First tour set up advice?

As far as binding go, how much resort riding vs touring are you gonna be doing with the setup? I personally run the kingpin for the performance and still stay lightweight. For boots, the most important thing is what boot fits your foot the best, so go get fitted, a boot that doesn’t fit well is the absolute worst especially when you’re touring so make sure it fits well!

Kbob94As far as binding go, how much resort riding vs touring are you gonna be doing with the setup? I personally run the kingpin for the performance and still stay lightweight. For boots, the most important thing is what boot fits your foot the best, so go get fitted, a boot that doesn’t fit well is the absolute worst especially when you’re touring so make sure it fits well!

Definitely trying to get away from resort riding. Thank you for your help!!

Spend your money on a good touring boot that fits. Go to the fitter and see what works.

Having a poorly fitted touring boot is 10× worse in the BC.

You can save a little money by getting bindings used. I enjoy the mix of weight and performance from the kingpin. If you are trying to go more ultralight all my friends love their ions.

you’re awesome, thank you

Profahoben_212Spend your money on a good touring boot that fits. Go to the fitter and see what works.

Having a poorly fitted touring boot is 10× worse in the BC.

You can save a little money by getting bindings used. I enjoy the mix of weight and performance from the kingpin. If you are trying to go more ultralight all my friends love their ions.

As mentioned, your main focal point should be finding the right boot that fits your anatomy, biomechanics, and skier ability which can be accomplished by working with a good bootfitter. Boots are going to be the biggest investment you make out of your entire setup because it's really the only piece of equipment directly contacting a good portion of the lower extremity. Everyone is unique and the boot should put you in the most optimal position to get the most out of your performance potential. If I were you, I would buy the boots first as not all boots will work optimally with all AT bindings.

Some questions I'd ask yourself would be:
Do you prioritize uphill efficiency over downhill performance or vice versa?
What are your ski touring aspirations?
Are you looking to go out for a half day, full day, or even a multi-day tour?
How aggressive of a skier are you and what kind of terrain are you mostly skiing while inbounds?

^^^ Those are all great questions. You gotta be honest with yourself. As fun as it is to have a fat (like the JJ UL) ski, more often than not, youre not going to be touring in untouched, deep powder. Both because of the frequency that happens but also because you generally do not want to have a higher avalanche risk with big, fresh dumps.

I ended up going with a ~100 width "do everything" ski as a first (and only) setup because it's just more versatile. +100 that boots are important.

If you haven't tried traditional touring bindings with pins at the toe + heel, definitely try them to see if you like the feel. I never felt secure in them and went with kingpins but many folks don't mind them and they are noticeably lighter than the traditional heel bindings (tecton, kingpin, shift)

In terms of ski choice, I'd pick someone as close to your favorite resort ski as possible, just lighter. I like rockered, flexy skis for resort and my first touring setup was a pair of much more traditional, flat tailed, directional Kastle TX97s which are just okay but I'd have more fun on a more familiar ski which is what I'm going to switch to soon.

**This post was edited on Dec 3rd 2021 at 2:38:20pm