Meidjo low rise lever popped off - fluke, or a warning?

[seand13]

I have meidjo 3.0s on two skis and have used them almost exclusively for the last 2 seasons. This season I've gone to the 'powder casing' mode that uses the low rise bar to keep your boot from clicking into tele mode so that you can tour. I like it overall, but last weekend I got to the bottom of a run and realized that my low rise bar popped off and was gone!

My questions:

Has this happened to anyone else / Is it common?

Any ideas on what could have possibly happened? In my limited experience, the low rise bars are REALLY tight and challenging to get on and off, so I'm really baffled as to how this happened. I'll also note that there doesn't appear to be any damage to the plastic climbing block that the low rise level installs into.

[bobbytooslow]

Oh no! Maybe add a photo so we can see what broke where?

[seand13]

That's the thing... nothing broke! The low rise heel bar just vanished!

[seand13]

Just to be clear, this is the part that disappeared.

https://www.freeheellife.com/collections/m-equipment-telemark-binding-parts/products/meidjo-low-riser-climbing-bars

I've got a replacement and a spare on order so not a huge deal, but I wanted to know if others had had this issue?!

My best guess is that a) it was never in properly and finally popped out or b) snow had packed on the ski so that it didn't rotate out of the way, and then when i stepped down to go into ski mode on the binding the boot force made it bend out enough to pop out. Neither of these explanations make much sense, but its the best I can come up with

[seand13]

Update - it looks like one of the low heel risers I have doesn't go through the hole in the plastic heel riser all the way, and gets hit by the plastic block when it is lifted. I don't know if the low riser I lost had this issue, but it's at least plausible.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/rWMsXQ3UkVfBbMGZ8