Bindings & Skins

[Jolly J]

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. I'd like to do a lot more b/c skiing. Mostly all my b/c skiing is done in late spring. I'd like to do more in mid-winter.

To do this I'm going to need skins. Anybody have experience with skins on twin tips or at least semi turned up tails.

Also I'm debating over Alpine Trekkers or AT bindings. My fear of AT Binding is they look so cheap and I'm rather hard on gear. (Last year was the first year in many that I didn't destroy any ski gear) However I've been told that Alpine Trekkers are very heavy and cumbersome. Anyone with experience with these? Thanks a bunch

[NHski]

i have a pair of the freerides. Put them thru alot last year and they came out fine. I wouldn't worry about the durability of these. I have also heard some good things about the new Naxo binding.

[TheOctopus]

My most used set-up is Atmoic R.exs with Freeride bindings. I skied probably 25 days on that rig last season, and skied *very aggressivley* with no problems. The Freerides will take a lot of abuse. That said, I wouldn't ski that binding if I were hucking myself off everything in sight. And remember that things that can be adjusted tend to need adjustment. I find the toe pieces on the Freerides to need some regular tightening. Always carry some sort of multi-tool (don't forget it when skiing your AT rig at the resorts!) Note that the Diamir IIs will *not* (in my experience) take a lot of abuse. I seemed to always spend more time futzing with those things than skinning or skiing.

For skins, I'm a big fan of full-coverage. On my phat skis, they're like Giant Purple Vertical Eaters. Awesome. Don't have a tail clip, and I've found that I don't need one. But then I'm a fanatical Nazi about keeping my skins in good order. If you tend to be tough on your gear, definitely get skins with a tail clip. Skins that keep falling off will ruin a tour.

[RR]

I have a set of Silvretta 500's. Got 'em used and they have done fine in the Mashed (not that I can ski worth a damn in that stuff anyway), powdery trees and on some crispy stuff and some soft corn, both at Tux.

My Brother in-law has Freerides, and over the last 1 1/2 seasons has pushed 'em all over the 'Bush and the 'Glenn with no probs on or off-piste.

I got my skins shipped from the Life-Link (http://www.life-link.com/), AT stuff is their specialty.

[Lftgly]

Do it. Get the Fritschi FreeRides. You won't regret it. Ski them every day on-mountain early season, and you'll be more confident taking them off-trail.

I'm still using an older pair of DiamirII, but plan to get Freerides on the next pair of boards. I've heard of many problems with broken toe pieces on 'em, but so far (fingers x'd) they haven't failed me.

On a trip up Moosilauke last season, met another skier complaining about the Trekkers he had. They were popping out of his binding (toe piece, side release) whenever he put lateral pressure on them, which happened both on kick turns, and on the traverses across the fall line.

Get adhesive-backed skins, take care of them, and you won't need a heel clip. I still use ClimbHigh 65mm wide skins, bought back in the days of 'straight' skis. Two pairs rotated between trips, I've got 9 seasons and counting out of them. Re-applied glue to them for the first time the last two seasons, and they stick better than new. They work OK on my 74mm mid-fats, but you really should get full edge-to-edge coverage for whatever ski width you're on. I had to bend the toe bail to get it to fit my Rossi' tips. Wide, rounded tips like Pocket Rockets can cause trouble keeping any toe bail in place.

[RR]

All the good AT and tele skis have a tail notch for the clip or clip-fixe. There's a reason for this...sure the modern adhesives are great, but on a long trip stuff happens....especially the dreaded combination of spruce needles and glue...get the clip!

The elastomer tip bail on all but the G3 skins allows for one set of skins to be used on skis of differing lengths, out to 5-7.5 cm with no loss of efficiency. The G3 cables may allow that too, but I have had no experience with them. My Life-Links have worked on 200's (the old Couloir's, tele) and on down to 185cm (the not so old Merites, AT).

[jshefftz]

I’d generally agree w/ the Diamir Freeride comments. The Diamir III is basically the same, but w/ DIN up to only 10 (also 4mm less lift, and a very slightly different toepiece housing). The previous Diamir II has toe & heel unit housings that seemed less reinforced, although I’ve never had any problems w/ my two setups.
Note that Silvretta bindings lack a lateral release at the toe (placing it at the heel instead).
Within a week or so my comprehensive write-up of alpine touring bindings and boots should be up at telemarktips.com (yeah, should be at randonneetips.com, but that doesn’t exist). We also hope to have a Naxo binding review this fall...

[Jolly J]

Thank you all for the advice. I was actually looking at the Freerides because of a write up that they were good for agressive skiing. I'll see if I can salvage my old Pow Airs (they have some serious base problems) and maybe hook up the freerides on them. Then maybe look at buying a new pair of skis next year.