The BEST TOURING BINDING for FREESKIERS? (Review)
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- #skitouring #cast #binding
Touring bindings have evolved a great deal over the past decades. However, for freeskiing, there still seems to be no binding that's 100% reliable for skiers who like to charge hard and send it. Can the Cast Freetour solve this problem?
This is my review of the Cast Freetour which I've been using for over a year now. We'll discuss the pros and cons and hopefully this video will help you to figure out whether this binding is a good fit (no pun intended) for you.
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⏱ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:16 Cast Freetour explained
1:38 Why Freetour
2:00 Who is it for?
2:43 Good for travel
3:11 Who is it NOT for?
3:25 Price
4:08 Upgrade Kit
4:29 Mounting
4:49 Weight
5:30 Comparison Freetour vs Shift
6:54 DIN settings
7:08 Summary Pros and Cons
7:24 Which Look bindings can be converted?
7:31 Which ski boots can be used?
7:55 Boot conversion
8:38 Outro
So Cast Touring saw the video and gave me the locations of their partners who do boot conversions outside the US.
Here they are:
Pjäxgaraget - Karolinervägen 101, 837 71 Duved, Sweden
Sole Boot Lab - 14 Chemin des Pouvolles, 74400 Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France
Ski Connexions - #110-4341 Village Lane, Whistler BC V8E 1M9
I still got my 2010/11 K2 darksides (188cm-156-128-144) with Marker Dukes. Heavy set, but so effortless to ski. They can go anywhere, even groomed slopes and moguls are fun. The one thing I really like is the bindings, Dukes are just so easy to use (but heavy) when on skin-days. This is my one ski quiver. I've used these from finnish Lapland (Ylläs, Pyhä etc.) to the Alps (Iscghl, Kappl, St.Moritz etc.). Never failed to amaze me.
Yeah, I used to ski Dukes all the time when I was a ski bum in Whistler and they were great. However, if you put too many days on them, they'll noodle out a bit laterally, which makes it harder to get your ski on edge. So better to use other bindings on non touring days if you can.
@@TheSlipperySlope You need to tighten the front sideflap-screws, it happened to me aswell.
I use these, love them. Unless you do some seriously long tours this is a great option.
Awesome review. How would you compare this to the marker duke pt 16? The duke pt toepiece can stay on while touring…benefit?
I've been considering getting a CAST binding, but the high weight has been holding me back. Instead, I use a Fritschi Tecton as my "all-purpose-binding". Btw, very well done video!
Good point on the travel advantage. Did not think about that!
Yeah, the bigger problem is getting alpine boots with pin inserts 🙈
i have cast set up on my 4frnt ravens and they are by far the best touring set up ive ever had. most reliable up and downhill. simple and built to last. i bet a pair of looks with a cast setup would outlive 3-4 pairs of shifts.
I used shifts on my previous setup and switched to casts. The shift often iced up and felt awful to ski due to the toe height adjustment having no steps allowing it to change as I skied. With casts the transition is a slight bit more tedious, but with a routine it's not so bad. Skiing a pivot feels much better than the shift, especially in resort.
Also theres a trick for the cast brake lock which is just twisting the heel piece to the side. Saves fingers and a lot of time. You can engage the brake lock with your boot when you're starting uphill the same way as a shift.
How many days do have on them, do you feel they've held up well? I saw a comment below where someone said the toepiece fell off once during a release. I'm wondering how durable that locking mechanism is before I commit to buying the conversion; also could be he didn't hammer it in to make sure it was fully locked.
I just got my Cast setup.
One thing they did mention is the cast is prone to icing up. So that multi tool may be necessary to bang it clean again.
Just mounted mine. I’m very excited to use them this season
I'm still riding my Dynafit Beast 14 and in my opinion it's almost perfect for wild freeriding. Salomon shift,.... to much plastic and the touring heel s..ks . Cast.. yep really god binding, if you don't forget things at your basecamp. To many things to change , to carry, to setup and it's more than 1KG binging !! yep, now , u can't find DB14 on a shop anymore but instead of Cast Pivot I will always go with a Marker Kingpin13.
Those 7 sec. are on the table, at the sun with a god beer, but if you catch a stormy day , 7 sec. will be the swearing until you take the ice down from the setup.
The problem with the breaks at the cast system could be fixed by lighten the screws? I have the same problem on one ski and want to fix this.
Tip: when you put your downhill toes back on dont just bang them on like he did. You have to open the black lever then slide it on. Just slamming it will wear out the peice that locks the binding to your ski when you go down hill. If you look on the bottom there is a small metal peice that moves with the black button and if that wears down like what happened to me your binding can just rip out if you edge leaning forward. Dont bang ur expensive ski stuff
If you need the last bit of downhill performance, yes absolutely. If you don‘t… one of the Fritschis (Tecton or Vipec, forgot the exact names, but won‘t look it up) or the good old Dynafit Rotation will do perfectly
@@Blastoplastify got one… found out my boots are too soft
@@morphyonwhich boots or what flex you mean?
