Backcountry Bindings: Pin vs Hybrid Explained

Featured Image: Aaron Dodds

It’s a debate that will likely go on for the rest of time. Do you rock pins or hybrid bindings in the backcountry? While it will always come down to personal preference, pins and hybrids each come with their own respective strengths and weaknesses for backcountry skiing. Rather than tell you which one is better, we break down the two backcountry binding options to help you decide which setup is right for you, your ski style and objectives. 

Pin Bindings 

While modern alpine bindings haven’t changed much since the 1980s, it wasn’t until 1990 that the ski industry saw the very first backcountry pin binding. Invented by the Austrian skier and engineer Fritz Barthel, most brands thought Barthel was crazy for this new, low-tech contraption. He was continuously turned down by brands like Salomon and G3 until Dynafit saw the vision and put the first pin binding out on the market at the turn of the decade. When the final Dynafit patents expired by 2016, G3, Salomon, and ATK were already hard at work playing catch-up. Nowadays, there are many different styles of pin bindings to choose from, like burlier free-touring bindings like the ATK Raider to ski-mo race bindings weighing less than 150 grams each.

Hybrid Bindings 

Inspiration for the modern hybrid bindings we see today, like CAST and Salomon’s SHIFT, first came from Alpine Trekkers in 1994—adapters that attach to any alpine ski binding and boot to allow for uphill walking and downhill skiing on a regular alpine setup. While the Alpine Trekkers were a great invention at the time, they garnered the nickname “day wreckers” because of the sheer weight they added and sloppy torsional rigidity. Today’s Daymakers are still beefy but a better, more modern take on the alpine binding adapter. Then came the frame alpine touring binding. Marker unveiled the original Duke in 2007, which used a plate to connect the toe and heel piece of the binding, so the whole system could lift off the ski for uphill walking capabilities but then lock down for a traditional downhill experience. 

It wasn’t until 2012, when CAST released the first iteration of its interchangeable toe system, that the industry saw anything of its kind. Developed by the Chickering-Ayers brothers, Silas and Lars, CAST swaps the toe piece of a Look Pivot binding with a traditional pin toe for the touring half of a backcountry ski day, but then swaps back to the Pivot toe for the secure connection that binding has provided since the very first iteration in 1963. In 2018, Salomon really popularized the hybrid alpine binding category with the SHIFT but these days, almost every brand has its own hybrid alpine touring binding, like the Marker Duke PT, Tyrolia Attack Hybrid and the new ATK Hy Free. All of which are now at a development level that athletes on the Freeride World Tour trust for high-speed sends without a second thought.

Which to Choose?

Pins have the obvious advantage of weight when it comes time to consider which kind of backcountry binding is best for you. If you’re someone who tends to go for really long walks, collect a lot of vertical feet along the way, and are more concerned about efficiency on the up rather than ski performance on the way down, pins are likely your binding of choice. On the contrary, if you’re looking for a setup where you can ski just as confidently in the resort as you can in the backcountry on the same setup, a hybrid alpine touring binding is a no-brainer. Where pins can falter when skiing fast in variable snow or landing a massive air, hybrid bindings provide the consistent feel and secure connection we’ve all come to trust from traditional alpine bindings. But another way to look at safety is the reality of your own strength. Hybrid bindings are heavier, which requires more energy to walk uphill. So be sure you’re not biting off more than you can chew when it comes to the weight of your setup and the ski objectives you have in mind. With today’s modern technology, there’s really no wrong binding to choose in terms of quality. It simply comes down to the type of experience you’re looking for.