Upcoming season touring setup

[TurquoiseGrizzly]

I am going without a season pass to my home mountain this year to fully explore the Wasatch. Other than reading a handful of books on this mountain range and routes, I have no shame in saying I really have no clue what my touring setup should be like this winter. I'm a guy who understands "you get what you pay for" so quality and functionality is key.

Give me a rundown on your touring setup! (bindings, skins, BOOTS)

 

[Barmski]

I currently use the CAST Touring setup and it works well. They convert the front tech toe for you since you only need the toe to be tech going up. You go up on dynafit and down on your normal alpine binding. I like it a lot, but it is slower transitioning than Dynafit Radicals. This year I am going to get Dynafit Radicals as well with a lighter ski with lighter boots. I'll have a 183cm 100mm waist ski with dynafits and touring boots and my cast setup 188cm 110mm waist with normal alpine ski boots.

 

[cobra_commander]

Have you read the other threads? Lots of information out there right now. More than enough to make a educated decision.

however If I was to get a dedicated winter focused tour rig it would look something like the following:

-185 Blizzard ZeroG 108 or 184 ON3P Steeple 102s

-G3 ion LTs

-Salomon MNT Lab, Dynafit Mercury/Vulcan, or Scarpa Mastrale RS

-Pomoca skins

 

[cydwhit]

Have you read the other threads? Lots of information out there right now. More than enough to make a educated decision.

however If I was to get a dedicated winter focused tour rig it would look something like the following:

-185 Blizzard ZeroG 108 or 184 ON3P Steeple 102s

-G3 ion LTs

-Salomon MNT Lab, Dynafit Mercury/Vulcan, or Scarpa Mastrale RS

-Pomoca skins

Listen to this guy, solid recommendations in my (slightly uneducated) opinion.

Spent time on the ZeroG this whole last week, super solid ski, I don't love em but that's just cause I don't love directional skis in general and I kind of suck at skiing them, people who have skied a lot of similar skis do like them. Check out our review on Blister though.

Also spent time on the Ions, super solid binding, really like them, might try to find a deal on a pair for myself.

I'm going to be on the Steeple 102s with whatever tech binding I can find for cheap, in the Fischer TransAlp (not my first choice but they were free, and I do like them, especially with an intuition liner...)

If I had an unlimited budget I'd go MTN Labs though, skied all last week with two guys on them and they love them, working on the review of those now, will be up on the site soon.

It really depends on your priorities, do you want to do epic multi-day trips with some mountaineering? or are you looking for short tours to drop cliffs and build jumps? That will really determine what type of gear you should be looking at.

 

[tomPietrowski]

Listen to this guy, solid recommendations in my (slightly uneducated) opinion.

Spent time on the ZeroG this whole last week, super solid ski, I don't love em but that's just cause I don't love directional skis in general and I kind of suck at skiing them, people who have skied a lot of similar skis do like them. Check out our review on Blister though.

Also spent time on the Ions, super solid binding, really like them, might try to find a deal on a pair for myself.

I'm going to be on the Steeple 102s with whatever tech binding I can find for cheap, in the Fischer TransAlp (not my first choice but they were free, and I do like them, especially with an intuition liner...)

If I had an unlimited budget I'd go MTN Labs though, skied all last week with two guys on them and they love them, working on the review of those now, will be up on the site soon.

It really depends on your priorities, do you want to do epic multi-day trips with some mountaineering? or are you looking for short tours to drop cliffs and build jumps? That will really determine what type of gear you should be looking at.

Did you guys test out the kingpin? Those with the MTN lab boot is my binding and boot choice for next season. Not sure on the skis yet but I did really like the MTN lab ski a lot, way more then I expected actually.

 

[cydwhit]

Did you guys test out the kingpin? Those with the MTN lab boot is my binding and boot choice for next season. Not sure on the skis yet but I did really like the MTN lab ski a lot, way more then I expected actually.

