Do you use NNN BC ?

Cristobal said:

I have read many of the old threads here on back country skis and have researched a fair amount. I've concluded that I want no-wax, metal edge, double camber skis for back country touring, probably Rossignol BC 65 or something similar.
I want to use skis much as I use snowshoes - as tools to access the back country in winter - but I hope the skis will allow me to sometimes travel faster and further. I'm also hoping to occasionally ski down sections of trail rather than walking, thus saving a little wear on my vintage knees and hips.
I would like to someday learn the telemark turn, but that is not my immediate goal.
I live in Vermont and expect to ski parts of the Catamount Trail, bits of the Long Trail, un-plowed roads and assorted hiking/bike paths and trails. I'll probably do some trips that involve strapping the skis to my backpack and switching to spikes or crampons to bag a peak or reach a viewpoint. I also hope to do a few overnight backpacking trips on skis.
My question is about the boot/binding combo that fits what I want to do. I'm leaning towards NNN BC. Does anyone use these bindings and have any thoughts on the pros and cons? I've ready plenty of opinions on 75 mm bindings (which I am also considering), but I'd like to hear from anyone that uses NNN BC for the type of trips I'm interested in. Thanks in advance.

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Pick where you want to ski.
Pick the boot to match the goal and your foot. Emphasize, find a boot that fits.
Pick a binding to match the boot.
Pick from a range of skis that the boot is suited for, accepting trade-offs over different terrain.

Unless you are utterly driven to learn the tele turn, I can't recommend it. Take the view of a Nordic skier. Focus first on the wedge, stem and step turns. 99% of the time, for the terrain you are describing, this will be enough. Tele and parallel turns happen in the glades as a downhill diversion. Fun? Yes. But at that point, you are taking on the view of the downhill skier and planning trips and picking gear with turning performance and not getting there performance in mind. For that, many people are just going straight to AT gear and it's hard to argue against that.

For what you describe, I would recommend looking at boots like the Fischer BCX 6 series. They combine a kick and glide friendly lower with a supportive skate style cuff. They are essentially beefed up combi boots but instead of using the cuffs for skating, you rely on the cuffs to give better edge control for stem and step turns.

The problem with this style of boot is that good fit is hard to achieve due to the plastic internals. Shop around and buy based on fit.

IF (and this is a big IF) the boot that fits your foot come in both an NNN-BC and 75mm version, then you have a choice. Given the choice, I strongly prefer 75mm for the reasons Sardog mentioned.

Regarding skis, I rarely use skis with tips under 70mm in the bc. I prefer skis with tips in the 70-75mm range, even for kick and glide trips since in the bc, they are more like walk and stumble. Wide open logging roads are the only place I use skis in the 60mm tip range. If you have strong Nordic turning skills, you can push this somewhat.

If you want sliding snowshoes, for boots like the BCX6, I would limit tip width to 90mm and waist width to 70mm.

More here: http://home.comcast.net/~pinnah/DirtbagPinner/quick-picks.html

More of my

Thanks for all the replies, it's helpful to hear varied opinions.
I finally decided to buy used Karhu XCD GT's with Voille three pin bindings. I'll be using them with a pair of old school Asolo Extreme leather telemark boots. I've only had the chance to take them out in my back yard so far, but I think they'll be quite fun
For me , the deciding factor in choosing a binding system was the greater availability of used equipment compatible with three pin bindings compared to NNN BC. Since I'm not sure what direction my interests will go in the future, I think I may end up owning a few pairs of skis and boots, and since my budget is modest, I get most of my gear through Craigslist, garage sales and the like. It seems like there are more options to do that with 75 mm.
Looking forward to getting out in the woods, thanks again for the advice.

Cristobal said:

I finally decided to buy used Karhu XCD GT's with Voille three pin bindings. I'll be using them with a pair of old school Asolo Extreme leather telemark boots. I've only had the chance to take them out in my back yard so far, but I think they'll be quite fun.

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Great choice have a great time!