Comments on: 2006 04 08 - Les Diablerets

By: ise

ise — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:25:26 +0000

I’ve added another page here :

http://snowslider.net/reviews/fritschi-diamir-freeride-plus/

By: Marcus

Marcus — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 07:30:16 +0000

Thanks guys! That is exactly the kind of info I need. I guess I will just have to decide if I will spend the most of my time going uphill or downhill!

By: ise

ise — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 22:33:43 +0000

Sounds right, I’m just not going to be leaping off cliffs personally, but I’m a fairly heavy and reasonably aggressive skier on a good day and I’m not concerned about the binding being robust enough.

My biggest single piece of feedback from 10 days or so use is the lack of suspension/damping/shock-absorber/flexes that modern alpine bindings have. Without them the feedback from the ski/binding at speed on an icy rough piste is brutal and will be very tiring for many people.

By: David George

David George — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:32:37 +0000

Hi Marcus,

Regarding cliff hucks I can only relay what the Diamir people say and that is if you want to do that kind of skiing you should use tough alpine bindings (for one thing they are cheaper to replace). That said I have the Diamir Titanal II and they have withstood 3 meter drops no problem so 5 meters for a much more solid binding doesn’t sound like much. However I know serious freeriders who have broken the toe-pieces clean off the old Freeride binding so the final answer is that you can overstress any piece of kit.

I think the Freeride Plus is the strongest ski touring binding you can buy at the moment although Naxo have some new bindings for next season. I didn’t get to speak to them at the ISPO and I’m not exactly popular with them after reporting their reliability problems with the Nx01.

By: Marcus

Marcus — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 15:51:02 +0000

Thanks! I have been checking all over the net for info bu, as you say, there really isn’t a lot. Well, when I say tough skiing I didn’t means any pro freeriding 40 foot cliffs would they cope with a 15 footer? I was thinking about getting normal binding and a pair of alpine trekkers but it seems like the general feeling is that - even though the trekkers work as they should - it is better to buy a pair of rando bindings. …so I am pretty undecided at they moment but thanks for your help!

By: ise

ise — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 08:30:50 +0000

It’s a subjective thing, they take my skiing but whether that can be termed “tough skiing” is hard to say. I’ve skied with them for about 10 days and been very happy with them. As I said above there’s not the dampening you get with many downhill bindings which is the biggest negative I’d report. The most notable feature of using them is the reduction of weight in the ski/binding package.

There were some comments at PisteHors (here) but as a new product there’s a shortage of long term reviews so far. I’ll certainly update the blog as I use them next season. Note, I’m am referring to the Fritschi Diamir Freeride Plus not the older Fritschi Diamir Freeride.

By: Marcus

Marcus — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 06:54:03 +0000

A quick question - I am looking into buying the new Diamir Freeride Plus. I would most likely use them for occasional day touring to get to the powder more than multi-day randos. I am therefore interested in if they are sturdy enough to be used as an alpine binding most of the time - can they take pretty tough skiing and drops? Could you please elaborate a bit on the binding? Thanks a lot!