Low Tech Touring Insert

Carbon A-Sender

We all come to Backcountryskiingcanada.com for the same principle reason. We love to ski or ride in the backcountry.  Some of us started off in the right direction by listening to hordes of advice to purchase Dynafits and touring boots or a frame binding like a Duke while others learned the hard way by buying the fabled Alpine Trekker.  If you are lucky enough not to know what an alpine trekker is, it's basically a binding adapter that clicks into any alpine binding , then to your boot allowing you to walk around just like a frame touring binding. This obviously has some serious pro's going for it. You can use it with any ski , it's cheap, can be used with any boot and you have the reliable downhill binding for the way down. But all those pro's are outnumbered by the cons. The trekker was awkward to use, heavy , broke often and for these reasons earned it'self the nickname " the day wrekker".    

In the last two years, there have been two new takes on the classic trekker concept. Daymaker touring has taken the idea and resolved many of the issues of the trekker without changing much of the original concept. Kitten Factory skis have just released their version but have made major changes to the original concept. Their adapter is a tech toe carbon fiber insert that eliminates many moving parts and simplifies the whole idea. The one major holdback with the KF insert is that it was specifically designed for one binding and one binding only, the Rossignol FKS. This adds another issue with boot compatibility as rockered sole touring boots will not fit the FKS binding. With that being said if those limitations are not problematic for you then this could be a real option for slack country days or even longer touring outings. They have released their kick starter campaign and are looking for early adopter.  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1966374191/carbon-a-sender

Carbon A-sender