Pin Bindings + Gapers

Why on earth is your username oxiclean

oxicleanSomeone explain to me why most of the touring bindings I see at the resort are attached to people who don't know how to ski. Just buy some normal skis.

Because they are expensive.
First rule of being a rich prick is buy the most expensive gear in a ski shop even if you don’t know how to use it and then use it for pizzaing down the hill.

Because they value walking over skiing. It's very simple. The more time you spend skiing, the better you become at skiing. People who tour don't ski as much.

How tf isn't this self-explanatory to you?

because affluent people are more likely to ski tour with pins/tour in general because it costs the most money in skiing. And sometimes they like to 'ski the cruisers'. have only met one guy on pins that rips, the rest suck. In the Backcountry, or at least what I have seen, 90% could use lessons

Half these guys are on tiny 167cm la sportiva skis too. Can't imagine skiing such a dinky light setup in the resort or even the back country.

this is a new breed of skier that exists now. Tons of people tour up my mountain who are unable to ski ungroomed conditions. They just tour up to ski groomers.

I have friends from university who have a touring set up as there only ski set up and I think it is because most of them don’t want to pay a lot for multiple set ups. And with lift tickets getting more and more expensive it is way more affordable to buy a used touring set up than weeks worth of lift tickets at most mountains.

Rum_HamHalf these guys are on tiny 167cm la sportiva skis too.

This fucked me up. LOL.

In Norway it has become a trend for the medicine students/Middle aged people to go touring. These people usually have the most expensive gear as well. These people can usually be spotted touring up the side of the t bar with their 5000 lumen headlamp turned on underneath the lights of the slopes. I think they just want to flex on people.

oxicleanSomeone explain to me why most of the touring bindings I see at the resort are attached to people who don't know how to ski. Just buy some normal skis.

what hill do u ski at lol

I keep seeing someone at the hill who bought 1200$ DPS Wailer 99 tour 1 and put a Marker Baron 13 on it. He completely ruined the ski

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Thanks for welcome back b gill

the more they spend, the same price your park ski will continue to be because you do not spend money on skiing like they do.. they keep the sport more alive than you.

also, what is your definition of skiing? because they dont do the same terrain as you makes them a bad skier? maybe they have this setup for their next day on holiday where they are going ski touring or heli or cat skiing where it requires some hikes.

freeskibum82maybe they have this setup for their next day on holiday where they are going ski touring or heli or cat skiing where it requires some hikes.

dude the people I see at my mountain have their setup just for the ski hill. I've been looking for people to go backcountry skiing with, and every person I've asked has said "no I just tour up the hill and ski down the runs." They don't ski anything ungroomed because they aren't good enough at skiing (which is fine, everyone is learning). I'm totally cool with people having fun whatever way they want on snow, but the pin binding type 2 skier is a totally new breed of skier, which as you've pointed out, is a very profitable one for companies to target.

pinkcamo1000I'm totally cool with people having fun whatever way they want on snow, but the pin binding type 2 skier is a totally new breed of skier, which as you've pointed out, is a very profitable one for companies to target.

i'll agree with you there. as more companies push to make the equipment we'll see it more and more.

xddHow tf isn't this self-explanatory to you?

If you like walking get some shoes.

freeskibum82also, what is your definition of skiing? because they dont do the same terrain as you makes them a bad skier? maybe they have this setup for their next day on holiday where they are going ski touring or heli or cat skiing where it requires some hikes.

I just think if you cant competently link turns down a groomer, backcountry and definitely heli skiing are going to be significantly more dangerous.

Saw so many people at louise last weekend on black crows and pin bindings. I think a lot of people want to get into it just to explore the outdoors and not necessarily for finding the best skiing of their lives, kinda like long capable snow shoes, just now they can kill two birds with one stone and because they aren't the most aggressive skiers they don't need a different "bomb proof resort ski". It's actually going to be really great because those types of people don't generally tend to stick to their ideas and they obviously aren't going to fucking destroy their gear so their will be lots of cheap very gently used touring gear.

to put this in perspective, this is like if you were a casual golfer and some hardo golfer at the resort was spending time getting butthurt about the putters you showed up with

no one fucking cares, just ski and don't worry yourself over the gear choices of people that by and large fund the entire industry for dirtbags like us

some people just like touring to get out in the mtns and explore, they don't need bomber equipment cause they just want to enjoy themselves and tour and ski at their own pace

Because the Joneses got full Dynafit setups last season, so now everyone else on the street is trying to keep up.

