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Preorder time: Stoked to offer 20 pairs of Heel Up! Risers (got a better name?) at a discount for those wanting to try this Beta production run. link
Background: the Marker Alpinist is a lightweight, reliable binding that Blister Gear, and Gear Lab, consistently have found to ski better than others in this category (incl ATK)….with one real flaw: the heel riser isn’t tall enough.
Solution: With Collin’s machining expertise, last year I designed a retrofittable riser that has 4 advantages over the stock riser:
Useful ‘medium’ and ‘high’ positions, at 42.5 and 55 mm pin delta respectively. Refer to https://skimo.co/binding-riser-heights to compare these heights to other bindings. As my proto testing team skied protos last year, I zeroed in on the right ‘medium’ height that is enough for a high ROM boot on moderately steep skin tracks:
Note that our Medium setting ended up being equal to the tallest setting of the stock riser. And our tall setting (with heel rotated) is great IME for skinning Wasatch, Sierras, BC etc:
Back in the day, big (size 29.0) boots with poor ROM benefitted from a 60+ mm pin delta, but with decent ROM and technique 55 mm works great on the notoriously steep skin tracks out there. And it remains useful for smaller feet (24.0 is the smallest tester so far). Note the large flat area that creates a VERY solid interface with boot sole. The stock riser doesn’t interface well with worn, rounded boot soles, and can force the heel piece backward when you weight the ski forcefully on skin track. Our riser solves this issue completely IME.
As an added bonus, the pole insertion hole is deeper, and farther from the pivot point, which makes rotating heel piece easier so you don’t have to use your hands:
The beta production run (which I’m confident will be reliable based on all my use last year) will be black anodized & more durable at the spring interface.
Note: adds only 9 g per riser, 6061-T6 aluminum. Designed & Mfgered in USA.
Background: the Marker Alpinist is a lightweight, reliable binding that Blister Gear, and Gear Lab, consistently have found to ski better than others in this category (incl ATK)….with one real flaw: the heel riser isn’t tall enough.
Solution: With Collin’s machining expertise, last year I designed a retrofittable riser that has 4 advantages over the stock riser:
Useful ‘medium’ and ‘high’ positions, at 42.5 and 55 mm pin delta respectively. Refer to https://skimo.co/binding-riser-heights to compare these heights to other bindings. As my proto testing team skied protos last year, I zeroed in on the right ‘medium’ height that is enough for a high ROM boot on moderately steep skin tracks:
Note that our Medium setting ended up being equal to the tallest setting of the stock riser. And our tall setting (with heel rotated) is great IME for skinning Wasatch, Sierras, BC etc:
Back in the day, big (size 29.0) boots with poor ROM benefitted from a 60+ mm pin delta, but with decent ROM and technique 55 mm works great on the notoriously steep skin tracks out there. And it remains useful for smaller feet (24.0 is the smallest tester so far). Note the large flat area that creates a VERY solid interface with boot sole. The stock riser doesn’t interface well with worn, rounded boot soles, and can force the heel piece backward when you weight the ski forcefully on skin track. Our riser solves this issue completely IME.
As an added bonus, the pole insertion hole is deeper, and farther from the pivot point, which makes rotating heel piece easier so you don’t have to use your hands:
The beta production run (which I’m confident will be reliable based on all my use last year) will be black anodized & more durable at the spring interface.
Note: adds only 9 g per riser, 6061-T6 aluminum. Designed & Mfgered in USA.
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