The buzz over the $430 Marker Duke has reached a crescendo. The just-released alpine touring binding from Marker promises to end the company’s long-lived and less-than-stellar reputation among hard-charging skiers on wide boards. (”Marker, Norwegian for pre- release,” as the saying goes.)
The Duke, with its DIN dialed up to 16 and wide stance perfect for today’s increasingly broad boards, targets the near-in backcountry skier who isn’t slogging for several hours and welcomes the extra burly-binding weight in exchange for a completely bomber clamping to the ski. These are the bindings that will end the reign of the Fritschi Freeride, the free- heeled alpine binding that greased the now- explosive growth in today’s downhill-skiing backcountry scene. Lou Dawson, head usher in today’s backcountry alpine-skiing movement, says in his redoubtable blog at wild- : “We’re stunned at the finish and function of the Duke binding. This is an excellent example of how design, engineering and materials science continue to converge and sometimes improve our lives.”
And Lou is a die-hard disciple of the light-is-right Dynafit camp, those tiny screw-like clamps that do little to foster confidence when banging out high-consequence jump turns on ice at 14,000 feet.
Find it: Get ‘em at , REI or .
