Fritschi Vipec review thread

I have ridden my second gen vipecs about ten days so far, three in the backcountry and seven at snowbird. I love these bindings, no issues so far, and less chattery than my old TLT speed radicals on the exact same skis and boots (Soul 7s and BD Primes). The plastic does not really inspire confidence, but I think that is just my own ignorance. I have appropriately released about a dozen times during torquing falls in deep snow, usually at the toe. Zero preleases on the downhill, unlike my old speed radicals which had a tendency to release if I hit an icy mogul at the wrong angle. The binding did release on me one time on the uphill when I made a really shitty kickturn and almost fell over, so it may have been an appropriate release, at least an understandable one. Over I have zero complaints and nothing to add on top of what has already been said.

On another note, does anyone know why the Vipecs are not din certified like the Beast and Kingpin yet? I am not an engineer, but it seems like the adjustable toe release and elasticity make the vipecs every bit as safe and modern as the two aforementioned bindings.

Got my Vipecs (2nd gen) recently to the ultimate redneck test: Dave Murray Downhill in icy conditions. They did great.
Two days of touring, no problems either.
Last week I got the toe pieces frozen after driving from rain into freezing conditions (skis on the roof rack, bindings protected with covers). I managed to get them moving quickly, by kicking the metallic parts gently and pressing carefully the plastic lever.

FWIW, vipec cannot be sold in italy because of litigations with dynafit and ATK related to 2 patents infringments (one on the toe one on the heel). On another note, also plum are no more on sale in italy because they do ot want to pay royalties to dynafit (for whatever reasons I do not know). To be honest, though, neither vipec nor plum had a significant market share in southern alps. ATK is growing fast, dyna is still the leader, trab starts to sell some

I just took mine out at Taos on Jan 1.
Conditions were cold and bumped out. Two falls with releases. I don't think my FKs would have released but hard to tell.
Getting in them in loose steep stuff was a bitch but I'm new to AT gear so, hopefully, it'll get easier.

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Originally Posted by alpin

Got my Vipecs (2nd gen) recently to the ultimate redneck test: Dave Murray Downhill in icy conditions. They did great.
Two days of touring, no problems either.
Last week I got the toe pieces frozen after driving from rain into freezing conditions (skis on the roof rack, bindings protected with covers). I managed to get them moving quickly, by kicking the metallic parts gently and pressing carefully the plastic lever.

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Just subjected them to Whistler Bowl flatlight on the admittedly small moguls trying to land on the backside of other moguls. Totally mistimed everything, compressed into a mogul frontside; folded my legs and onto my back and slid downhill on my back a few meters. No pre-release! Dynafits would have exploded. Followed by runs down Surprise, Cockalorum then over to Harmony to Sun Bowl then some more chopped up runs on the Blackcomb side. Got to say I'm skiing these things with much more confidence day after day.

New issue is that brakes aren't deploying the way I'd like. When I kick out of them in ski mode the brakes only half-deploy. Will lube them see if that's a maintenance issue.

Another note - solved coming out of the bindings in tour mode even when the walk lever was up by putting the lower profile colour toe clips on the toe lever

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Originally Posted by LeeLau

New issue is that brakes aren't deploying the way I'd like. When I kick out of them in ski mode the brakes only half-deploy. Will lube them see if that's a maintenance issue.

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Had that problem on mine but it was because the plastic on the brakes was dragging a bit on my top sheet and edge before they expanded all the way. Solved by shaving off a few mm's on the inside and rounding the hook a bit more so it wants to roll the edge of the ski easier.

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Originally Posted by LeeLau

Another note - solved coming out of the bindings in tour mode even when the walk lever was up by putting the lower profile colour toe clips on the toe lever

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What boots are you using this season, Lee? I was concerned about that too, but so far my Scarpa Maestrale RS seem to be okay.
Anyway, I am happy to see that you have positive thoughts about this binding.

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Originally Posted by alpin

What boots are you using this season, Lee? I was concerned about that too, but so far my Scarpa Maestrale RS seem to be okay.
Anyway, I am happy to see that you have positive thoughts about this binding.

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Vulcan, Cochise 120 and possibly Scarpa F1 evo

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Originally Posted by LeeLau

- No icing of heel. Visual inspection shows no way for ice to get into heel

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saw a vid on the earn your turns review showing the heel having quite a large gap at the back when in touring mode that snow was able to get into. seemed like the heel piece moved back while the adjustment screw stayed forward creating quite a big hole where snow could pack in, could especially see spring snow packing in there. have they changed this for the 2nd gen?

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Originally Posted by mickymikey

saw a vid on the earn your turns review showing the heel having quite a large gap at the back when in touring mode that snow was able to get into. seemed like the heel piece moved back while the adjustment screw stayed forward creating quite a big hole where snow could pack in, could especially see spring snow packing in there. have they changed this for the 2nd gen?

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Yup. There is now no gap at the heelpiece

How easy is it to switch from tour to ski mode just using your pole? I heard someone say its hard to pull the lever on the heel piece all the way up with your pole. Are people finding the heel risers easy to use with poles? Thinking about getting either these of Ions, would love to hear a head to head comparison from folks who have used both

Wilcox it's easy with a BD pole ie where there's a lip to pull or push against the heel lever.

