Salomon Warden MNC 13 2016

The Warden is one of a new generation of ski bindings which allow different boot soles (such as rockered touring soles) to be used on an alpine style binding.

Touring boots with rockered soles will not work with most alpine bindings but with boots like the Salomon MTN lab really changing what can be done in "touring" boots, the Warden gives skiers a binding option for resort days when not touring.

Looking at the binding it looks like a combination of a Guardian Toe and a STH2 heel and this is essentially what it is.

The Guardian was updated to accept touring boots and this toe piece design is used on the Warden. The toe features automatic wing adjustment and can be manually adjusted in height for different boot soles.

The heel uses the same free floating system as the STH2, which allows the ski to flex more freely under the binding, creating less of a dead spot in the middle of the ski.

Both toe and heel use a wider mount pattern more suitable for today's wider skis. The binding also uses the Freeski brake which is designed to retract better on switch releases to prevent damage.

In use they feel extremely similar to the STH2 binding. I never felt any movement and never worried about pre-releasing.

I would be perfectly happy skiing the Warden any where on the mountain including the park.

With the types of boots being used changing quite rapidly a binding like the Warden gives a great amount of flexibility. You could use solely alpine boots and have no problems but the adjust ability means future boot purchases with a different shaped sole should not require a new binding.

I will be using the Warden on quite a few of my skis this season as it simply offers the most freedom in terms of the boots I can use.

• Terrain
  Park
  Pow
• Design
  Clean
  Busy
• Durability
  Fragile
  Durable
• Weight
  Light
  Heavy
• Style
  Uncool
  Cool
• Reliability
  Sketchy
  Trustworthy