Leaderboard

I'm looking to put together an ultralight ski descent setup to use with mountaineering boots. For the skis, I'm thinking 100cm, although maybe even 80 or 90. Probably I'll need to buy a pair of Hagan's over in Europe (can you buy them in the US?), but are there other options available? I think the shortest TRAB skis are 157cm. More importantly, I'm looking for binding suggestions. The old-style Emery bindings are perfect for this application: http://www.wildsnow.com/backcountry-ski-museum/emery-chrono/emery-chrono-ski-binding.html But I don't know how to find them. Anyone have an old pair they want to sell? Another option would be a binding setup with no tour mode, and no release capabilities. It would basically just be a wire toe bail and a wire heel lever, like on a step-in crampon. Certainly "snow-blade" bindings are similar to this, but all the ones I've seen are actually quite heavy. Anyone know of a super simple, light, binding system like this? Thanks!

My setup: 90cm snowblades with Stubai universal bindings. Very light and portable. Total cost: Snowblades $40 (slightly used) + Stubais bindings $65 (slightly used) + custom cut skins from a raw strip $40 + ski crampons $60 + heel lifters $20 + free crampon straps from the REI basement. Some things I've learned about them: They're wonderful for spring conditions where big flotation isn't an issue. Love these things. With skins, they climb as steeply as any other ski. Ski crampons only come so wide. If you want them as an option (obviously very useful), don't get too wide a ski. It's a flotation vs ability to crampon thing/wt thing. With skis this short, stability/flexibility of the binding doesn't matter all that much. These Stubais are about as noodly as it gets, but they still work fine, even in avi debris. Standard ski mountaineering bindings would be huge overkill and, as has been mentioned, pointlessly heavy. Snowblades are so thin that you must 'clamp' the bindings on the ski by countersinking through the ski base and using pancake nuts (available at ski shops), followed by a petex job. Even if the petex comes out of the countersink, you won't really feel the difference...these aren't exactly high performance skis anyway. You can try epoxied threaded inserts and to leave the bases intact if you wish...that system lasted exactly one run for me before the binding screw pulled out and I switched to the aforementioned system. I'm making my own custom universal bindings from some Rivas for a higher flotation, winter pair (the Stubais aren't exactly easy to get). We'll see how that works out.

Unfortunately, the Silvretta 404's are much too heavy for this application. I already have a pair of Silvretta 500's, which are lighter than the 404's, but I consider those to also be too heavy for this use.