New Howell SkiBindings. Anti-pre-release. ACL-friendly.
Now — based on 46 years of ski binding research, development, professional management and race-proven know-how — Rick Howell of Stowe, Vermont — introduces new Howell SkiBindings (sm)*.
Rick Howell is the inventor, developer, co-developer, or professional-manager behind 5 worldwide #1-selling high-end sports products including ski bindings for Salomon and Geze, the world's 1st clipless bicycle pedal, CycleBinding, and worldwide #1-selling high-tech snowshoes — Tubbs. Howell SkiBindings are NOT Salomon, Geze or Tubbs.
Unlike all others, only new Howell SkiBindings provide the combination of: Powerful anti-pre-release. Multi-directional toe release (Pro and Venus, not WC Racing). ACL-friendly, anti-pre-release lateral-heel-release. Powerful edge-control. Low 17mm stand-height. Liteness. Toes with Teflon plus rollers. Durability. Easy step-in / easy exit. Fully-retractable ski brakes. Full assortment of ski-brake widths with each purchase.
The remarkable new Howell SkiBindings will be certified in Germany and ready for shipment starting October, 2018 by reservation. Reservation-Deposit pre-orders that are placed now receive a 30% discount and free shipping** in October, 2018. Reservation-Deposits are $100 for the world's 1st eco-friendly ski binding — Howell 800 Venus (sm) (full-price $600; 30%-discount price $420), $200 for Howell 880 Pro (sm) (full-price $680; 30%-discount price $476); $400 for Howell 888 WC Racing (DIN 8-26) (sm) (full-price $1200; 30%-discount price $840). Supply is limited for the 888. At $1200, the bespoke titanium-housed Howell 888 WC Racing (DIN 8-26) is the world's most expensive ski binding.
To place a Reservation Deposit, select 'Catalog' in the menu, above. Select the binding model (click photo). Under 'Payment Options', click the drop-down button on the right-side of the 'Payment Options' drag-down-bar to select "Pay Deposit Now (1st shipments, 2018)" — the list-price will automatically change to the Reservation-Deposit price. Proceed to check-out.
Anti-pre-release. ACL-friendly.
FLAT-OUT SKIING CONFIDENCE.
Howell SkiBindings
It was inevitable (sm)*
79A Mansfield View Road • PO Box 1274 • Stowe, Vermont 05672 USA
1.802.793.4849 • rick.howell@howellskibindings.com • www.howellskibindings.com
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Details:
1— Toes.
Howell SkiBindings provide toe-piece release-features that vary by model.
All Howell toe-pieces provide non-pre-releasing lateral toe release.
In addition to lateral toe release, the Howell 800 Venus (DIN 2.5-9) features non-pre-releasing vertical toe release and non-pre-releasing multi-directional toe release. Pure vertical toe release address BIAD (Boot Induced Anterior Drawer) ACL-friendly skiing: the prevalence of BIAD-ACL-injury among the general skiing population is ~10% of all skiing-ACL injuries. Multi-directional toe release (also known as 'diagonal toe release') address backward-twisting ACL-friendly skiing: the prevalence of backward-twisting-ACL-injury among the general skiing population is ~10% of all skiing-ACL injuries.
Howell 880 Pro (DIN 4-14) toe-pieces feature multi-directional toe release as well as ordinary lateral toe release (not vertical toe release).
Howell 888 WC Racing (DIN 6-26) toe-pieces feature ordinary lateral toe release (not multi-directional toe release, not vertical toe release).
Ordinary 2-mode ski-binding lateral toe release addresses only (torsion-related) tibia-friendly skiing. No matter the setting, lowered release settings on ordinary 2-mode ski bindings will not cause ACL-friendly skiing (see ACL Research Presentation in Catalog).
