Gear of the Week | Marker Duke PT 16

After receiving the Rustler 11 in 191 from Blizzard (thank you very much!), I knew that I wanted a decent binding. Previously I had an ATK Freeraider 14 on my powder skis, but I was never 100% satisfied with the power transmission, especially with the front two pins. I'm about 85 kg and also like to go faster sometimes!

After the binding package arrived, I quickly went to Fullmoons, my trusted mountain sports store and binding mechanic. Bruno fitted the bindings in his usual professional and quick manner and I was ready to test the hot iron. The very first feeling when I stepped into the binding gave me a sense of security. A loud CLACK and the boot sits firmly where it should be. Ok, let's go full throttle and see if the shoe delivers what it promises! I can only say: it does! The power transmission is like that of an alpine binding and the (subjectively) increased safety is exactly what I was looking for.

To be honest, I had no idea how I was supposed to go on a ski tour with this thing or how to remove the alpine binding head. But that didn't matter to me for the first few test days, there was powder and it was all downhill!

However, even the best powder days close to the lift are over at some point and then it's time to switch to downhill skiing. What can I say? It takes a bit of getting used to, but the system is actually really simple. You push the locking lever of the pin binding down, fold the alpine part forward, release the lock (the easiest way to do this is without gloves) and then you have a normal pin toe piece. I'm still not 100% convinced by the locking of the stopper and the climbing aid on the automatic heel. The system has worked perfectly so far, but it seems to me to be rather delicate and I'm not sure whether the climbing aid, for example, will stay intact in the long term, especially if you have to step on a track. Sure, you can take it out, but I'm sure I'll forget about it at some point...

gear of the week

presented by

However, I'll report back in due course. But what am I writing too much about climbing? The binding is there for descending. In combination with the Rustler, I would consider a freeride day with a maximum of 1,000 meters of ascent to be realistic (depending on the individual musk in your legs). But the bike is a heavyweight and shows its full performance on the descent. For me, it's a great symbiosis with the Rustler 11, but a disaster as a pure touring ski.

Don't get me wrong, I love my ATK Freeraider, but no longer on such a wide ski. It is used on skis around 10 cm under the binding and narrower.

So far, I have not noticed any poor handling characteristics with the binding and all concerns about mounting and removing the alpine jaws have not been confirmed. It can possibly be tedious when there is a lot of ice or sticky snow and it requires thorough cleaning of snow (also for the stopper lock), but so far I haven't had any problems. Similarly, I don't want to think about what happens if the alpine jaw falls out of the backpack and/or disappears in deep snow. One solution remains in any case: simply insert it into the pins, lock it in place and apply pressure to the heel. Unfortunately, you can't click it into the automatic heel lock, it's too far back.

I think you can tell that I've found my dream set-up for freeriding with short ascents. It brings back memories of good old Duket days and will certainly give me lots of new pleasure. Here's the direct link to the Duke and Marker.