04/07/2026
Hi gang! I’m back with another “Vintage Ski Binding” video. This one is so rare that I bet even some of our most senior ski techs out there will not have even seen an “Allmat 8000”. As a side note, YouTube let me know the other day that most people who “watch” my videos don’t make it but a quarter of the way through before they give up and go away. Enough to take all the wind out of my sails! But on reflection these videos are more about history and engineering, so they are more academic than entertaining. It did make me think that with the short attention spans a lot of people have these days I could start the videos with something like this…”Tonight on Top Fear, James will attempt to blow up an American Ski Binding, and I’ll see if I can damage a Salomon 747, using a AK 47!”...followed by the usual jingle. OK enough of that! I know the videos are of limited interest to a limited group of ski enthusiasts. As much as it hurts to think this, but most skiers don’t understand what they bought why they bought it. Usually, some pro is on the equipment, or their friends are on it: that’s all they need. But for some of us, the hardware is more than that. How it came to be matters. Who was involved in the concept and design? Where did “Industrial Design” come into the picture? The manufacturing engineers, metallurgists, and designers tell a much deeper story. My ultimate plan is to build a digital reference book that I plan to call “Click, the Engineering, History of the Alpine Ski Binding.” It would pull together all these videos in chapters covering each manufacturer’s history and then linking my videos to the correct chapter. Now all that said, do any of you have suggestions to make the videos more engaging?