Toe Anti-Pre-Release (unique to Howell SkiBindings): All Howell SkiBindings strongly mitigate pre-prelease in the normal ways — by proper elastic travel; retaining elastic energy within all phases of the travel; minimizing recentering-time; minimizing friction — and especially and uniquely — by functionally-decoupling each mode of release from each other and from the other loading-modes of 'skiing-control'. Functional-decoupling filters innocuous (friendly, skiing-control) loads from each mode of release — separately and independently: when each mode of release begins to respond to a potentially-injurious load, it's not effected or influenced by innocuous skiing-control loads. In this way, the release limit of each separate mode of release is not being approached — not being approached AT ALL — during controlled (and even during aggressive) skiing. Functional decoupling of each mode of release — independently of each other — and from 'skiing-control-loads' is why Howell SkiBindings uniquely and decisively do not pre-release. Functional decoupling applies to each mode of release and each mode of retention in the toe, as well as to each mode of release and each mode of retention the heel.
2— Heels.
Non-pre-releasing lateral heel release is uniquely available in all 3 Howell SkiBindings models — 800 Venus, 880 Pro, 888 WC Racing. Each model addresses ACL-friendly (and MCL-friendly) skiing during Phantom-Foot and Slip-Catch events that comprise ~75% of all skiing-ACL injuries among the general skiing population. Epidemiologically, no one knows the extent to which ACL-injuries are mitigated by lateral heel release during Phantom-Foot or Slip-Catch ACL-injury producing events: however, based on in-house R&D testing, it's biomechanically-plausible that Howell SkiBindings provide ACL-friendly skiing.
(Diagonal heel release — featured by another binding company — does not provide any possibility of lateral heel release during Phantom-Foot or Slip-Catch skiing-ACL events. Diagonal heel release requires both lateral and vertical loads to release. Phantom-Foot and Slip-Catch events involve backward / 'downward' loading on the heel-unit that precludes any possibility of an upward-component of diagonal heel release. Diagonal heel release cannot address Phantom-Foot or Slip-Catch skiing-ACL events: diagonal heel release is not ACL-friendly. The manufacturer of 'diagonal heel release' does not claim that it can provide ACL-friendly skiing.)
(Pivot-turntable heels: No boot can release through the side-lugs of any pivot-turntable — lateral heel release is impossible with pivot-turntable bindings: pivot-turntable bindings are not ACL-friendly.)
If 1 in 5 ACL-injuries are mitigated by the lateral heel release of Howell SkiBindings, we consider this to be a good outcome — especially in view of ordinary 2-mode bindings (even with multi-directional and vertical releasing toes) that have no possibility of mitigating Phantom-Foot and/or Slip-Catch ACL-injuries that are associated with ~75% of all skiing-ACL injury-mechanisms. Please note also that there is "no difference between the release settings of the 'control-skiing-population' and the 'ACL-injured skiing-population' with ordinary 2-mode bindings" (in the epidemiologically-correct, evidence-based, 'Sugarbush Study'; Ettlinger, C.F., Johnson, R.J., Shealy, J.E., 'Functional and Release Characteristics of Alpine Ski Equipment', J. ASTM International, Vol 3, No. 7, STP-1474, Skiing Trauma and Safety: Sixteenth Volume, West Conshohocken, PA, pp 65-74, 2006). This means reduced release settings in ordinary 2-mode bindings have no effect in mitigating skiing ACL-injuries. The same results by the same researchers were found regarding MCL-injured skiers.
Ordinary ski bindings — e.g., 2-mode bindings with lateral toe release and forward heel release — are not ACL-friendly. The #1-selling brand of 'ordinary' alpine ski bindings is also the #1-cause of skiing ACL-injuries. 'Same with the #2, #3, #4 and #5-selling 'ordinary' alpine ski bindings: ACL-injuries are the #1-injury in skiing, those are the bindings that cause this evidence-based injury pattern.
No one knows the exact prevalence (or incidence) of the various injury-mechanisms that cause ACL-injuries, but the best evidence is noted by: Tone Bere, PhD Thesis, 2013, Chapter on ACL Injury Mechanism Review, Norges Idrettshøgskole; and separately, Howell, R.J., 2017, Mitigation of ACL Rupture in Alpine Skiing through Ski Bindings, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2017;51:283-412, presentation to International Olympic Committee on 'Preventing Sports Injuries', Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Howell SkiBindings non-pre-releasing lateral heel release addresses distorted-anomalies found in biomechanical envelopes that test all possible loading configurations (complete 3D-envelopes) involving tibia-friendly skiing (Bahniuk, E.H., Ettlinger, C.E., A Method for the Testing and Analysis of Alpine Ski Bindings, Journal of Safety Research, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp 4-12, 1980) — and ACL-friendly skiing (see 'Howell research-presentation' in the 'Catalog' under 'Menu', above).
