Slackcountry options

[Coopski]

Whilst I'm probably not in the market right now I thought I would start this thread as I'm sure it might interest some.
To be honest I would love to get into bc skiing (including multiday stuff) however the current constraints of life prevent me from doing so ie living 5 hours from snow, young family etc. However like myself I'm sure there are many who would like to have a play around the edges of the resorts ie DHG, paralyser, sig hill etc. Now AT gear is truely the bees knees for this but the reality is for such small adventures into the bc can one justify the cost when 90% plus of their skiing is inbounds.
So what are peoples thoughts for those who like to dabble outta bounds. Binding adaptors/alpine Trekkers and skins, snowshoes (not something I would want to carry on top of skis) or how effective would it be to have something like a marker duke/Barron or dynastar exclusive tram binding on an downhill ski/boot and skins. How do they perform as a majority resort binding (which they ain't) etc.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. Thought it might be fun to look at giving us folk options to have a play out back (and make it home :-)

[John Deere]

I have used Freerides in bounds on fat skis (and not holding back....drops, fast groomers etc etc) now for around 4 years with standard DH boots. Its not a problem unless your racing or something.

With Barons and Dukes (why most people would need to go past Barons to Dukes is beyond me..DIN12 is enough!!) it can only be better inbounds than with Freerides.

Trekkers truly do suck!!! Snowshoes for a skier negate part of the advantage of skiing over boarding in the BC.

To me the best 80/20 (or bigger) Resort/BC setup is a 90mm under foot ski with a set of Barons, if you go 50/50 go for freerides, if its 20/80, then consider a dynafit rig.

[Coopski]

Sweet. To be honest I think long term that's what I will probably look at. I've read good things about the barrons and to me it seems like the most logical way to allow me to explore around. I'm most likely to want to poke around the edges of the resorts (real side/slack country stuff) so for the mean time that's what I might to.

[BlueHue]

I've had basically had the same experience as JD with AT Freeride bindings on my downhill setup for the last few seasons with no problems. They handle just about anything I through at them (admittedly I'm a long way off being hucking stomping extreme gnarly steep skiing pro ski god who pushes their gear to the limit). I also use AT boots (Scarpa Denali TT's) as part of my setup both in and out of bounds with no problems, they perform almost as well as any downhill boot I've had and any loss in performance is more than compensated by the flexibility of using a touring gear set up on resort days. I'm loosing count of the number of in resort days I've skied on my downhill gear not long after fresh snow only to find myself staring beyond the boundary at some very nice looking face just a little beyond bootpacking reach wondering why the hell I left my touring gear at home... hence touring gear goes everywhere with me now!

You might want to eventually look at AT boots too although they do not come cheaply. Try downhill boots for a while but the more time you spend skinning the more pain downhill boots will give you. They can do it but its far from ideal.

One other thing, I don't know about Perisher but Thredbo has a few sidecountry options nearby that don't require any touring gear, just a willingness to do some tough traverses and a bit of bootpacking. These include Sig Hill, Stanleys (I've not done Stanleys though. just going off what others say) and some variations of the DHG run.

[SA]

Coopski, if you want to go Barons or Dukes make sure you have a good look at the locking/unlocking mechanism. The last time I had a good squizz at it, there was no way I'd choose them over the Freerides.

I still use DH boots; they really don't prevent you from doing anything, IMO.

[Coopski]

Thanks guys.

Just to confirm when you say freerides your talking about the fritschi freerides?

I've also read great things about them. How do you find the fit of the freerides with any boot. I believe some fit better than others?

Whilst were talking shop I know I'm interested and others will be..what skins do you rate? What works well, easy to use, stores away easily etc

Thanks again guys. It's always a great depth of knowledge in here...

[SA]

Freeride Plus is the one most of us have. There's an older one that is plain Freeride. There might be more recent ones, but I haven't looked.

I've got the G3 skins - they are pretty good. I am limited more by skinning technique than their grip.

Storage wise, most come with some kind of skin saver, like a mesh. I let one of mine blow away at Hotham once (d'oh), but nylon flyscreen works just as well and is a hell of a lot cheaper.

[SA]

Re: the fit, I believe that it's the toe height that's important. I'm not a ski tech, so I defer to those with the knowledge, eg. Paul.

btw - I wouldn't get too hung up with which type of AT gear, especially for occasional use. IMO, the difference between AT types (excl. Dynafit, which requires different boots) is less than the difference going from strictly DH gear to AT in the first place.

[Podlettte]

I've got Volkl Aura's with Fritchi freerides attached. I use them in resort with my alpine boots (Dalbello boots) and slack country (can't really call anything BH and I have done as back country IMO) I use either my downhill boots or AT boots. Which boots i use is dependent on what we've started the day doing ie in resort or slackcountry (SC).

The only reason I don't ski in my Scarpa AT boots (I bought them from Skijackski ) is I need new liners so they are more comfy, there's a couple of pressure points.

Skins - er... I use G3 I think, but would LOVE a set that have the tractor tread on them for no other reason than they look cool

I would highly recommend demoing the different bindings (paddy's or wilderness sports) before you buy to try out the AT mechanism that switches it from a locked binding to walk mode.

[John Deere]

I have some tractor print ones (naturally) they are BD ascentions.....I also have some G3's....cant really tell the diff in climbing ability IMO.

The are all much of a muchness I reckon and storage is pretty easy, just make sure they are dry.