Given these non-conforming boots are in the market, we also tested for a hypothetical scenario where a larger than normal skier, using non- conforming boots, creating abnormally high loads such as from unusually high jumps, landing flat on very firm conditions and in very cold temperatures. When we reviewed and tested the ZED binding configured with a stomp pad we did uncover a potential issue if the binding is used in conjunction with ski boots falling outside of the acceptable ski boot dimensions of the industry norm. Our lab tests show there should be ideally a maximum 1.5 mm gap between the ski boot sole and ski brake or stomp pad when unweighted. The issue being that if a ski boot sole is too “thin”, it may not be adequately supported by the binding to withstand a significant downward force that may occur. We were unaware there are many alpine touring ski boots in the market that do not conform to the recognized industrial norm for positioning tech inserts in their boots.įurther, we did testing in the lab and found that there should be no binding durability issues with AT boots when the ZED binding is used with the ZED ski brake, despite many boots being out of the ski boot norm. After collecting data on 32 models of alpine touring ski boots we noticed there were some big discrepancies in boot sole height when measured from the tech insert at the heel. Being deeply curious about these things, we looked at this incident further and we uncovered some interesting facts. We have not heard of any other instances of this sort of failure. G3 replaced the user’s bindings nonetheless and we believe he is now back on his skis enjoying the snow. Without either of these two required components, the loads generated may not be supported adequately. Neither a ski brake nor the stomp pad had been installed at the time of breakage. It is clear from details the user provided directly to G3 that his bindings were not installed correctly and this clearly lead to the failure. Everyone at G3 takes any product failure very seriously and we were as surprised as everyone about the incident. We recently learned about a ZED user who experienced a product failure.

G3 zed stomp pad