Ordinary 2-mode ski binding heels address (bending-related) tibia-friendly skiing.
Heel Anti-Pre-Release (unique to Howell SkiBindings): All Howell SkiBindings strongly mitigate pre-prelease in the normal ways — by proper elastic travel; retaining elastic energy within all phases of the travel; minimizing recentering-time; minimizing friction — and especially and uniquely — by functionally-decoupling each mode of release from each other and from the other loading-modes of 'skiing-control'. Functional-decoupling filters innocuous (friendly, skiing-control) loads from each mode of release — separately and independently. When each mode of release begins to respond to a potentially-injurious load, it's not effected or influenced by innocuous skiing-control loads. In this way, the release limit of each separate mode of release is not being approached — not being approached AT ALL — during controlled (and even during aggressive) skiing. Functional decoupling of each mode of release — independently of each other — and from 'skiing-control-loads' is why Howell SkiBindings uniquely and decisively do not pre-release. Functional decoupling applies to each mode of release and each mode of retention in the heel as well as to each mode of release and each mode of retention the toe.
Only Howell SkiBindings provide non-pre-releasing, specially-tuned lateral heel release, with (low) 17mm stand-height.
Anti-pre-release. ACL-friendly.
FLAT-OUT SKIING CONFIDENCE.
Introducing new Howell SkiBindings. (sm)
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Copyright © by Rick Howell and Howell Ski Bindings, 2017. All rights reserved.U.S. Patent 9,463,370 and other patents-pending.
* 'ACL-Friendly', 'Anti-Pre-Release', 'It was inevitable', 'Howell SkiBindings', 'Howell 888 WC Racing', 'Howell 880 Pro', 'Howell 800 Venus' are Service Marks (sm).
** US$20 is charged at the time of Reservation for international orders.
*** Howell SkiBindings company is against (a) ski waist widths greater than 87mm AND (b) all 'pin-binding's' (except new Trab TR2) — due to (a.i) their association with a new type of skiing-injury: severe, high-energy tibia-plateau fractures, severe tibial-tuberosity fractures, cumulative miniscus-damage, and MCL-rupture; and (b.i) due to high-energy, spiral-tiba-fractures. Both new types of skiing injuries are the fastest-growing categories of injuries in skiing — matching the growth of fat-skis and pin-bindings. The high-energy nature of the new types of skiing fractures involve many multiple-fragments, difficult surgical reconstruction, and 10 to 15-months of aggressive rehabilitation. Fat skis (on firm snow) and pin-bindings (in any snow) ((except the new Trab TR2)) — are a serious problem for the sustainability of our beautiful sport: the ISO standards on pin-bindings are knowingly wrong: they are about money; political-engineering; patent portfolios; and must be immediately changed to reflect human-biomechanics, not just manufacturing-tolerances. References: (1) Dominik Heim, MD; SITEMSH-Japan, 2016. (2) Zorko; Nemec; Matjacic; Olensek; Alpine Skiing Simulations Prove Ski Waist-Width Influences Knee Joint Kinematics; ISSS-Innsbruck, Austria, 2017. (3) Stenroos; Pakarinen; Jalkanen; Mälkiä; Handolin; Tibial Fractures in Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding in Finland: A Retrospective Study on Fracture Types and Injury Mechanisms in 363 patients; Scand J Surg Off Organ Finn Surg Soc Scand Surg Soc., Sept 2015, doi:10.1177/1457496915607410. (4) Improved Short Term Outcomes in Tibial Plateau Fractures of Snow Sports Injuries Treated with Immediate Open Reduction Internal Fixation; Janes, MD; Leonard, MSPH; Phillips, PA-C; Salottolo, MPH; Abbott, MD, Bar-Or, MD; ISSS-Innsbruck, Austria, 2017.