Thread: Salomon AT Binding

The solly team was testing out a ton of different prototypes (rocker2 shapes, but fatter and more rockered) today on Blackcomb, and some of them were mounted with very very interesting looking bindings.

The heel piece is the same as any solly binding, and the toe piece is looking similar to a duke's, with the pivot point in the same spot.

What made it seem really interesting was the low stack height. There are 2 metallic rails under the boot that connect the heel to the toe and would seem to be quite stiff and I would also guess lighter than dukes.

Also, the release mechanism is positioned behind the heelpiece and is a metallic piece you can place your pole under and just slide forward and back to switch modes. This would mean no frozen lever like on the markers (what I assume they are trying to compete with) and possibly the option of skins-on skins-off with the boot still in (for those who care).

Promising

Sounds iiiiiiinteresting.

Find them and photograph them!

I CAN'T TELL IF THIS IS BS OR NOT!!!!!!! ARGGGGGGGG

Well it's Salomon so we all know it'll be well designed and BURLY as hell since they have an OUTSTANDING track record when it comes to producing AT gear

NOT BS at all. I saw them today as well and was coming on here to post about it when I saw this post. A few of the solly riders were on them including MikeDSki, so maybe he could chime in.

Three things I noticed right off the bat, but truly have no clue if I'm correct:
-much lower stack height than dukes
-looked lighter (totally subjective I know, but overall less material than a duke)
-seemed smoother in walk mode than duke, but same pivot point (one of the guys I didn't recognize was pretending to telly in line for the glacier chair).

It was definitely a solly heel piece, but it was unmarked. Toe piece, much like ffb said, was very similar to a duke and I, at first look, mistook it as a duke toe piece with a weird color scheme. Once I saw the rest of the binding it was clearly not a duke though. I also seemed to notice a similar track to the duke for adjusting different bsl. And I couldn't tell if it would fit rockered AT boots (they were using quests mostly). Risers looked short (again based on someone fooling around in the liftline with them), but its a proto so take that with a grain of salt.

so yep.

Yeah, Blackcomb was friggin sweet today.

hmmm...I wonder if the same guy that designed the Quest boot designed these new AT bindings.

I wonder how much testing these are going to have to go through, before Salomon releases the next "wave of the future" that will almost kill more people.

Heel lock sounds kinda like what 22Designs did with the Axl, I've been thinking that would be a good way to work an AT plate. Stoked to see what they come up with. To the haters, I'll test 'em out and let you know.

fwiw i have also heard that solly wont be RE releasing AT soles for the quest boots until the release of their AT binder presumably some time 11/12 season.

That's all you got Alky? You not going to spill the beans? Jeeez.

Originally Posted by SeatownSlackey

fwiw i have also heard that solly wont be RE releasing AT soles for the quest boots until the release of their AT binder presumably some time 11/12 season.

the 'redesigned' AT soles, now without the low tech inserts are in shops today. we have them at the shop i'm at in VT.

Interesting. Secret agent pics please.

Alright, so we (Salomon team) are testing some AT bindings here in Whistler right now. As per usual, this is the first step of a long developmental process. So commenting on the tech specs would most likely fruitless since many changes can happen from now until the potential market release.

What I can say is that it skied so much better than any other AT binding I've tried and it's touring switch over function is smooth like butter.

We should be getting into the next step of development in the next month or two and hopefully then the team and I can begin to show some more.

OOH! can't wait for more information. If this binding is any good, it'll kill the Duke.

Originally Posted by jondrums

OOH! can't wait for more information. If this binding is any good, it'll kill the Duke.

Jesus, I don't know if Salomon needs that much of a blowjob. Hopefully the bindings are more "finished" than their Quest Boots.

Alka, how much does it weigh?

Originally Posted by buttahflake

the 'redesigned' AT soles, now without the low tech inserts are in shops today. we have them at the shop i'm at in VT.

sorry i should have been more specific and said "revised tech compatible soles" not just AT ones.

Originally Posted by the_eleven

Alka, how much does it weigh?

Like I said before, can't comment on details because they're still in their infancy of the usual long on-snow developmental process. Sorry man.

Originally Posted by Alkasquawlik

Like I said before, can't comment on details because they're still in their infancy of the usual long on-snow developmental process. Sorry man.

Can you say if they are supose to be a touring only binding, or if they will be a burly one, kind of like the Duke/Baron?
Inbetween the two?

Originally Posted by Alkasquawlik

Like I said before, can't comment on details because they're still in their infancy of the usual long on-snow developmental process. Sorry man.

Well if the rocker 2 is any indication of how fast we go from "on snow" to production we should see them 11/12 (this is what i was told when i saw them at a focus group last season). The rocker 2 was also shown at that same focus group and is not on snow...

The binding looked VERY promising to me as well. Duke killer for sure.

Regardless of how much we all hate Salomon for their infamous Quest boot, they do make bomber alpine bindings which should translate to bomber AT bindings.

Marker made dogshit alpine bindings and still mustered a damn good AT binding with the Duke.

Originally Posted by _koppen

Can you say if they are supose to be a touring only binding, or if they will be a burly one, kind of like the Duke/Baron?
Inbetween the two?

The purpose is an alpine binding with touring capabilities. So yes, similar to spirit of Duke. Din will be high, touring switch over will be smooth and from skiing a few different versions of the binding, I can say it's power transmission and downhill skiing performance is astounding.

If you figured out a way to get the stand height below 34mm you will have my attention.

Well, you already have my attention, but I hope the stand height is lower than on the Duke.

Originally Posted by 10% Groomed

If you figured out a way to get the stand height below 34mm you will have my attention.

Well, you already have my attention, but I hope the stand height is lower than on the Duke.

side to side with my dukes it looked lower... but apparently there are slightly different models out and about.

this thread is useless without pix