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New Trends: MFD Touring Plate.

Here is another trend which has caught my eye in a couple ski/porn mags of late: an aftermarket touring plate you attach to your trusty boards and is designed to accept any ski binding, at or full on alpine race binding.  This is a good idea as far as I am concerned because many AT bindings are, well, just too doily for guys my size and for work.  I know quite a few folks who patrolled in Dynafit bindings but that is a case of stupid light in my mind for patrolling.  The Fritschi Diamir bindings a better with more metal and plastic plus a rail running under the boot which helps stiffen up the setup.  I have a pair and find them tempermental sometimes to get on and off, and the toepiece sometimes has some slop, especially when wearing alpine ski boots and not AT boots.  The AT lineup offered by Marker is much better with none of the cons normally associated with AT bindings (as far as I see it) except they are quite heavy and not really suitable for a long tour in the backcountry (although they offer a Tour model which is much lighter).  Great for sidecountry skiing or use at ski areas.  But what do you do if you don't have any of the Marker bindings or don't like Marker?  Your choices are (or were) limited.  Not so with the MFD plate. Simply attach your bindings of choice to the plate and hey presto, a very workable touring setup with burly alpine bindings.  Just a quick note:  the plate DOES NOT WORK WITH MARKER BINDINGS.  There are three plates available:  Salomon/Atomic; Rossignol/Look; and Tyrolia/Head/4FRNT.  Not sure why Marker didn't make the grade but there you are.  Go to www.runmfd.com for more info.

New Trends: Fischer Vacuum Ski Boots.

With most ski boot liners now being the cook-to-fit kind or in some way being customizable, it was only a matter of time before some manufacturer took the nextstep and figuredout a way to have a fully customizable boot shell.  Several boot companies have offered semi-customizable boot shells (Salomon, Atomic, Head) but only in certain areas or to certain parts.  Of course, you could always go to your local ski shop and have the resident boot fitting wizard work his magic on a pair of boots and get a "custom" boot. Fischer is the first company to take this idea to the next level:  they have changed the chemical makeup of the boot plastic so that it softens at a much lower temp than other boots.  You go to you shop that has bought the special Fischer boot setup, have your boots heated, put them on, then put your booted feet into large rubber boots with bladders in them, the bladders inflate and push the softened boot to the shape of your foot and lower leg.  An ingenious idea but I have concerns about the longevity of the boot plastic itself.  Ski boots are subjected to a huge range in temp and are constantly being flexed so given this new plastics lower softening temp, I wonder would the boots prematurely soften, tear, break, or otherwise wear out before a comparable boot made of the normal plastic.  I look forward to reports on this issue.  Also, this is the first generation of this type of boot so I am a bit leery.  Maybe in a few years once any possible bugs are worked out this may be a good trend with legs.  Hard to say. 

Regardless, I am enjoying my Nordica Fire Arrow F1s so much I am considering a pair of their sidecountry boots.  Stay tuned.