What kind of ski setups are you riding this year?

[Rockymtnhigh69]

I am tele'ing on a pair of 2008 K2 World Pistes with Black Diamond 02's.. best set up I have ever had... Scarpa T1.. Best boot I have ever owned.. Period...

I started on the world pistes, definitely a good ski.

Right now I tele on Karhu Team 100's (Best ski I have ever touched) and g3 bindings with garmont synergy boots. I love this settup.
It is good for absolutely everything, heavenly in powder, great in crud, brilliant on groomers, fast in moguls, light enough for backcountry, and they have a wide range for turning radius anywhere from big gs turns to tight quick turns and they are also twin tips. I wish I had the new NTN bindings though. The worst part of my set up are the bindings, but they work, i just wish they were releasable and had a free pivot mode.

for more snow

I haven't heard the greatest things about the NTN bindings.. Has anybody on here had a good experience with them?

[uwe]

K2 World Piste 188 with Garmont Synergy Boots, plain jane Cobra bindings,
Ready for an overhaul by next year.
For BC, have a pair of Rossi Nepal 203 with Scarpa T-3. Tough now to ski on the skinny ones.

[spot_coop]

Does anyone have experience with the Marker Baron Freeride Randonee bindings?

I mostly ski downhill at resorts, but I would like to get out and do more backcountry (shorter trips - 1/2 - 1 day). I have the skis, Scarpa Tornado boots and skins, but am yet to get bindings. I've always borrowed friends in the past - mostly with the Fritschi Freerides. The freerides are awesome while climbing, but I'm still not used to sitting up quite as high on the downhill.

The Marker bindings are heavier and I guess my thoughts on that right now are "I can use the extra workout".
They do look like the boot will sit down closer to the ski, so it will be closer to resort downhill bindings.
The only other thing I wasn't sure of is the adjustments for climbing. It doesn't look too bad to reach down or use the pole to adjust them, but if anyone has experience, I'd love to hear it.

We're working on our Christmas lists now and I'm headed to REI in Boulder this weekend for the garage sale. Doubt they'll have what I'm interested in, but I might as well look.

Lindsey
www.mountaindogsports.com

[summit co kc]

volkl katana
salomon sth 16
nordica hot rod 125

[Bean]

Does anyone have experience with the Marker Baron Freeride Randonee bindings?

I mostly ski downhill at resorts, but I would like to get out and do more backcountry (shorter trips - 1/2 - 1 day). I have the skis, Scarpa Tornado boots and skins, but am yet to get bindings. I've always borrowed friends in the past - mostly with the Fritschi Freerides. The freerides are awesome while climbing, but I'm still not used to sitting up quite as high on the downhill.

The Marker bindings are heavier and I guess my thoughts on that right now are "I can use the extra workout".
They do look like the boot will sit down closer to the ski, so it will be closer to resort downhill bindings.
The only other thing I wasn't sure of is the adjustments for climbing. It doesn't look too bad to reach down or use the pole to adjust them, but if anyone has experience, I'd love to hear it.

We're working on our Christmas lists now and I'm headed to REI in Boulder this weekend for the garage sale. Doubt they'll have what I'm interested in, but I might as well look.

Lindsey
www.mountaindogsports.com

Never used the Barons but I've got Dukes which are essentially the same. They're definitely heavy, and they only have one heel lifter position, which is lower than I'd prefer. But they work, and they ski phenomenally.

[benners]

Does anyone have experience with the Marker Baron Freeride Randonee bindings? ....

Never used the Barons but I've got Dukes which are essentially the same. They're definitely heavy, and they only have one heel lifter position, which is lower than I'd prefer. But they work, and they ski phenomenally.

I skied a full "14er season" (20 peaks) with Barons last spring and the only word that really resonates with me is "heavy". The Barons are built lighter than the Dukes but even so they are very heavy compared to other (more expensive) options out there. The biggest beef I have with them is each step you take in tour mode you literally lift 75% of the binding along with your heel, which really saps energy on long days. However if you're buying them for shorter days mixed with some resort skiing they may be perfect for you, that is the idea behind their design anyway. As for the heel elevators there are two different positions, and with practice it is possible to switch them over with the tip of your pole, one thing I noticed though is that the maximum angle the heel elevators accommodate seems to be smaller than other AT bindings. As for performance though they have little competition, your foot sits lower on the ski than most (maybe all) other AT bindings and the din setting goes to 12, they're virtually indestructible too.

[benners]

Ok Caleb, you might have met your match....

Damn Jordan! That is indeed impressive...look me up if you ever decide to garage sale any of those old, outdated bindings you don't want anymore .

