Salomon Guardian 16 Small Alpine Touring Bindings 2013

Comments about Salomon Guardian 16 Small Alpine Touring Bindings 2013:

Most alpine bindings have seen little changes, Rossi and Look brought back the turntable heel, Salomon has kept the Driver Toe since it's first inception years and years ago. But the needs of an AT binding have changed drastically even the Duke has seen an update since it came out some 5 or 6 seasons ago now. Salomon took their time with this one, allowing some of the dust to settle and rather than rush to the market to play catch up they looked at the needs still not being addressed. With the Guardian they built a binding that will put them back in the game. Things that stand out to me that make this a home run is the low stack height and wide platform. Compared to touring bindings of yesteryear the lower, wider is less susceptible to torsional flex meaning I can be confident in where I point my skis. It isn't light but it's construction will not be something you will need to second guess, another point in the confidence department. Although it can be a bit tough to get used to at first the transition between ski and walk mode doesn't require getting out of the binding. Finally the Guardian was built to allow the ski to flex. The last thing you want when mounting a binding to your new ski is to take away the natural flex of the ski. The locking mechanism on the Guardian's heel floats withing the track to minimize the flat spot created by mounting such a long binding. The only negative I found these to have is the lack of a zero degree touring height. If the climbing bar isn't used the heel locks in place. When crossing the flats I want something that doesn't put me on my toes as much. Its manageable at the lowest setting but for a long day of touring it may save some energy. Last words of advice if you can fit the smaller size do it. you'll reduce the area of the ski affected by the binding and will shave a bit of weight.

Comments about Salomon Guardian 16 Small Alpine Touring Bindings 2013:

I'm impressed with this binding. It is comparable to the Marker Duke and Salomon's first attempt at a binding that is as burly as any Alpine binding but can also free the heel for touring. A big positive is it has Salomon reliability, which is legendary - I have a great deal of confidence in the reliability. Second, it's lower profile than the Marker version so you're closer to the ski which is nice. Finally, you can free the heel in more easily in comparison to the Duke's. You don't need to take the ski off in order to release the heel, you can simply press a release with your ski pole and voila, the heel is free. I think this is somewhat useful but in reality, in most cases you need to take off your ski to put on your skins anyway. I should note this binding has 3 settings as well, a high, medium and low for various pitches. Overall this is a slight improvement on what Marker has been doing for a few years now. Nice work.

Comments about Salomon Guardian 16 Small Alpine Touring Bindings 2013:

This binding the next contender to the High Din, sidecountry binding market that Marker has ruled for the past 5 years. The all metal construction of this binding seemed very sturdy up close, and the strength of the click when swapping from Tour to Ski mode is very reassuring. The only reason this binding does deserve 4 stars is the smoothness of touring is still not on par with tech bindings. I realize they are for different uses but it is still a consideration. They seemed to have a relatively low stack height than Fritschis or Dukes, making the sking experience more enjoyable with a more responsive ski.