Freetour Ski Recommendation?

HGavrilovHi,

I'd say I'm a solid intermediate skier with no super technical experience.

**This thread was edited on Nov 25th 2024 at 9:28:33am

why you need cast then

dopesnowenjoyerwhy you need cast then

That's a good point. I suppose I don't "need" cast. Shift or Duke would work too. My logic is that it's easier to drill skis once and as I gain more experience, I'd be able to appreciate the bindings more, while people are saying the Shift can be a bit limiting for more aggressive skiing. On my resort skis I've got Marker Griffon 13 at the moment and these feel quite nice. My DIN settings are typically between 7 and 9 depending on current weight and what I'm doing.

HGavrilovThat's a good point. I suppose I don't "need" cast. Shift or Duke would work too. My logic is that it's easier to drill skis once and as I gain more experience, I'd be able to appreciate the bindings more, while people are saying the Shift can be a bit limiting for more aggressive skiing. On my resort skis I've got Marker Griffon 13 at the moment and these feel quite nice. My DIN settings are typically between 7 and 9 depending on current weight and what I'm doing.

i mean whatever you think is best man its your money to spend

Add the Bent 100 to your list. Pretty solid ski, good all around width that is wide enough to float, but not so wide its super heavy and is reasonably light.

If this is going to be mostly a resort ski with the occasional touring use, cast bindings are probably the way to go as there is no compromise on the way down.

However, if this is mostly going to be a touring setup, the Cast system may be too heavy to be useful and the transition between walk and ski will be annoying. Where I tour (the Canadian Rockies) the snowpack is usually riddled with issues (usually depth hoar) so we can't typically ride steep gnarly terrain in the backcountry due to avalanche conditions. Additionally, national parks make it so there is no snowmobile access to most touring locations. Snowpack issues, no snowmobiles, coupled with long approaches and lots of elevation gain usually mean that the cast system is extreme overkill and too heavy to lug around. Your conditions may vary. Just make sure you are getting the correct binding for your usecase.

Cydwhit published a really good binding overview on touring bindings, some really good information there: https://www.newschoolers.com/news/read/A-Touring-Binding-Primer . I Have personal experience with the vipecs and love them, heard good things on the ATK freeraiders as well.