Yeah. I have 4 days in the kingpin and 3 in the ion. Kingpin feels solid, I just don't see the point of it for my uses. I trust it as much as any inbounds binder though, I'm looking for something lighter like a radical, but I have no complaints.

Also toured 2 days on the Solomon MTN expire 95 ski. Really liked it. Fast on the ups, super light and skied MUCH better than I expected. Pretty cool ski.

 

[TurquoiseGrizzly]

Listen to this guy, solid recommendations in my (slightly uneducated) opinion.

Spent time on the ZeroG this whole last week, super solid ski, I don't love em but that's just cause I don't love directional skis in general and I kind of suck at skiing them, people who have skied a lot of similar skis do like them. Check out our review on Blister though.

Also spent time on the Ions, super solid binding, really like them, might try to find a deal on a pair for myself.

I'm going to be on the Steeple 102s with whatever tech binding I can find for cheap, in the Fischer TransAlp (not my first choice but they were free, and I do like them, especially with an intuition liner...)

If I had an unlimited budget I'd go MTN Labs though, skied all last week with two guys on them and they love them, working on the review of those now, will be up on the site soon.

It really depends on your priorities, do you want to do epic multi-day trips with some mountaineering? or are you looking for short tours to drop cliffs and build jumps? That will really determine what type of gear you should be looking at.

I'm looking to do the multi day touring trips further down the road once I am a solid skinner and more familiar with this type of skiing

So for now I will be sticking to the short backcountry booting cliff dropping tours!

 

[tomPietrowski]

Yeah. I have 4 days in the kingpin and 3 in the ion. Kingpin feels solid, I just don't see the point of it for my uses. I trust it as much as any inbounds binder though, I'm looking for something lighter like a radical, but I have no complaints.

Also toured 2 days on the Solomon MTN expire 95 ski. Really liked it. Fast on the ups, super light and skied MUCH better than I expected. Pretty cool ski.

Interesting. I really disliked the radicals when I was testing them out. I hadno confidence I could ski hard and the fact I broke a pair did not give me a lot of confidence wit there durability.

For me touring is still goin to be about finding awesome stuff to ski down so I dont want to be held back. for the sake of 200g or so I would happily take a kingpin over pretty much any thing else I have tried.

For me i would rather save weighti the skis as I think that is where you feel the weight touring.

And yeah I tried out the expolre too andueahthey are awesome just not my really enough for what I want.

 

[cobra_commander]

I have taken radical speeds to 40ft drops. Great binding, only reaso I would go for the ion over the radical is the ramp angle. kingpin is a great concept but not yet really proven. Might try out a pair this year.

 

[tomPietrowski]

I have taken radical speeds to 40ft drops. Great binding, only reaso I would go for the ion over the radical is the ramp angle. kingpin is a great concept but not yet really proven. Might try out a pair this year.

I would agree you can do it on radicals I just dont feel secure on them. I felt the need to lock the toes in steep stuff after a few pre releases and I hate skiing steeps with the toe locked. I think my main issue is Im trying to get alpine performance from them and that is just not going to happen.

I do want to get some radical 2's this season to test against the kingpins, im also thinking of testing a frame binding against them to try to give people a clearer understanding of what each binding can handle and what its weaknesses are. Any other bindings you would like to see in that mix?

 

[cobra_commander]

I would agree you can do it on radicals I just dont feel secure on them. I felt the need to lock the toes in steep stuff after a few pre releases and I hate skiing steeps with the toe locked. I think my main issue is Im trying to get alpine performance from them and that is just not going to happen.

I do want to get some radical 2's this season to test against the kingpins, im also thinking of testing a frame binding against them to try to give people a clearer understanding of what each binding can handle and what its weaknesses are. Any other bindings you would like to see in that mix?

Ion16. Beast 14, or beast 16

 

[tomPietrowski]

Ion16. Beast 14, or beast 16

yeah Id love to try a beast out especially compared to the kingpin. Weight wise the best is not light so I would hope it really performs well but chatting to guys I hear it still suffers from the lack or lateral hold due to still being a traditional pin heel.

Ion's are certainly of interest too.