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Alpine Ski Bindings Last updated January 19, 2011

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alpine ski bindings Back to Top Edit

Shopping for alpine ski bindings can be a little like shopping for toothpaste at the grocery store; there's a huge array of offerings available, seemingly minimal differences between them, and lots of cryptic language to make you uncomfortable with any final decision.  

The basic truth behind all the reviews, price structures, and different designs is this: alpine ski bindings are designed to release when you want them to.  (Notice there is no mention of simply releasing when you fall.  There are plenty of situations where you are far better off falling and keeping your skis on your feet.  (Think: deep powder, skiing above cliff bands, or even just simple little hip-checks at the resort).  

Most commonly, alpine ski bindings have a fixed toe piece (i.e., the toe is drilled right into the ski and is not adjustable) and an adjustable heel (to adjust for different boot sizes). Rental bindings will commonly have an adjustable heel and an adjustable toe piece, to give greater flexibility.  (Note that the added flexibility of rental bindings usually comes at a cost; the toe piece typically has a fair amount of lateral "play" or flex, which is just no good for your skiing).    Another style of binding exists with a "swivel" heel (Look and Marker used to make these; Look appears to still be making them).  The advantage of a swivel heel is purported to be in it's added safety.  The disadvantage of a swivel-style heel is that they typically lack any adjustment besides forward pressure (see forward pressure below).  There were some binding manufacturers (Ess Var?) that allowed you to move the whole binding forward and back, to allow for fine-tuned positioning on your ski, but someone bought Ess-Var (Atomic?) and canned the idea.  

A typical alpine ski binding should have an up-down adjustment on toe to adjust for different types of ski boots.  Some bindings will allow enough up-down toe adjustment that you can use Alpine Touring (AT) boots with them, but manufacturers are often reluctant to advertise this fact because the rubber soles of the AT boots change the friction coefficient on the skid plate and no one really knows how to deal with that.  

The heel piece of a binding typically has a forward pressure adjustment as well.  Think of this as a micro-adjustment for the heel location, where the macro-adjustment is usually done with some other mechanism.  There is usually some mechanical means to determine the forward pressure setting and if you don't know what it is, you should ask a ski shop how adjust it properly.  

Some bindings come with a mounting plate.  This was derived from the "Derbyflex" days, when it was a big revolution in alpine ski racing to raise bindings higher off the snow (to prevent "booting out") and to allow the ski to flex more evenly.  These binding plates and binding combinations have made huge improvements in racing and carving, but they aren't necessary for a fat powder ski.

Adjusting bindings for the first time consists of at least:

  • Setting the DIN for the toe and the heel (old school was to set the heel 1-2 above the toe, but that may be different now)
  • Setting the up-down adjustment of the toe piece (you're suppose to be able to slip a piece of paper under your boot and the toe skid-plate when you're done)
  • Setting the forward pressure

You should ask yourself these questions when shopping for alpine ski bindings:

  • Does the DIN rating fit your kind of skiing?  (If you don't know the answer to this, you should probably go to your local brick-and-mortar ski shop and talk to a human).
  • Do the brakes fit over your skis?  (Since fat skis are the new rage, don't buy a racing binding who's brake width will not fit around your fat ski).
  • Are you racing or into carving?  Get a binding/ski combo with a riser plate.  
  • Are you skiing powder, crud, on resort?  Get a plain old pair of bindings without a plate with brakes that fit your fat skis.  
  • Are you skiing in the back country?  Get a pair of Alpine Touring bindings (AT bindings are a whole different story).  
  • Do you plan to ever sell your skis, or swap skis with a friend?  Get an adjustable heel (typically, "swivel" heels don't have much adjustment).  
  • Don't buy rental bindings, with an adjustable toe & heel, because they are very flex-prone.  

A note on DIN ratings:  get a binding that is a few DIN numbers higher than your preferred setting. That way you're not too close to the top end of your binding's DIN range. The closer you are to the max/min of a bindings range, the less confident you are in the consistency of the binding's release. For example, if you generally ski with a DIN at 10, aim for bindings that have a max DIN of 14.

Also, for those curious, DIN stands for Deutsches Institut für Normung, which translated means something like the German Institute for Standardization.  

Ski/binding systems also exist.  These "systems" could be broken into two catagories:

  • bindings that are an integral system to the ski
  • skis that come with plates and allow for any binding to be mounted to it

A ski manufacturer that sells bindings as well will often build a "system" of bindings and plates that only fit with each other.  Traditionally this is only done on race (or carving) skis.  Besides the obvious advantage to the manufacturer of selling both their products, they will advertise that their system is hyper-engineered for "top performance".  It is by no means universal that these systems are seen in World Cup ski racing, and these systems tend to be hyper-priced.  

Skis that come with plates that allow any binding to mount to it were originally intended for carving and racing, but they have filtered into the fat-ski and "off piste" skis as well.  These offer a two-fold advantage.  1) You can typically adjust the plate forward and back to fine-tune the position of your bindings on your skis, and 2) you drill your bindings into the plate, not the ski, which means you can replace your bindings without redrilling your skis.  

  • Last updated by:
  • hero snow
  • January 19, 2011