Thoughts on touring bindings

J

jfrauen

Member
Well i have a pair of 2012 AK JJs with FKS 180s. My question is whats your guises thoughts on throwing a pair of touring bindings on them. I dont know too much about them whats good and whats not. I just saw a video of MFD alltime at binding. It seems nice but im not sure how well it will hold up and how well they work. Any help on this will be appreciated.
 
MFDs are fine and dandy if you don't mind adding an extra 2.5 lbs to your setup for everyday use. If you're thinking about small day hikes or just going through gates for the afternoon, they are a good set-up.

I'm about to put some on my Renegades and Hojis this season, I dig the set up of 1 binding for multiple skis (without quiver killers).

I would be asking myself more if I'd want to use JJs for AT if I were you...
 
As a tech I am not a big fan of MFD plates as I have seen them cause a good deal of damage to skis. They also put the stack height higher than most of the good AT bindings (marker duke, salomon/atomic quest 16, Tyrolia AAA series)

Here is the big question:

How much hiking are you going to be doing?

If you are just hiking a bit inbounds, or doing short day trips, or small shots and still going to be spending 80% of your time skiing lift access terrain you are going to want a binding that is more alpine than alpine touring. The duke, quest, and the like. I have some 2012 SFB's and I have marker F12's on there which is great for sidecountry, hikin a kicker, little day trips and shots most of which is inbounds or near that.

if you are really looking into touring then a stiffer ski with more camber in the tail will do you better and also some real touring binders like dynafits or fritschi's will make like way more wonderful for fuck off hiking and BC trips.
 
^This note to OP I would go Dynafit over Fritschi, I seen Fritschi get destroyed pretty fast and they got a pretty high stack height
 
F12 over Fritschi. Hell, even the new unproven Tyrolia over Fritschi. Best way to ruin how a ski rides is to put Fritschis on it.
 
MFDs actually have a lower stack height than Dukes and a lot of other setups (unless something changed this yr), but it's marginal. I was going to get MFDs until I actually picked up a pair of skis with them mounted and holy hell... it was like picking up a couple cinderblocks. People bitch about the Dukes but I love mine and I ski them in bounds often which meant Dynafits, etc weren't an option for me. The Fritchis break pretty easily and have a high stack height so I'd steer clear of those as everyone said.
 
The only reason i was considering them was because we get hit with good snow there are a few runs that my local resort have that are amazing but have to do a little hiking out of after also a few upper mountain rune that you have to hike up to.
 
Like others have said, stay away from the MFDs, they are heavvvvvvy as all hell. Id recommend a duke/baron/quest or another downhill/touring hybrid binding. You will get the best of both worlds, w/o the heavy ass plate. Not to mention MFDs and FKS18s would shred you apart, so damn heavy!
 
I have fritschis and have had no problems with them (other than them popping out when i had the dins too low). I also haven't noticed any huge differences in how my skis preform. Not trying to call anyone else out but have those who are trashing fritshi ever skied them? I myself haven't spent too much time on them, approximately 15 days on them but thats my 2 cents about it.
 
Just buy some alpine treckers ? If ita for small hike you'll be fine, no remount , but im not sure how they are whit fks .
 
Totally. This is what Trekkers are made for. Most of the bitching you hear about them is down to poor setup and not using them right (they're fine with FKS with no modifications required if you set them up properly). I know guys in Chamonix who get by on them fine. If you're only going to skin less than two hours about 10-20 times per winter they'll be fine. It's the cheapest option and no remount required.
 
don't bother with trekkers. If you're doing less than 5 tours in a year, they make sense, untill you try and actually go anywhere with them. More worthwhile finding someone who has touring skins you can borrrow IMO.As far as the Fritchsi goes, it's a lot more solid than most people give it credit for. Just spent 15 days shredding icy chunky variable snow on an older pair, and only released once. \And the newer ones are even beefier.

Dynafit BINDINGS are awesome. nothing compares to them. but watch out, and make sure you can find a boot that will work for you before you go with that system, because ther's very few perfoming beets out there that are compatible.

I'd say the best bet for most people on here looking for a "touring" binding would be the in-betweeners like marker salomon, tyrolia, etc. because you still feel like your foot is in a regular binding that you can trust, but with the ability to free your heel every now and then.
 
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