I'd have to say Vipec and Ion ski just as well with Ion having the edge in getting in and out

LeeLau- what about inbounds skiing (yes, I know thats not what they are for)? Do you think the elasticity of the Vipec toe is a significant advantage over the Ion? I've always had old school dynafits or plums with volcanoes, never had the radical/ion type heel. How is the Ion for switching from tour to ski mode without taking skis off?

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Originally Posted by wilcox510

LeeLau- what about inbounds skiing (yes, I know thats not what they are for)? Do you think the elasticity of the Vipec toe is a significant advantage over the Ion? I've always had old school dynafits or plums with volcanoes, never had the radical/ion type heel. How is the Ion for switching from tour to ski mode without taking skis off?

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I don't have enough time on the Ion to comment. I've skied Kingpins, Beasts, Dynafits, Vipecs but only had 4 days on Ions. Accordingly my Ion impressions are worthless..

Thanks for all the info Lee, is super helpful.
how would you compare the vipecs to the beast 16s? I realise they are aimed at quite different markets but i feel like they are both trying to achieve a similar goal of trying to make a tech binding with more elasticity and more of an alpine binding experience and release.

im pretty seriously looking at one or the other for a new touring set up, do you think the beast 16 is overkill for an all purpose bc binding? i like the idea of having a tech binding i don't have to think twice about and which doesn't affect how i ski something due to the niggle in the back of my mind about prereleasing or the bindings breaking (my current bindings being plum guides). The vipecs look like they might be really good as well and have most of the benefits of the beasts but all the plastic and moving parts dont inspire confidence in me, this may be totally unfounded though.
I can get them for a similar price so thats not an issue and the weight isn't a huge priority, the beasts with the skis im looking at would weigh a similar amount to my current set up which i dont find too heavy, so the extra weight savings of the vipecs would just be a bonus, but not a huge priority.

Seems like you have had reasonable time on both, out of interest which would you go for if price and weight werent an issue?

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Originally Posted by mickymikey

an all purpose bc binding?

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Can be anything you like as long as the weight doesn't bother you.

Depends on how fit you are and how long your tours are.

Probably not the Beast. But if you choose Beast, will you have stiff enough, burly enough, boots to drive it?

@mickymikey personally i'd go for the beast, great daily driver, no serious flaws discovered. I did tour them on a 188 sidestash and although it was not a light setup i could easily do 5k feet. Big difference on hardpack or groomers inbounds.
I'd choose the Ions or Vipec if weight is a huge concern.

Don't know about long term durability for Vipec as I haven't the days on it yet. The Beast on the other hand is still pretty much good as new after quite a few days. For moderate tours ie 1500m vert or so - the Beasts are fine

Are the brakes compatible between last year and this year?

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Originally Posted by Summit

Are the brakes compatible between last year and this year?

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Should be, only the toe pice got overhauled:)

90mm Vipec breaks will fit to 95mm ski (Atomic Drifter)? I know that 100mm is better option, but I have good price for 90mm. I am asking because as far I know it is possible to use Dynafit Vertical 92mm with 100mm ski

I found the brakes to be on the tight side. I had to bend my 120mm brakes to clear Carbon Megawatts (120mm waist)

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Originally Posted by Roxtar

I found the brakes to be on the tight side. I had to bend my 120mm brakes to clear Carbon Megawatts (120mm waist)

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+1 I forward mounted my 120mm brake Vipecs by 1.5cm on some Amperages (141-115-123) and the brakes JUST clear.

108's fit my 112's just fine with a nudge from the dremel.

Skied them today at the loaf for a shakedown, firm base with 4-6" of blower. Didn't really notice them, which is how I like my bindings.

I have after a year of experimenting given up on the Vipec's and gone back to Dynafit. Last year getting in and out was a nightmare and occasionally the heel would release leading to telemark skiing.

This year I had the toe piece changed and hoped things would improve. Getting in was slightly easier. However, now I had repeated (say 20) releases out of the toe piece while Aki touring - some out the front and some out the side. The side releases were interesting as it showed that despite claims, the walk mode does not lock the the toe unit from sliding sideways. I thought this might be because the pins were not tight enough. The release happens on the same side all day.

I visited a good shop. They checked the binding and said the pins were fine. Instead they had seen this before and recommended cranking the din to 10 or 11 at least to combat the problem. I elected to go to a 10. They also said that in dismantling the Vipec on a previous occasion they had found here is not mechanism to lock the toe from sliding despite - so my experience was reasonable.

The next day while skiing I heard a clicking noise in my binding. I looked down to see that I could move my one foot from side to side in the binding (the binding was not grabbing the boot properly and there was play). I exited the binding and it was ok when I re-entered it (the issue on this day all happened on the other side - eliminating a specific boot problem). The later pre-released while skiing between trees when taking a sharp (and necessary) turn - but certainly not in a release range. I exited out of the front of the binding (rather than the side).

My boots are La Sportiva Spectres. I did not have the pre-release problem with the first edition of the toe unit.

This was the end of the Vipec experiment - I can not trust these while touring (one of the exits while touring happened while kick turning on a steep slope) or skiing.

I have gone back to Dynafit!