[Bean]

I skied a full "14er season" (20 peaks) with Barons last spring and the only word that really resonates with me is "heavy". The Barons are built lighter than the Dukes but even so they are very heavy compared to other (more expensive) options out there. The biggest beef I have with them is each step you take in tour mode you literally lift 75% of the binding along with your heel, which really saps energy on long days. However if you're buying them for shorter days mixed with some resort skiing they may be perfect for you, that is the idea behind their design anyway. As for the heel elevators there are two different positions, and with practice it is possible to switch them over with the tip of your pole, one thing I noticed though is that the maximum angle the heel elevators accommodate seems to be smaller than other AT bindings. As for performance though they have little competition, your foot sits lower on the ski than most (maybe all) other AT bindings and the din setting goes to 12, they're virtually indestructible too.

Wow. I would never think about taking dukes up a 14er unless the snow was so good it warranted my real pow ski, and if I would never have to carry them on my back. That's nuts to do 20 14ers with them.

[Teledon360]

As for the NTN's Rockymtnhigh, I demoed them once a couple of seasons ago. They are definitely more stiff than what i like. But they definitely do what they advertise, powerful turns. That was a couple of years ago and i think they have made them less stiff since. I would have probably had a better experience with them if i hadn't been demoing them on K2 piste pipes, i don't really like those skis.
My guess would be that NTN's will be the s**t in the next couple of years. My friend who had a pair said you could move some pin to make it free pivoting and get a looser cartridge thing to make it have a more cable like feel. I hope they come out with NTNs that have an easily switched to tour mode.

[MN teleMARKer]

K2 World Piste, 181 cm, g3 bindings, Garmont Syner-G boots
Volant Super S resort ski, 188cm?? I love the look I get from kids when they see these silver skis.
Dynastar Team Trouble Maker, 141 cm
Atomic Pro Race 6/22, 120 cm
Dynastar Team Speed, 110 cm
Atomic Race:5, 100 cm
Rossignol Fun Girl, 93 cm

Of course the bottom 5 skis belong to my children. The only (fairly) new skis I ride are the tele skis. Although I would love to upgrade from my Volants for fixed-heal, my money goes into keeping my 4 kids in skis and season passes. Heck, even the Volants were second-hand from a dumpster in Vail. Now my kids want to snowboard.

Any suggestions for where the best place is to pick up used AT equipment? I don't plan to buy anything until next spring.

Mark

[benners]

I skied a full "14er season" (20 peaks) with Barons last spring and the only word that really resonates with me is "heavy". The Barons are built lighter than the Dukes but even so they are very heavy compared to other (more expensive) options out there. The biggest beef I have with them is each step you take in tour mode you literally lift 75% of the binding along with your heel, which really saps energy on long days. However if you're buying them for shorter days mixed with some resort skiing they may be perfect for you, that is the idea behind their design anyway. As for the heel elevators there are two different positions, and with practice it is possible to switch them over with the tip of your pole, one thing I noticed though is that the maximum angle the heel elevators accommodate seems to be smaller than other AT bindings. As for performance though they have little competition, your foot sits lower on the ski than most (maybe all) other AT bindings and the din setting goes to 12, they're virtually indestructible too.

Wow. I would never think about taking dukes up a 14er unless the snow was so good it warranted my real pow ski, and if I would never have to carry them on my back. That's nuts to do 20 14ers with them.

I didn't really have a choice Mike, it was either 14ers with Barons or no 14ers at all, I like to think of it as my initiation . Fortunately I just joined the Dynafit cult so my days of misery are over...

[Bean]

That's a hell of an initiation and certainly something to be proud of. Even at my most fit I would've been miserable doing that. Lugging that kind of weight up 20 different 14ers, just crazy.

[gb]

^^^Meh, that's not that crazy. Crossen did about 50 of the fourteeners with Atomic bindings, alpine boots, and Alpine Trekkers. That's crazy

[Snowgirl]

Going back to the NTNs... I can tell you for a fact that they are not for 5'6" 135 lb girls unless you are superwoman. I demoed them for exactly 1 hour because I could NOT get them to flex despite being a triathlete and having a decent amount of muscle. The guy laughed when I brought it back, saying that the people with the best results on these bindings were guys with a considerable amount of strength to throw into every flex. I was not impressed. That was last year. I'm looking into other releasable options, (Viole? 7tM?) but for now I'm on:
K2 2008-2009 Dawn Patrol (best. ski. ever!)
BD O1 Binding
Garmont Women's Syner-G.
BD Guide Flicklock Poles.

[Jcwhite]

^^^Meh, that's not that crazy. Crossen did about 50 of the fourteeners with Atomic bindings, alpine boots, and Alpine Trekkers. That's crazy

+1

I made it up exactly one 14er with those god awful trekkers...then I saw the light.