What to say? They're ski brakes

By Scott Pendleton Ranked #30 - Alpine Touring Bindings March 31, 2010

Leashes can be a pain, especially at resorts. I'm not completely sold on the brakes for the BC, and sometimes in deep pow at resorts I use both leashes and brakes, but normally at the resort I don't want to be dealing with them. Since I have a quiver of one with Fritschi bindings, enter ski brakes.

I got the Fritschi Diamir Explore bindings and they didn't come with brakes, so I had to buy these. Near all newer Fritschi bindings come with brakes so I have a hard time seeing why you'd buy these unless you needed bigger brakes? In any case, I got the XL and there's plenty of room on both sides of my skis' 90mm waist.

Installation was easy; the Explore heel rest came off without any tools at all. I just pulled it up gently with my fingers (no screws on the bottom, unlike Wildsnow's instructions) and screwed the brakes on. For touring I remove the brakes and put the anti-friction plates back on; again a pretty painless procedure. I ditch the brakes in the BC for two reasons: weight savings and ski carrying (easier on me and my pack to carry the skis A-frame if there aren't brakes digging in to the side of the pack).

If you get the Explores and add the brakes, they weigh pretty much the same as the Freerides, so there's really no advantage to the Explore (except that the Explore is much, much cheaper at this point). Just a thought.

View Details: Black Diamond Fritschi Diamir Ski Brakes

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