Alpine Touring Rookie needs gear advise

[FFCS]

I am blessed with the fact that I live on one of our local mountain passes, and have recently tried alpine touring (rentals) to take advantage of some fresh snow and less crowds. Am thinking of getting a set up and would like some advise. I plan on 50/50 skiing, and am not real big into agro backcountry, more into enjoying the whole picture, and enjoying functioning knees for years to come. So far I am thinking K2 Shuksans, Dynafit TLT Vertical ST's, and Garmont Mega Rides. If any of you have any of these products and would care to give input/advise it would be appreciated.

[Mr_Phil]

That should work just fine.

[AlpineK]

I've got K2 Shuksans, and Dynafit bindings. I don't have the mega rides, but I love my set up.

 

Yours sounds good. I've heard good things about Garmont boots.

[RogerJ]

Sounds like a great setup to me. Have you tried some of the wider offerings in skis? If there are some demos you can try, it might be worth the effort to get out on some.

 

-r

[tyree]

I second that suggestion of fatter skis. The Shuksans are OK but I think that you would be happier w/some fatter skis, just because there is usually alot of deep pow in the cascades especially in the BC. Fatter skis hhave more surface area so skinning is easier riding deep powder is also easier. Unless you plan on sticking to spring tours and corn get some big fat fattys, youll be glad you did!

 

[ericb]

I've got Shuksans, Dynafits, and Garmont dynamite (3-buckle) version of the Megaride.....love it. The lighter boots (Dynamite, Dynafit) are a bit more comfortable for touring, but sacrifice downhill performance. Sounds like a good set-up for 50/50

[MisterMo]

I'm on Shuksans, Fritschi's, and Scarpa's so I can only speak to one third of your question. I'm in my fourth year on the Shuksans and really like them. They yank around really well in all forms of good, bad, and indifferent deep and cut up snow and hold pretty good on the hard stuff too. They're narrower than the currently hip and trendy stuff out there but that hasn't been a problem for me.

[beecher]

That sounds like a great setup for touring. I ski Shuksans/Dynafits and love them like my yet unconceived firstborn child. Great ski, plenty wide for me and they work great in corn, hardpack, at speed. BUT WAIT! Here's something to really think about: if you already have alpine boots, you could ski your alpine boots at the resort if you get Fritschi binders. It's easy to adjust to switch between boots.

[FFCS]

That is what I was wondering, I was really looking at the Dynafit FR 10's also, just a little wider, and I think a scosh lighter. The thing that is making this decision hard is I demoed the Shuksans and they were pretty nice. How are the wider boards on hard pack? Which wider boards? Havocs? Bakers?

[FFCS]

Oh yah, thanks for the info keep it coming, much appreciated.

[Cobra_Commander]

I've heard the dynafit fr's get bossed around a bit in the cut-up

[FFCS]

Too light for cascade cement, thats what I was thinking, kinda spendy as well.

[RogerJ]

FFCS. I think you have your answer. You skied on a ski that you like and seems be be well liked on this thread and other sources.

 

I'd start skiing and stop shopping

 

I hope you get a lot of good turns on whatever you decide to purchase.

 

-r

[FFCS]

Yah, probably overthinking a little much. Thanks again for the info, now just have to get the taxes done for that return, and hopefully a new setup.

[Camilo]

I've got the Bakers (with Dynafits) and love the setup. My previous setup was Fritschis and Tua Crossrides, and I've loved the Bakers a lot more both in pow and hardpack. I'd recommend them for sure.

[ptavv]

There's absolutely no reason to limit yourself to touring/telemark ski lineups for your AT setup. For the most part they're only a slight bit lighter.

 

Plus if you're looking to shave weight, those Mega Rides are pretty hefty. If you're going to go lightweight, I say do it all the way (ie Dynafits and Scarpa Spirits or the like) or not at all (ie Naxos/Freerides and Mega Rides/Denalis).

 

You can likely pick up some cheap Naxo nx02s (DIN to 10) or nx01s (discontinued now, DIN to 12).

 

For the most part I'd say broaden your perspective on skis.

 

Also, I've skied both and vastly prefer Naxos to Fritschi Freerides. The Naxos are torsionally stiffer and have a much lower stack height. Both good things IMO.

 

Here're my setup(s):

www.vanillawinter.com/skis.jpg

[beecher]

I disagree with the go superlight or go superheavy mentality. If you want to limit the overall weight of your setup and enjoy great downhill performance, relatively heavy skis paired with dynafit bindings and reasonable boots really makes sense. For a lot of people, and FFCS sounds like one of them, there is some middle ground which provides a reasonable balance between uphill and downhill performance.

 

PS ptavv: great pics from kirkwood & baker on your site

Edited January 23, 2007 by beecher

[Cobra_Commander]

I wouldn't take dynafit/weight advice from someone with spats and bros

[Good2Go]

There isn't a single setup that's perfect for all conditions. For example, an ultralight setup is great for skiing the volcanoes and big tours in the spring, but it won't deliver the freeride quality you could get out of a fat/heavy setup in the pow. If you can only have one setup and you're more inclined to yo-yo for pow turns, I'd go with a heavier (freerides/naxos and fat sticks with at least 90mm under foot). The trend I've been seeing lately is dynafits and megarides/scarpa spirits coupled with a shorter fat ski (170cm-ish). That setup will rip pow/crud/mank/crust and will still be managable on hardpack/sastrugi.

 

[hopper_62]

Me too… (new to ski mountaineering – but not mountaineering) I’d love to get a few of your opinions on the following gear:

 

Garmont Endorphin G-Fit 3 vs. Garmont Adrenalin G-Fit 3 or are both of these to much boot? What other manufactures and boots should I consider?

 

Fritschi Freeride Plus vs. Fritschi Diamir Explore or NAXO nx21 Binding?

 

Looking for opinions on Ski’s as well.

 

Background info: I’m an advanced Alpine skier (20 years) 5’8” 150 lbs, alpine ski’s are Volkl AC3 –167’s. Looking to use the gear primarily for ski mountaineering – volcanoes in winter and early spring, boot needs to be great for climbing out of the binding/ski rig. Would love a set-up that works at the resort as well. I get out at least twice a week.

 

Fed’s owe me a bunch this year on my taxes and want to take advantage of the gear sales that are just starting. My goal is to buy really good gear that will last me, especially the boots. Input appreciated!

 

[btowle]

I am looking for another set of AT skis. Right now I am using Dynafit boots and bindings with K2 World Piste skis. I really like the setup, but have come across another set of dynafit bindings.

 

These bindings have the wide brakes. I am thinking of even wider skis than my World Piste since the wide brakes are really wide. Do dynafit bindings handle really wide skis? It seems that since they make the brakes that wide that they must.

 

Anyway, what wide skis have you been happy with with light bindings and cascade snow? I am about 185lbs (no pack) but many times am carrying between 20-50 lbs in a pack.