A couple of years ago I wrote a lot about skiing, or rather, the problems I had with it. Those pesky ski boots just kept chafing and gave me blisters for every trip I made and I finally decided that I had had enough of the pain and gave up. But the thing is that I really like skiing, so I spent last winter trying to figure out how to eliminate the blister aspect so I could just concentrate on enjoying the experience. I set out to get rid of the ski boots and finally found a binding which allows me to use my hiking boots instead. The binding is called Epok from Tegsnäs and it’s really made for wooden forest skis (those that are broad, long and heavy) but it can also be mounted on the kind of hybrid skis that I have. It’s not pretty, but if I can ski without pain then I really don’t care!

Since it’s a bit tricky to remove the old bindings and mount the new, I had it done in a sports store in Ljusdal. When I brought home the skis, I was wondering if it would’ve been better to do it myself anyway, because I saw that the bindings were not completely aligned with the skis. When I tested them, it was a bit awkward to make the skis point straight and I also discovered that the balance wasn’t very good. Firstly because this binding has a higher profile than the old one so it felt somewhat unsteady, and secondly, the ski was a bit top heavy. Normally when you lift your foot, the ski is lifted parallel to the ground. With this new binding, when I lifted my foot the ski lifted from the back while the tip was still on the ground.

So needless to say that I had some big doubts about this gear before I set out today. And I was equally surprised when it turned out that my fears didn’t materialise! No sideways balance problems at all (read: no more than I had with the old bindings!) and I didn’t even notice the wonky alignment. As for the tip of the skis, it was a minor inconvenience at worst when I was going across a marsh and the skis got tangled in the grass.

I should also mention that technique-wise, these bindings behave differently than my old bindings. The range of movement is a little bit limited, meaning that there’s a little bit of a kick-back when you try to do these long strides but the binding stops the foot from lifting as much as you’d need. Maybe it’s just a matter of learning a new technique, but even that belongs to the minor category of inconvenience.

Because you know, when it comes down to it, the only thing that matters is if I can ski without chafing boots and pain. After a 5 km trip today, the only pain I have is in my arms which are not used to the activity! No chafing, not even a hint of any issues with my feet. But considering how many problems I’ve had before, I want to make a few more – and longer – trips before I’m ready to declare the Epok binding a success. But I have to say, I’m feeling very good about skiing right now!