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Innovations in the CAST binding system

The original CAST system will be withdrawn from the market and a new version will be launched next season.

by Sebastian Siep 04/24/2017
A few years ago, the brothers Lars and Silas Chikering-Ayres developed a binding system due to a lack of alternatives, which makes it possible to ascend with a pin toe piece and descend with an alpine binding and boots. What is the background to the Cast system, why is the original system no longer being sold and what is coming next?

The Cast-Touring System

Two passionate skiers founded a company in the USA in 2012 to develop and sell a universal, safe and robust touring binding system. Until a few years ago, brothers Lars and Silas Chickering-Ayres were regularly on the podium in the Freeskiing World Tour and the Freeride World Tour. However, the boys don't just ski contests, they also go on tours. For some time, they had been looking for a solution that would allow them to ski their sporty style on more remote slopes that are only accessible with skins. Such an uncompromising piece of equipment was not available on the market, so they decided to do it themselves.
They dedicated their company name to the late company co-founder Ryan Hawks and his sense of freedom when skiing and touring: CAST.

Your main focus was always on the reliability of your system and was primarily geared towards downhill suitability. They needed full performance and suitability for competition. Their benchmark was the robust turntable binding system with its secure, vertical release function and the impact-resistant, elastic properties of the pivot toe piece.

The second goal of their development was to exploit the ascent-related advantages of a pin binding system. They did not want to do without the improved torsional rigidity and lower moving weight on the foot compared to a frame system.

The third component of such a system was, of course, the boot. At that time, there was no ski boot manufacturer that equipped racing or hard ski boots with a pin insert or a walking mechanism including a DIN sole. Cast offered to retrofit every ski boot with a pin insert in the toe area. There are now tougher freeride boots with interchangeable DIN soles and inserts from a number of other manufacturers too.

The brothers weren't the only athletes looking for something like this. Steep face skiers, freeriders and ski mountaineers, whose equipment had to function reliably at the limit, were also involved. Athletes such as Tof Henry, Sam Anthamatten, Drew Tabke and Jeremy Heitz, among many others, are also members of the development team. With their support and their test results, CAST was able to market its first product after several years of development.

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Review of CAST SI&I Alpine Touring System

This system is basically the additional mechanism that was available for retrofitting the touring function to many alpine bindings. There are two platforms that are mounted under the front and rear jaws of the binding and practically use the original drilling patterns of the binding. Practical because skis that have already been drilled and mounted can be easily converted to a touring set-up within 10 minutes using the longer screws supplied. While the plate provides the rear binding jaw with a switchable climbing aid, the front jaw is equipped with an interchangeable mechanism for a conventional Dynafit front jaw that is offset to the front. Another practical feature is that not only can the rear jaw remain where it is, but the center of gravity shifts backwards in touring mode, making it easier to fold the skis down in hairpin bends. Dynafit's own Harschesien can also be fitted.

The brothers made the milled components themselves. They sold the necessary Dynafit front jaws via their online store, either on their own or as a complete package.

A few years ago, Lars demonstrated his confidence in their own development to me during a few runs together in Verbier on one of the preparation days before the Bec de Rosses contest. He really let rip in the culoirs and rocks there with a couple of mighty drops.

In addition to the additional Dynafit part required, there are one or two other peculiarities of the system. The stoppers cannot be locked automatically and are pragmatically tied up by hand with a more solid rubber. Furthermore, the insertion of the front binding part is somewhat fiddly if the mounting rail is blocked with snow or ice.

It is likely that the metal front platform, which is difficult to mill, and the other problematic points prompted the brothers to withdraw their first system from the market last year. A distribution network for the Dynafit part also no longer seems to be wanted, as a new product has now been announced:

Outlook CAST Pivot Freetour binding

The images released so far give an idea of the points that have been improved by the new design. The Look P14 or 18 toe piece modified by CAST is now clipped and locked with its modified plate onto a plate mounted under the modified binding screws. The resulting even flatter stand height and lighter construction of the front part, coupled with the now announced automatic locking of the ski stoppers and a second stage of the climbing aid, results in an even more uncompromising, touring-capable overall system.

There will be interchangeable pads for the pivot toe piece for use with WTR, DIN and also touring soles. Standard crampons can still be fitted.

It remains to be seen how the announced, self-developed pin toe piece will perform in practice. The original Dynafit Vertical part was a very satisfactory solution in terms of locking security and ease of entry. It also remains to be seen whether other Freetour versions of other bindings will be available alongside the P14 and P18.

The Pivot Freetour should be available from next season and can already be pre-ordered on the Cast homepage. PowderGuide is keeping its fingers crossed that this time they get a little bit closer to the egg-laying woolly pig of a freeride binding.

This article has been automatically translated by DeepL with subsequent editing. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors or if the translation has lost its meaning, please write an e-mail to the editors.

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