Good review, thank you a lot for the details! I also think the pivot is the best binding for freeriding. Having shit for about 3 seasons of skiing/touring in Siberia I really upset of the drawbacks you listed in video. But what do you think about marker duke?
Hello! in this video you talked about the pivot look and the atomic shifts, but I, like many others, would like to know what you think about the marker Duke PT.... could they be a fair compromise?
Is there a problem with loosing the toe piece if you crash and it slides off the toe plate? Is there any type of lock preventing it from getting hit off during a crash, other then when it clicks in?
Yeah it locks into place, have to press a button to remove them
So, is the LOOK Pivot binding good for someone that does mainly trail riding with some powder here & there? Or, would I be better off sticking to the LOOK non-Pivot bindings?
Pls i really need an anweser for this
Look Pivot 15 with 115mm or 130mm on the Bent Chetler 120?
PLEASE
Get the 115 for the Bents. If needed you can bend them out a little.
Not sure if a Shift is really the best binding for comparison... Just spec-wise the B.A.M. Pindung, Marker Duke PT and maybe Dynafit's Beast 16 are more meant to do the same "thing" as the CAST.
Does it work with the pivot 2.0?
How do the bindings feel on the downhill compared to just the regular Look Pivot with no CAST system? 200g per ski seems like it could be a lot, but maybe not. Also wondering if that extra plate affects the feeling of flex underfoot or adds any minor dampness to the ride. Thanks for the review!
Did you end up buying and finding out??
I do big jumps and drops and i love me a lot of butter 360s and hard butter, is there any way the front piece will come undone after something like this?
I don’t think so because it slides in forwards, meaning your boot will always keep it in place.
Maybe if you crash and didn’t attach it properly before (because of ice let’s say). But I still doubt it. Never happened to me and I crash a lot 😉
What goggles are you using in the thumbnail?
SOLE boot lab in Chamonix does the cast toe conversion but it’s not as pretty as the boys in Idaho can do. The CAST system has its place but it’s heavy. I prefer it over the shift as well. I took it to Chamonix for my first time in Cham, this year I’ll be bringing my ATK freeraider dedicated touring setups instead. The cast system is more suited in my experience for places like Jackson Hole where you’re accessing side country with the possibility of some short tours. A full day touring in a cast setup just doesn’t sound ideal. Especially with a non articulating cuff boot.
Yeah, Chamonix isn’t the ideal spot to use the Cast unless you just do hot laps off the Midi. Touring long distances at high elevations just doesn’t make sense with that much weight.
If I spent a whole season there, I’d probably get the Dynafit Rotation. ATK looks solid as well, but tbh I don’t have any experience with either, so… 😅
Nice presentation! But why not use the Fritschi Tecton 13 as hybrid all in-one binding setup (one more count!🤣)??
Because the heel piece doesn’t pivot.
@@GlobalCuts Yes but it still has vertical release in the heel similar to an alpine heel binding.
I’ve been having issues with the Cast climbing aids bending and not staying up while I’m using them, has this been happening to you? And if so, any solutions?
Find a solution?
If you go touring from lift end to the top … yes … good option… when you want to go hole valley to the top … no way I would use 1000g binding … and I doing it only to ski down …. Using Dynafit rotation 14 …. No complains.
That’s the best commercial of The shift binding I’ve seen so far! 😅
Und die Pinbindung hält beim Aufstieg? Letztlich ist das Teil nur reingeschoben.
instant suscribe!
Cast is the absolute best. Live about 20 min from the “factory”
Would love to hear your opinion on the Duke PT16's. Ive managed to break looks in so many different ways that I had to find something with.. "more bulk" to it and I found that the PT 16 having metal connections for all the moving parts made them very relaible and durable with a larger surface area between mounting screws so youre less likley to tear out a heel or toe piece in a bad fall. I also do like that the toe piece can stay on my binding while I tour because I am too lazy to put them in my pack.
+1. I got PT12's about a month ago and I am satisfied so far. They are not for SkiMo racing by any means but feel very solid and definitely give me better peace of mind then Radical Ft's on my lighter skis, that prereleased on me few times in the resort due to the ice packing into a boot' pin holes.
It can not stay there - you will notice when skinning proper terrain😅
I’ve been skiing pivots for the last 8-9 years. I still ski the original p18 I bought at that time and have put over 500 days on it with no issues. In that time I’ve broken countless skis but every pair of pivots I own have been bulletproof. I’ve heard awful things about the PT16 from countless individuals and have never tried them. I’ve only ever had issues with marker and continue to see people have issues. This is my first year skiing cast and I’m a bit nervous but so far I’ve had no issues chafing hard back in bounds or skiing larger lines in the back country.
@@phillipeverkin5672 understandable, I think marker went throught a solid patch of bad engineering and thus earned a bad wrap for a while but theyve since changed pivot points and other smaller tweaks that have helped. Ive never walked out when I didnt want to and always release when needed. I do think I hit a certain niche where i just push pivots too far and I need that added material that markers have. For reference my dins have been on 16 or higher since my senior year of high school and ive managed to break pivots in ways i never knew was possible, even ripping the outer rotating ring in the heel completly off the base plate at one point.
