. The only reason people hurt themselves is because they have set the bindings too tight and don't know what they are doing. The ski shops know how to adjust the DIM setting.... let them do it. Its not a case of being THAT good, its a case of having the equipment work with you rather than against you... too small a DIN setting and your ski will come off too easily and you'll fall, too tight, and it wont come off and you'll damage your knees. The Racer who had his leg amputated was travelling at nearly 70 mph.... the damage to his leg had more to do with the speed and how he landed, rather than the DIN setting.

Well im a racer and i have my bindings set at 8 and my GS skis at 9 just because of the fact that i go so fast and im hard on my edges it would be worse if i my just fell of when i was racing (it has happend before) so i set them tight so they dont fall off. I noramlly dont fall but when i do i fall hard enough that my ski falls off. So my bindings are set to my weight and how strong i am. Its pretty dangeous to have them too tight. To get acurate binding adjustments go to your local ski shop and they can help you out.