I can’t recall the exact year that this occurred but here are a few clues that may jog your memory. Big Jim Whittaker was the guy in charge at REI, bright green was the latest and greatest color in ski fashion and “Anti-Friction” was the new phrase being bantered around the ski industry. Lawsuits involving ski related injuries were on the rise and findings were overwhelmingly in favor of the plaintiffs. With a mixture of acknowledged guilt and a “not-my-fault” strategy the binding companies began designing in favor of release over retention. Since favoring release over retention by reducing friction was a relatively new concept in binding technology few of the manufacturers had gotten it right.
I was employed as a ski mechanic at the Seattle REI store on Capitol Hill and my employee discount had allowed me to afford that set of Look Nevada bindings that I had coveted for so long. I soon learned, however, that Look, through the use of copious quantities of Teflon, had reduced friction to the point that retention in the real world was impossible. “Anti-friction” had taken on a whole new meaning. They tested fine in the shop but they simply didn’t work on the hill. They made this troublesome “click-click” sound that resulted in an immediate separation from your skis and a severe physical pummeling, the memory of which haunts me to this day.