Quote Originally Posted by ned View Post
Knock on wood, but I've had some gnarly crashes on big, stiff tele gear with no complaints at the knees. I think there's enough play in the bindings, and crashes tend to be either over the bars or wash outs that don't stress the body too much (as long as you wear a helmet). Seems the desire for a releasable tele binding was driven more by backcountry skiers who want a binding to release if caught in an avalanche.
I second this. There's lots of flex and give in any free-heel system.

I'd say the scariest falls I ever took were skiing in the woods and having one ski go under a branch under the snow, right up to the boot, then falling downhill with that foot still stuck. Breakable crust can do similar things. If you are using three-pin bindings, the pinholes rip out of the boot with very little effort. With cable bindings, the cables stretch more than you'd expect.

The problem with the releasable bindings is they aren't accurate or very well engineered. They tend to bind or flex, they release too easily sometimes and not at all at other times.