With alpine touring gear, exercise your legal right to freedom
Backcountry skiing is as much about getting to something as it is getting away from something. Enticing us forward are untrammeled lines, huts, peaks, powder, corn, quiet, and a chance to dip our tips into the unknown. There’s a freedom we seek in the mountains, an escape from controlled environments, attorneys, crowds, rules, and closed gates. It’s a type of skiing that should always remain legal, a beacon of openness in a world increasingly bent on breaking everything down to size, in either megabytes or private property. We should be free to ski the mountains of our choosing, and alpine touring gear is the dominant—and most efficient—tool to make that happen. To help you get a grip on the latest gear, we assembled the best of the new boots, bindings, and skis into eight packages that illustrate the spectrum alpine touring gear.
Black Diamond Verdict Simply put, the Verdict ($599, 128-98-116) is the most powerful ski for the freeride crowd. Not limited to O.B., the Verdict can drive through the most challenging snow and hold steadfastly to ice. Of special note is the skin-friendly tail design, a rarity on bigger skis.
Scarpa Tornado You don’t pound a railroad spike with a tack hammer and if you’re going to let a ski like the Verdict run then you need a boot like Scarpa’s new Tornado ($629). A boot that bridges alpine and backcountry worlds, the Tornado comes with four micro-adjust buckles, a thermo-formable liner, interchangeable DIN and alpine touring soles, and, swappable tongues.
Fritschi Freeride Fritshi Freeride ($425 with brakes) sales have soared since it was released, making it one of the most popular AT bindings in North America. Several years in service, and based on the time-tested Fritshi, the Freeride, owning a 4-12 DIN, is a rock-solid connection between a demanding skier and ski. |
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