Mounting alpine bindings

I am curious if anyone can point me to a resource on how to mount alpine bindings or (AT bindings) on new skis.<br><br>I want to move my sons bindings from old to new skis and while it seems pretty straight forward, the issues that I am finding is that the postion of the waist of the new skis is somewhat different than the old skis. Also the balance points are different (by weight). The old skis had a clear mark in the position where the boot center mark is, so that aligning the boot to this was simple. The new skis (Volkl) do not have any mark.<br><br>I have heard that bindings should be positioned relative to the skis "sweet spot", but do not know if this spot refers to the narrowest part of the waist or to the weight.<br><br>With other skis that I have mounted (tele, etc.) the skis/binding directions were pretty easy to follow regarding placing the toe at either cord center or weight center, but this ain't so clear.<br><br>I have a good deal of leeway because both the toe section and boot sections are independantly moveable, but I would like to get it as close to correct as possible.<br><br>Thanks,<br>Alan

There are like a thousand different opinions on this but...<br><br>Placing the toe of the boot at chord center should work fine (unless it's a twin-tip, then you'll want to mount a bit forward of that). In my experience, Volkls tend to favor a more rearward mount anyway, and front of boot on chord center will put you there. <br><br>If you want other opinions ad-nauseum, do a search on telemarktips.com (despite the name, there are a lot of AT & alpiners on there too). The only widespread agreement on this issue is that you should consume at least one beer while performing said mount, helps smooth out the shakes while you align the drill bit.

Jerm,<br><br>Thanks. I here what you say on the large number of opinions. Good thing that the bindings allow for play in positioning after they are mounted.<br><br>Alan

IMO reading the myriad of opinions on mounting point on telemarktips.com will only cloud the issue - they bring in other methods like ball-of-foot-on-running-surface-center, etc. Balance point has little to do with mounting alpine or AT bindings, and personal preference matters a lot.<br><br>I would recommend finding someone who has experience with the ski you are dealing with and asking for a recommendation; if all else fails then somewhere between boot toe on chord length center and boot toe 1 cm ahead of chord center is a good place to start.<br><br>If you are home-mounting AT bindings, check out www.wildsnow.com, Lou Dawson has downloadable templates for Fritschi, Naxo, and Dynafit there. The Dynafit one in particular is better than the factory template. For alpine bindings (ie. my kids' skis), I draw a line with a marker labelled "boot toe here" and take them to a shop I trust, since I don't have any current alpine jigs and getting the holes in the right place is critical.