Alpina answers my question

[GrimSurfer]

True. Haven’t heard squat about Alaska NNN BC. Heard heaps about 3 pins though.

[Lhartley]

I have some 75mm Alaskas on my radar and am interested on using them with Riva 2's. Is rhis issue relevant to these bindings? I tried searching and couldn't find good info

[GrimSurfer]

I have some 75mm Alaskas on my radar and am interested on using them with Riva 2's. Is rhis issue relevant to these bindings? I tried searching and couldn't find good info

I haven’t detected any correlation to a specific binding brand… but a fair number of failures in general reported on the three pin Alpinas.

I haven’t skied 3 pin in a very long time. Lots of stress on the duckbill at the best of times, but my boots back in my early classic days would fall apart before the duckbills split. Elongated holes were another story though…

[Lhartley]

I'm hoping that since the riva is not 3 pin style rat trap I will have more luck, but I've read that the alaskas have slop in similar style bindings like switchback and targas. It's not clear to me if the 3 pin rat trap is the issue or binding slop. Thanks

[lowangle al]

I'm pretty sure the duckbill will rotate more in the toe piece of a cable binding w/o pins, instead of flexing at that same spot every time. At least I know my plastic boots do. The rat trap hold the duckbill tighter to the ski.

So I would say you may have good luck.

[Lhartley]

Right on, I think I will give them a shot, love the fit of my Alaska BC. Thanks

[phoenix]

"I'm hoping that since the riva is not 3 pin style rat trap I will have more luck, but I've read that the alaskas have slop in similar style bindings like switchback and targas. It's not clear to me if the 3 pin rat trap is the issue or binding slop. Thanks"

I've only skied my Alaska's on a pair of Riva II's a couple of times, since I only recently mounted those. Not sure what reports you've read, so I can't refer to those, but... there's bound to be some "slop" with no toe latch, since all the cable bindings are designed to fit the thicker duckbills of plastic boots. The Alaska's sole is considerably thinner, so it's going to be less restrictive in flex, as lowangle al points out is the case even with plastics.

I don't think we have enough feedback, despite the abundance of posts, to determine if the sole cracking is related more to a particular 75mm binding. FWIW, I skied my Alaska's for two or three seasons with 3 pins, the Original Riva's, and now the II's. No cracks. Still would like to hear more from folks who haven't had issues with the 75 Alaska's (besides myself).

[TheMusher]

For what it’s worth, Lundhags advise against using their 75mm boots with three pins for this reason (sole cracking).

Instead, they advise recommend Rottefella Chili, Riva, Voile Switchback, etc.

Obviously, this is also to cover them for any warrant claims due to cracked soles from 3-pin use.

I still use them with 3-pins