Correctly adjusted bindings play an meaningful role in skiing. It is important to secure your skiing by adjusting ski bindings correctly for your needs. If bindings are loosely adjusted, they can release while you ski, which can lead to a serious crash. If bindings are adjusted too tight, they can stay locked and won’t release even though you crash. Again, this situation can lead to injuries. Therefore it is very important to adjust bindings correctly at least few times a year. If you ski with your child, remember to do this to your child’s bindings as well.

This article is divided into two parts. This first part describes you the meaning of adjusting ski bindings correctly and how it is done by professionals in a ski service, while the second part of this article describes you how you can do it by yourself. It is better to do it by yourself one day, because carrying your skis to a store every now and then can be very annoying and too costly. First, let professionals do it for you and observe how they do it.

What do you need to know before adjusting ski bindings?

There are few things you need to know before you go to a ski service to get your bindings adjusted. You need to know your
1. Body height
2. Body weight. Be honest, also in the store. It is a must in order to get bindings adjusted.
3. Your skiing ability (type of skier). Be honest again as you describe your skiing skills and experience, because all these have an impact when adjusting bindings.
4. Your age.
5. The boot sole length of your ski boots (just take the boot with you to the store)

Bindings might have differences, but basically they work like this; Front binding locks your boot from the top and sides. There are two things to be adjusted in the front binding. In some bindings height and width are adjusted by hand, while in some bindings this is done automatically. The release sensitivity is always adjusted by hand. Personnel in a ski service do this by adjusting the screw in front of the binding until the correct DIN number is reached. With rear bindings the pressure towards the front binding is adjusted by adjusting the distance between bindings. If this is done wrong, the front binding does not work. Stiffness of the rear binding is adjusted based on skier’s weight, skills and snow conditions. As soon as the right stiffness level is found, both front and rear bindings are adjusted to the same DIN level.

As soon as your bindings are adjusted, it is time to test the bindings. If you see something wrong, such as front binding opening, the whole adjusting procedure should be repeated. Test your bindings always when you enter the slopes. A rule of thumb is that you should be able to open your front bindings just by twisting your foot to left or right. Notice that if you do alpine skiing with gates, you need to adjust your bindings tighter so that they stand higher pressure.

In the second part of this article we will see how you can adjust ski bindings by yourself! If you are interested in finding out how to select the right height for your skis, read my article of selecting the right ski length.