Well..I’ve just been looking at me old K2 smartski piste bashers fitted with ‘3 way’ Marker bindings...they’ve been in the shed, unused for at least 6 years with the bindings set up at the higher range of the scale.
I’m thinkimg, I should have slackened them off, as surely it can’t do em any good,just sat there under load, can it ?
So, do you guys back em off, when you park them up ?
With all these recent binding malfunctions etc..

I never have slackened off bindings when in storage,but now you mention it !.They will loose tension over time -but six years is a very long time for storage !!!

I used to do it until I got them out of storage, went skiing, got a pre-release and fell really badly so I just leave them set but I don’t crank the DIN right up either. Maybe you could just change the springs if you are worried? Were the bases waxed before storage, they could be pretty dry.

I’m not sure there’s any reason to think that a spring using modern materials and manufacturing and one that’s without other defect will loose tension over time provided it’s used within design tolerances. I think concerns over springs in ski bindings date from earlier years when more general purpose components were used but I’m guessing, it could just as well be that it was never true, springs have been around since 1300BC so engineers do know how they work.

Some skiers loosen their bindings religiously each year, partly as a habit I guess but partly because it’s a received wisdom and despite having no real basis in fact it probably reassures them they’re “in the know” or something.

I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s actually had a binding fail due to a spring failure and I don’t know many people who loosen their springs.

But, old bindings can have a load of faults, in the US there’s an “indemnified list” which has a legal basis, if you break your leg on a binding the manufacturer said was too old then they’re not going to consider themselves liable. Here in Switzerland you can get a little MOT type sticker when your gear is serviced which is much the same I guess. You can check your bindings against that list : http://www.nssra.com/2001/nssra/index.asp (it’s the 2010 list, ignore the 2001 in the URL)

In broadening this discussion, what do we do with our boots and skis? I always dry, then store my boots with the buckles and strap loosely clipped (on the first attachment point) but I do wax, then store my skis clipped together by their brakes - I had previously stored them apart???? I have never loosened the springs on my bindings but I do occassionally clean and lubricate them - part of my business installs and maintains products that include springs similar to those fitted in bindings and we do occassionally see failures - unsure if seasonally releasing tension would overcome this though.