I'm looking for advice on what to buy in this arena. I've already been told to go with Marker, but would appreciate any other input, and any ideas about the best deals you may know of.

TIA.

Why have you been told to go with Marker? It really depends on what kind of touring you going to be doing. The Marker rig is a bomber setup, but heavy. More suited to short side country tours. You must step out of the binding to put it in touring mode. Most times not an issue as you would probably be removing skis to attach skins. The heel lifter doesn't have the adjustment some of the others do. It only has 2 positions. If going for some all day tours may want to look at the Fritschi freeride. Its light weight has 12 din and 4 position heel lifter. The heel lifter adjusts on the fly easily with ski pole.

skimore wrote:

Why have you been told to go with Marker? It really depends on what kind of touring you going to be doing. The Marker rig is a bomber setup, but heavy. More suited to short side country tours. You must step out of the binding to put it in touring mode. Most times not an issue as you would probably be removing skis to attach skins. The heel lifter doesn't have the adjustment some of the others do. It only has 2 positions. If going for some all day tours may want to look at the Fritschi freeride. Its light weight has 12 din and 4 position heel lifter. The heel lifter adjusts on the fly easily with ski pole.

Again, I'm a complete newb in this arena, so I fully appreciate all of your input. I am planning a heli trip to Alaska for April. The bindings will be going on a pair of 185 Nordica Blowers, and other than that trip, I'll be doing some skinning around Gore. With this in mind please offer any ideas you feel best fit those needs, and thanks again.

How much touring is going to be done on your heli trip? The Duke is really an alpine binding that tours a little. If having do a bunch of skinning for a week, I wouldn't want to be using the heavy Markers. If minimal skinning required on the heli trip, the Duke would work for that and messing around at Gore

Are you going to have only one setup? If you have a setup for resort skiing I would go with the lighter binding. I like to have setup for resort and one for touring. You may find that once you start touring you will spend less time at the resorts. In that case you will not want the heavy Dukes

skimore wrote:

How much touring is going to be done on your heli trip? The Duke is really an alpine binding that tours a little. If having do a bunch of skinning for a week, I wouldn't want to be using the heavy Markers. If minimal skinning required on the heli trip, the Duke would work for that and messing around at Gore

I'm almost certain no skinning will occur durring the heli trip, but I wanted to buy a binding that won't fall apart in the heli application, but still be useful for a Northeast skinning application. I know I'm asking for apples to meet oranges, but do they make an orapple that might work?

The freeride isn't going to fall a part unless your hucking 50 footers

What kind of resort skiing you plan on doing with the setup? I wouldn't be using the lighter binding for banging bumps all day.

If the goal is to start getting away from the resorts I would go with the lighter setup. Naxo nx21 is another option

skimore wrote:

What kind of resort skiing you plan on doing with the setup? I wouldn't be using the lighter binding for banging bumps all day. If the goal is to start getting away from the resorts I would go with the lighter setup. Naxo nx21 is another option

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110219660111&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=001

How do you feel about these?

Not sure. Didn't know Dynastar had an AT binding. If it's actually the same as Naxo 11, it's a good binding

This is a good deal if the right size for you


http://cgi.ebay.com/Fritschi-Diamir-Freeride-Plus-Alpine-Touring-Bindings_W0QQitemZ170190002409QQihZ007QQcategoryZ21238QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

and if you started this topic a month ago I had an extra Freeride size large for sale