Nate
Looking for a new touring binding? Well, look no further. The Salomon Guardian is starting to look like a real contender in the AT world. It’s not set to release until Fall of 2012 but by the looks of things its going to give the Marker Duke a run for it’s money. The binding is supposedly lighter than the Duke and sits lower on the ski as well. Not only that but you will no longer have to step out of your bindings in order to switch between skiing and hiking modes. The Deep Powder House in Goldminer’s Daughter currently has a couple of prototype versions of the binding if you can convince one of the shop guys to let you take a look at them. My buddy skied on them earlier this week and liked them a lot besides the fact that they pre-released on him while out on the Tower 10 traverse. However, these were just prototypes and I’m sure Salomon has some more testing to do before they release them next year. Check out Salomon’s video below. It’s a long one so I’m sure they’ll answer any questions you have. For a quick overview of the binding check out minute 7:00.
Alta Skiing Video Blog
These bindings look sweet. I’ve been holding off on buying the dukes because they looked like they are beasts. I’m excited to check out the guardians…
Yeah there suppose to be all medal too so no plastic like with the duke’s swing arm. If there really lighter than the duke they will definitely be the go to 16 din AT binding.