@@Josh.gold_ You might have forward pressure setting issues. The Pivot bindings do not have a tight feeling when the forward pressure is set correctly in order for the bindings to work correctly. I can't imagine blowing up a pair of pivots and Ive been skiing for fifty years. At least you found a solution to your problem.
But why don+t you use MARKER F12 TOUR EPF instead?
ATK FR14 is my go to binding with tecnica zero g tour pro boots! Amazing!
This.
Since setting up FR14, I had never looked into anything heavier that ATK "free touring" bindings (had a bit of an adultery with Marker Alpinist). I won't claim I'm a supercharger, but I did my fair share of skinning, and I will never voluntarily lug this kind of weight on my feet, when ATK deliver downhill at
Disappointing they do not recommend descending on the tech toe . Would be nice to save on the weight on days with more uphill than down.
does somebody know were the best snow (powder) there is now in austria
there is non
Utah
Ok maybe this is nuts but if you like the shift toe piece. Cant you use the shift toe piece and the look rear piece. Clearly i know nothing
To ski down? No. The tech toes are for up hill only.
Maybe Blacksheep Sports in Munich
You should upload skiing videos weekly if you can! Your videos are so well produced and you rip on skis
Thanks! Definitely a lot more content in the pipes for this winter and I’ll try to post more regularly. Many of the videos are very work intensive, so I’m focusing on quality over quantity. There’s also a bunch of summer content from Canada to come which I didn’t get around to edit yet.
Thanks for watching! ☺️⛷️🍻
Hey, great video, i was torn when i got my shifts last year, but now that you put all the facts in 1 video, i might have to switch lol
Also, I'll be in Austria this winter and hope to go skiing. Do you have any recommendations for hills in and around the country?
It depends what you’re after and where the snow is best. If you get the Tirol SnowCard you can ski like 90 resorts in Tyrol. Hochfügen can be fun for pow, Ischgl for Après 😉
Well if Daron Rahlves trusts Shift bindings, you can too. Trust Daron!
Nice snowboards
Marker Baron. A little bit more weight but very stiff for hard riding, no additional parts in your backpack, useable with every alpine boot. No mouting on top of the hill with cold fingers ...
Yeah but those are wayyy heavy especially if you’re planning on skiing a heavier free-ride ski and they add ride height
They are way heavier than CAST, ruin the flex of the ski, don’t tour nearly as smoothly as a pin binding and add a huge amount of weight to your foot to lift each time. With today’s bindings, there is zero reason to even consider a frame binding. Having worked on both, this is also going to last longer in the long run and be more serviceable.
Dear sir, 2012 called and it wants your super shitty take back.
@@ruffrydazz2032 lmao coming from the dude who’s defending frame bindings in 2022
They’re frame … takes all the best flex qualities of your ski out and makes you sit higher on the ski. I had frames and now ride the Cast Freetour and damn. They’re the best riding bindings I’ve ever had
Ur funny bro! Good video!
Front side binding, not backside. Shift isnt perfect, but it is the standard for backcountry tours and Cast isnt close
dude, if Nicolai Schirmer still bombs down on tech bindings, then I am probably fine with Kingpins
Did he say naughty or gnarly?
I’d rather buy the atomic shift bindings no?
Our US Wired store sells outdoor ski sports equipment with guaranteed quality and ready for first time delivery.
#downhillskiingshop
just use the marker duke pt
I have the castsystem but i dont trust it anymore. I had a fall where my ski released, but not only that - also the toepiece fell right off!!
U can imagine how fucked you are in deep pow trying to find a fuckin toepiece!
is there any lock to keep the toe piece on? other than the click when you first slide it on? because thats my biggest fear is loosing a toe piece in deep snow.
@@zacharyyoung6118 I'm surprised they can fall off because your boot is the thing keeping the toe piece there but I guess if you fell, ski released, then the toe piece took a knock in the right way the toe piece could come off.
Do it in the cold with snow…
It is not as bad as you would think! Once you knock the ice off the plate, i carry a brush in my pack, the bindings slip right in!
for this weight, you have Duke PT
"Who has the better après" says the austrian guy while drinking a beer on a RUclips video.
I'm Bavarian ;)
Uooops!! My fault 🙇🏻♂️. U guys know how to après-ski 🙈😉.
may have been nice until atk came arround with their freeraider
They look awesome in concept but icing and fluff and weight makes it really niche. Tech bindings are far superior imo.
imperial put us on the moon.
Actually, the computer used metric internally. It just displayed it in imperial so you guys wouldn’t fuck up 😉
@@TheSlipperySlope who built the computer? 🤯
Pjäxgaraget in Åre, Sweden do boot converting to pin.
Hey @TheSlipperySlope love the content! Would love to send you a pair of our skis setup to tour with if you want to check them out! :)