Gear recommendations for big mountain and touring?

The animas are fun but imo could be a bit stiffer in the tip and tail. I would avoid frane bindings like the plague. Either go full dedicated pin touring setup or get shifts if you want a ski to rip confidently in the resort. Bindings like barons and guardians make a lot if compromises to do everthing and as a result kinda just suck at everything

Also don’t rent avy gear. Im not even sure where you could do this as it sounds like a huge liability to me. Buy your own gear, practice with it, and take a class. Black diamond/peips and BCA make some good beacon/shovel/probe packages and are both trusted brands

TNORTSAlso don’t rent avy gear. Im not even sure where you could do this as it sounds like a huge liability to me. Buy your own gear, practice with it, and take a class. Black diamond/peips and BCA make some good beacon/shovel/probe packages and are both trusted brands

Ok thx I'll take that into consideration, we were able to rent avy gear over in whistler for when we went out of bounds or in closed areas, but yeah idk how anyone could rent if they weren't at a resort

Wildcat/wildcat tour. More stable than all those skis but just as playful. Also way more durable.

If you haven't tried touring yet, don't rush and buy anything. especially frame bindings.
I would go following route:
1. Arrive to resort and pick one day and use it only for touring.
2. Rent skis with frame binding and use your current boots.
3. Check if you really like to tour and think about how much time you are willing to spend on it.
4. ...
5. Profit!!!

Now you have an understanding that:
1. frame bindings are lame
2. how much time you r going to spend for touring
3. heavy gear sucks in touring (frame bindings + heavy skis.

Now it's time to make decisions:
1. Think about you ski quiver. Are you going to ride more pow, more backcountry or more all mountain? How many skis could you have? 1 ski for all or 1 ski for touring + 1 ski for resort or 1 narrower ski resort and touring + 1 fat ski for resort for touring.
2. How many boots could you have. 1 heavy boot with pins or 1 crossover ~1.5kg boot or 1 alpine + 1 touring boot

after that you know what you need.
But anyway, I suggest to forget about frame binding.
1. If you want to stay with heavy 115 waist skis go with bindings inserts for alpine biding + pure touring bindings (they are very good today). Armada ARV JJ is very good for soft snow. I have a 2018 version. And it lacks some pop, too soft in tips and tails for this. I heard 2019 version is slightly stiffer = more power to send you in space on drops.
For 1ski quiver I would go with medium to medium-stiffer skis with 108-112 waist and ~2kg weight per ski. Like Faction prodigy 112, Armada Tracer 108, Moment Wildcat 108 (but they are on heavier end)
My personal quiver - Armada ARV JJ + Zag Slap 104.

2. For one boot quiver I would go in any shoes around 1600-1800 grams with pin inserts that fits your feet (Nordica strider, Dalbello Lupo AX120, Full Tilt Ascendant, Tecnica Cochice 120, Fischer Ranger Free). But just don't buy it online unless you are 100% sure they are going to fit you a.k.a you try them in shop with bootfitter and he says that they are safe bet. With one boot quiver you're going to need a good footbed, that prevents your foot from sliding inside the shell while touring (= happy toes and no black nails) while having fit closer to performance for resort skiing.
There are other options available
2.1 two different boots (the best one) - Any true heavy alpine boot that fits you + Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD or Tecnica Zero G Guide (2019) or Scarpa Maestrale
2.2 one boot but two different liners (intuition luxury MV for resort + intuition pro tour LV with padding on need places like ankles for touring).
2.3 Or may be you have high volume ankles and could go with longer shell boot while maintaining excellent fit for resort riding. These are the questions you should discuss with a good bootfitter.
My choice is 2 boots - Atomic Hawx Ultra XTD + Dalbello Krypton 2

3. For bindings you have following options:
3.1 Salomon Shift for do it all and you can use it with resort boot and touring boot. I use them and have had only 2 unsafe releases so far. I readjusted prerelease setting after that and have had no problems yet. But to be honest I'm thinking to buy STH13 and use it on true mechanics day (chairlifts, cat skiing).
3.2 if you're fine with 2 binding set up and/or want to use heavier skis for touring, I would go with whatever alpine binding you trust for resort + ion g3/fritschi vipec evo/fritschi tecton + inserts.
3.3 you can go with Cast system if you like to use look pivot 18 for resort. Solid but the heaviest option in this list for touring, that allows you to charge downhill like on resort skis. But with Cast you can go with true alpine sole or WTR sole. Other options don't restrict you in boot sole choices.

**This post was edited on Mar 22nd 2019 at 11:55:16am

Rum_HamWildcat/wildcat tour. More stable than all those skis but just as playful. Also way more durable.

Thanks, I'll check em out

TNORTSAlso don’t rent avy gear. Im not even sure where you could do this as it sounds like a huge liability to me. Buy your own gear, practice with it, and take a class. Black diamond/peips and BCA make some good beacon/shovel/probe packages and are both trusted brands

Out here in California, there are several (that I know of) backcountry gear/adventure companies that either provide beginner/intro backcountry courses/treks: they rent you the gear (beacon, shovel, etc) and take you out for a day or two so you can put your feet in the water and not get invested unless you want to. (I think with all gear rentals and the day its costs about $200 to $300: so much better than investing most likely thousands without knowing if its for you. )

Those companies also just rent avalanche gear without the course and I've heard good things about that.
Understand the skepticism, but from what I have heard/know, the gear is in good condition and one should have nothing to worry about as long as the company is reputable.

Also, One of those companies also has a backcountry Demo day every year in January where one can, obviously, demo backcountry gear for a day or two

Renting out avi gear seems crazy to me. Theres no point in having gear unless you know how to use it. And you want to know your beacon inside out. You have a 5 minute wondow in a burial before brain damage from lack of oxygen sets in (i
I know there are exceptions to this). You dont want to waste time trting to fogure out your beacon.

TNORTSRenting out avi gear seems crazy to me. Theres no point in having gear unless you know how to use it. And you want to know your beacon inside out. You have a 5 minute wondow in a burial before brain damage from lack of oxygen sets in (i
I know there are exceptions to this). You dont want to waste time trting to fogure out your beacon.

That I totally get. I'd hope/assume those that rent without a class research the gear or take a class that teaches them about the gear (I know that the community colleges here do avalanche gear/safety courses).

That being said, I know the courses that rent gear and then go out with guides and use it start the day with an hour or two rundown of how to use all your gear