Just when you thought it was curtains for kids in the telemark world, along comes a ray of hope, the 22 Designs kids Telemark binding.
22 Designs will be offering a kids binding. It’s not a new binding, just a different set of softer springs for the Vice. Most kids aren’t heavy enough to be stretching standard, let alone stiffy springs for the Vice. The new kids version is essentially the small Vice featuring springs that are 20% softer than the standard Vice/Axl springs. Just as it is with the adult Vice, the pivot location of the cable can be adjusted to one of three settings from moderate to aggressively active by moving the Slic™ pin under the toe plate.
The new Kids Vice will be easy to identify with a purple colored toe baseplate and heel block. The trademark heel lever and the rubber pad under the toe will be green.
To date the only other options for short cable, soft spring telemark bindings have been the G3’s Targa Elle and Voile’s classic, old-school 3-pin cable binding. The Elle is a proven binding for kids, but no longer made. Voile’s 3-pin cable binding is infinitely adjustable for size thanks to the use of expansion springs that, for adults may be too soft, but for kids could be perfect.
With 22D’s addition of “softie” springs the setup and availability for a small kids boot is super easy to adjust and be able to expand in size and tension as kids grow up from pint-size to full size.
© 2021