Day maker touring bindings

Anybody seen these? Look like they could be a decent way to get mountaineering boots onto ski's. 

The guy who taught me to ice climb, 25+ years ago had Silveretta bindings. It was not a big deal to switch from skinning up the trail to putting on his Footfangs and climbing ice. For that, it’s a pretty good system. Beats snowshoes for speed and you don’t have to carry extra boots.

But, it’s still a soft leather boot. Gotta keep your expectations realistic on the way down.

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:

The guy who taught me to ice climb, 25+ years ago had Silveretta bindings. 

Can't remember the model of silvertta's but I know they are prized by various top Alpinists, was wondering if these might be able to offer an alternative. 

I would get something like that if I still ice climbed. I “quit” for a few reasons but wouldn’t be surprised if i sharpened my picks again.

It was always the dilemma. Climb in ski or tele boots, seems utterly pointless unless it’s very low angle. Put the boots (or fruit boots) in a pack and carry more stuff. A few hand warmers in the boots keeps them a little warmer but it still means changing footwear in the winter in the mountains.

Another that I’ve seen floated is to use a split board and mountaineering boots. That might work if you have the snowboard skills to pull it off.

But to have a long skin, followed by some real deal WI5 climbing, and a ripping descent back, all in the same boots. Sounds amazing but i don’t know if that exists.

These just look like more complicated Alpine Trekkers. https://www.rei.com/product/715585/backcountry-access-alpine-trekker-ski-touring-adapters

I gave their website a quick once over, it looks like these will work on the uphill, but you can't put a mountaineering boot into an alpine ski binding on the way down. 

I used Ramer bindings on my ice boots for flat approaches. There is a pair on ebay.

I cannot express enough hate for those things (and alpine trekkers). The first problem is you have both a set of alpine bindings and the day makers, meaning your setup is massively heavy. 

Second is how high you sit off the ski, which is only slightly annoying in ski boots but in mountaineering boots it would be seriously uncomfortable to sidehill in anything but soft conditions.

And the main issue is that there's no way to ski down in mountaineering boots with that setup, alpine ski bindings won't accept a mountaineering boot and the day makers have no way to lock down the heel. 

There is a reason skiers have long referred to those adapters as alpine day wreckers and day breakers, they suck, avoid them. Rant over.

If it weren't for my total lack of machining skills combined with my lack of mountaineering ability for any serious objectives, I'd be able to overcome my total lack of motivation to build a plate binding that has a toe and heel bails for a mountaineering boot, and then dynafit toe and heel fittings to step into a normal touring setup. Crank your DIN way down and hope for the best :shrug:

I'm sure stepping into the toe piece would be a disaster (it's already hit or miss in my skimo boots) and you'd also have to figure out a way to have sufficient clearance front/rear to ensure the heel piece could rotate to release.

I was browsing the Nordic Touring options just out of curiosity. They have pretty decent setups like this https://www.backcountry.com/alpina-alaska-xp-ski-boot

So what is preventing the companies from making a mountaineering boot, not a ski boot, that has tech inserts.

They’d ski like a noodle but would still be a hell of a lot easier for alpine skiers to get down with as long as they knew the limitations.

Seems like a totally useful niche product that doesn’t exist.

there is also the option of folks using a crampon bail modified to fit a tech toe piece. 

Doug S wrote:

Missed this earlier. Seems simple enough. Does it work?

There are some great used deals on these style of touring skis.

I really enjoy nerding with these possibilities. Very early in my climbing journey a friend invited me to RMNP, maybe Loch Vale. He said we’d ski in. I was 18 or so and had no idea what he meant. I showed up with my classic style xc skis, no edge and was carrying the boots I borrowed from him in my backpack.

You can imagine how well all of that worked out. I carried those skis most of the way.

That was a type 2 kind of thing.

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:

I was browsing the Nordic Touring options just out of curiosity. They have pretty decent setups like this https://www.backcountry.com/alpina-alaska-xp-ski-boot

So what is preventing the companies from making a mountaineering boot, not a ski boot, that has tech inserts.

They’d ski like a noodle but would still be a hell of a lot easier for alpine skiers to get down with as long as they knew the limitations.

Seems like a totally useful niche product that doesn’t exist.

I've seen it done as a frankenboot. I want to say cold thistle had a post about it, but I can't find it now.

Sportiva sold/sells these: https://www.lasportivausa.com/olympus-mons-cube.html

Would be rad if they did that in more boots.

There is also this, available in 3 pin, NNN BC and standard NNN. At the price and weight, potentially worth trying.
Adapter

Yeah, it works pretty well for what it’s intended. If you go with this rig you may as well get metal edge touring skis because you’re not going to do anything crazy downhill. Those are frame style bindings and they work great on a crampon compatible boots. There’s two major positives, one is you can get around on moderate terrain really fast and two is that you can pop right off your skis and into your crampons without faffing around with different boots. 

Some old school Ramer bindings on eBay right now.

I was watching them, and the seller offered to sell them to me for $40.

That would be way better than the Day Makers.  

Kai Larson wrote:

Some old school Ramer bindings on eBay right now.

I was watching them, and the seller offered to sell them to me for $40.

That would be way better than the Day Makers.  

Buy 'em.  I've used them for years (even teled from Camp Muir on them back in the day).  Since I have a tele background, I didn't install the heel pieces.  The Rottefellas are probably better, but Ramers are functional.

Skibo wrote:

Buy 'em.  I've used them for years (even teled from Camp Muir on them back in the day).  Since I have a tele background, I didn't install the heel pieces.  The Rottefellas are probably better, but Ramers are functional.

I don't need them for myself.  I've got some carbon Silvrettas and some Salewas.  

If the OP or anyone else on this thread needs good transportation bindings, just offer the seller $40 and they're yours.  

Doug, what kind of binding is that?

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

Doug, what kind of binding is that?

Fritschi Eagles. If you’re considering this or something similar message me and I’ll give you more details on what I learned, you’re likely going to have to mount them yourself 

yes those shop techs are terrified of lawsuits...