RIP Line Prophet 100's, I hardly knew ye.

By regand1426950 Ranked #550 - Alpine Touring Bindings January 28, 2010

Disclaimer: These are my first and only pair of AT bindings so I am compairing them to the mediocre quality alpine bindings I had on before.

When I first got my Prophet 100s earlier this season I was overjoyed. They were everything I hoped for and more. The were fast, responsive, all mountain machines, and the float, good god the float! My only complaint was that it was sometimes a long hike back to the car after a snowkiting session and I wanted to make that hike more comfortable and maybe explore the backcountry a little too. That's where the Fritschi Diamir Freeride Plus bindings come in.

I just got my lovely prophets back from the shop today where they switched out my Look PX 12's for the Fritschis. After eagerly driving up to my local ski resort I slapped them on and was off.

They sucked the ever loving life out of my prophets. They were utterly unresponsive and I was reminded of the 210cm monsters I used to ski 10 years ago. I hoped I'd never have that feeling again but there I was.

I had been so stoked to find these bindings and hear that they were engineered with alpine performance in mind. I knew that these were AT binding and expected a small drop in performance, but not this. The claim that these can hold there own with even the most mediocre alpine binding is, at best a cruel joke and at worst, an outright deception. I was so depressed that I had to stop skiing after an hour and a half and go home.

I have three theories as to why these perform so dismally, perhaps someone with more knowledge of ski performance can shed some light on which one may be the culprit:

1) They place the boots so much higher above the ski than conventional bindings.
2) They are heavier than a typical downhill binding.
3) Their weight distribution is such that it puts substantial weight a good distance behind the heel (my boots measure at 305mm so they were slightly too large for the small range and right in the middle of the medium range).
4) ?????

I have an open mind and will give these bindings several more shots. Perhaps I will become used to the feeling or gradually forget that my Prophets have become an empty husk of what they once were. Time will tell. Below is a summary of my feelings:

Pros:
- Very nice AT feature with climbing adjustments.
- The ability to quickly switch to climbing/hiking mode with the flip of a switch.
- The functional parts of the binding seem quite stout and durable (the faceplate covers seem very flimsy but, as far as I can tell, these are purely aesthetic).

Cons:
- 0 degree ramp angle really sucks the life out of these skiis.
- Switching to/from AT mode without removing skis is not as great as it sounds. While you can easily switch to AT mode without removing your skis, switch back to alpine mode is nearly impossible as the mechanism will be filled with packed snow after hiking.

EDIT: So it turns out it was the ramp angle. After digging around the Teton Gravity Research forums I found a thread with a bunch of people complaining about the same thing. It turns out the ramp angle on the Fritshci's is 0 deg while a normal alpine binding is 4-6 deg. For me, the shifted my weight distribution toward the tail of my skis without me realizing it (causing a drastic reduction in ease of turn initiation). To test this, I folded up some socks and stuffed them under my insoles and the skis came back to life. I am having the cosmetic toe piece removed to gain some ramp but I doubt this will be enough, I will probably have to have some sort of lifter added under the heal as well. I am adding one more star to these because performance is now satisfactory. Fritschi really should make a lifter plate for the heal as an option, especially since these are marketed more towards Alpine skiers going to back country rather than nordic skiers. If fritschi had a solution I would give these 4 stars.

View Details: Black Diamond Fritschi Diamir Freeride Plus Binding

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