Marker Has A New Binding to Compete With the SHIFT

For the last couple of weeks, we’ve been noticing some rumors and hints swirling around the internet of a brand-new binding that Marker has been working on. With their main competition Salomon/Atomic debuting the revolutionary Shift just last year, Marker has some catching up to do in the world of freeride touring bindings.

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If you’re at all unfamiliar with the Shift, we suggest you come out from underneath that rock you’ve been living under, because it’s a pretty damn good answer to the age-old question of “can I ride hard on this pin-tech touring binding?” The answer is, of course, yes.

Looks like a pretty snazzy design for a toe piece. Marker Bindings photo.

After using some guerrilla marketing tactics for the last few weeks, Marker finally announced a brand-new binding that seems to offer the same capability as the Shift. They are calling it the Duke PT. It uses a toe-piece that seems to mechanically convert to offer both pin-tech touring capability and a true alpine-style clamp for descending. Unlike the shift, the toe seems have a removable section that facilitates the conversion from touring to alpine mode. The heel looks almost identical to the existing Duke and Griffon bindings.

We’ve asked a few TGR athletes that swear by their Marker/Dalbello/Völkl gear, and haven’t been able to dig up much information beyond what is available on the Marker website. The best we have is that there are two versions, a 16 DIN and a 13 DIN version (that seem to use different heelpieces), that it’s been developed by Markus Eder, Kye Petersen, and Sam Smoothy, and it is compatible with Alpine, Touring and GripWalk boots.

Check out how the whole thing transforms into a touring binding That front part seems to be completely removable. Marker Bindings photo.

For you weight weenies out there, the 16 DIN version weighs 1000g in uphill mode, and 1280g in downhill mode, while the 13 DIN shaves some weight to come in at 850g and 1090g, respectively. The difference in weight is due to the fact that the toe piece has a removable section that will go into your pack on the uphill – much like the CAST Touring system.  

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stash member Max Ritter

I manage digital content here at TGR, run our gear testing program, and am stoked to be living the dream in the Tetons.