They can't buy actual skills, so the next best thing is gear that masquerades as skill.

chiknmcplanksThey can't buy actual skills, so the next best thing is gear that masquerades as skill.

Why you gotta do me like that

When the kardashians go ski touring it will be time for all of us to quit.

Honestly, I'm all for it. Tech binding technology is finally starting to get good, and the more demand is what gets us that sometimes like to ski hard on something we can also tour with. During my time in Norway, I did notice a lot of people decked out in Norrona goretex suits and tech bindings, but hey, they have some of the best touring on earth, and with the number of avalanches that occur in these areas unregulated by patrollers, it makes sense to care more about staying dry and warm, as well as being easy to spot. Like what was said above, not everyone can have a 6 ski quiver, so when a significant number of ski days are spent touring, someone may care more about having a good setup they can use everywhere as well as in a resort.

pinkcamo1000this is a new breed of skier that exists now. Tons of people tour up my mountain who are unable to ski ungroomed conditions. They just tour up to ski groomers.

why the hell would you tour to fucking lift access piste zones? I'm from the midwest so can someone please explain or are these people just that RETARDED?

bolakewhy the hell would you tour to fucking lift access piste zones? I'm from the midwest so can someone please explain or are these people just that RETARDED?

lots of reasons. you can avoid the lift ticket or pass cost-- that's several hundred dollars saved right there, and if you go to multiple mountains then you're saving a ton of money really

it's also just an exercise and an outing. you can make anything sound dumb with a reductive description. why do joggers just run around in circles? well, cause it's fun for them and it's great for their body and mind

think about it, you don't want everyone skiing the same stuff in the same way as you. be happy that some of the thousands of people who go to resorts aren't helping clog up the lift lines and your favorite zones!

bolakewhy the hell would you tour to fucking lift access piste zones? I'm from the midwest so can someone please explain or are these people just that RETARDED?

They do it for the exercise. I was definitely weirded out by it at first cause my home mtn is tiny and like 800 vert

pinkcamo1000They do it for the exercise. I was definitely weirded out by it at first cause my home mtn is tiny and like 800 vert

Yea people have been doing it a ton out at A-basin towards the end of the day while the lifts are still running. Kinda laughable when you're on your way back to the lot and have to avoid people walking up groomers on the frontside.

This thread is pretty comical as I rock pin bindings most of time. In the resort I'm mostly on an fks14 but if there's new I'm on my kingpins.
Remember, lot's of people suck everywhere. It's uber hazardous to have gapers in the backcountry and I call them out when I see them, but at least this market segment finally has enough financial interest to make really rad gear. While I would never skin up a groomer to shred inbounds, I kinda like that some people do because it means less people are getting to my stashes while pumping $$ into R&D support that feeds my habit.

**This post was edited on Mar 24th 2019 at 12:09:53pm

I patrol at a mountain that allows uphill traffic on specific routes before and after operating hours. People do all kinds of wild stuff like ascend avalanche paths the morning after a significant loading/wind event, kick in cabin/lift shack doors because they’re cold and unprepared, etc.

There is an absolute phenomenon of people who cannot ski even a little bit going out and spending thousands on DPS skis, tech bindings, scarpa boots, skimo spandex suits (or just your typical REI Joe arcteryx setup).

We start turning people around as we are headed out for mitigation work/trail check/mountain setup and I’ll watch people on 10-20 degree groomed slopes absolutely knock kneed, wedge turning, hunched/ass behind their tails, one ski wiggling around begging to catch an edge, and it’s honestly terrifying.

I totally get that touring/skinning is a great way to get in shape and exercise but i don’t get this breed of people who really don’t ski picking this particular version of exercise. Especially since most of these people don’t live in true mountain communities but rather a city or suburb removed where there’s plenty other stuff to do be it biking, climbing, hiking, swimming, whatever. I understand if you move to a mountain town and aren’t a skier and it’s sort of the only option you have that’s outside.

Like, why not spend a year or two skiing at an area getting to a base level competency before going that route? Furthermore, if you can ski a little bit, why in the world would you want to “tour” in bounds at a ski area where there’s cats, snowmobiles, tons of people and equipment buzzing by you constantly.

Especially where I live, there’s so much easily accessed low angle, highly traveled BC terrain available that other than mountain employees just exercising before work, why do it at the ski area?

And to clarify, I don’t care what people do, I’m glad they’re buying ski gear, I just think it’s funny and strange.