Marker bindings don’t have the best reputation among free-riders and powderhounds around the world. Especially their so called biometric toe design has had a bad habit of pre-releasing in the wrong situations. My own experince from the current Markers are OK, especially because I’ve only used them on basic carving (e.g. all the skis on this test were mounted with Marker demo bindings) . Still, I do a bit of jumping here and there and the reputation has kept me away from the brand for a while. As a junior I skied moguls with Markers for some years and even then I had to crank the DIN way up for my very skinny ass…:) Also, back in around 1999~2000 when I turned back to skiing from snowboarding pretty exclusively for a few years, I mounted a pair of K2 Xplorers with old Marker M40 race bindings (because I was a dirt bag student/ski bum and didn’t have too much budget on new gear). That only ended in disaster: the whole toe piece blew off from a slightly back seated landing off a pretty basic 20 feet cliff.

So, with that background I was first quite sceptic about the new Marker Duke concept. However, I never was such a die-hard Marker hater than e.g. some of the guys hanging in the TGR forum. I also needed a solid one-ski-one-binding quiver for trips; with the ski days available at the current life situation, there was no single reason to drag multiple pairs of skis along. Still, a possibility to make shortish tours has always been very tempting to me.My principle has always been that if there is no new snow around, to find some you are better to be willing to sweat some…

Enter Marker Duke: a 6-16 DIN, heavy-duty freeride binding that has a touring mode, and which is designed to take the abuse of the modern wide skis and the skiing they allow, including also some air time.

Before I get into the details, a brief description of the reviewer:

Height/weight: 184cm (~6feet) 83kg (~160lbs)

Ability: Very experienced, not the best or most modern carve/on-piste technique though. Can do basic moves in the park. Mogul background. Likes medium to large radius turns on soft snow and some small to medium sized airs when the landings are good.

Age: 34

Days/year: Currently ~30/year (but skied several years over 50 days a year)

Conditions: Everything from icy slopes to 20cm of fresh powder on very nice soft base. Lots of wind packed, carvable new snow (btw. I like this snowtype almost as much as light, dry powder) .

Resort: http://www.skiamade.at/ - Flachau, Zauchensee, Reiteralm (Schladming) and Dachstein.

So, as I mentioned earlier TGR forum guys have always had very strong opinions against Marker. But when comments like this started to drop from the hard-core, 100 days a year skiing rippers, I really got interested to this binding. If a guy weighting 215 lbs. and cranking his DIN to 14~15(!) could ski this binding hard, my nowadays pretty conservative style would do well on this…that was the thought when buying these.

For technical details I recommended to check the above link from. (Generally that site: http://www.gearguru.com is recommended too - those guys know their business!)

Anyway, about the skiing feeling with Dukes. Short review could go: this is a very solid ski binding.

I used to had a second “tourind/rando” pair for trips, 04/05 k2 Seth Pistols 189c mounted with Fritschi Diamir Freerides. Skiing with that set-up was always OK but I still felt like something was missing. For me skiing is all about the feeling anyway. I don’t care if I’m not the fastest or don’t do all the lates tricks but I’d chase that perfect powder slash or that most slow, lazy, effortless feeling 360 one could ever do…and while being ok randonnee/touring bindings, the freerides lacked some of the final skiing “touch”.

I’m pretty sure I could everything with the Diamir FR, the binding probably wouldn’t have breaked on my skiing at any situation. I even did some minor jumping on them (see the picture below)

Still, skiing the Duke was just so much better. More rigidity, maybe because of the more solid build but probably also from the larger footprint of the binding. The binding needs at least 76mm waist ski to be mounted with (IMHO this idea should be considered to all freeride bindings). I had a very similar feeling than when using trusty old Salomon 914’s.

Also, the stack height is lower than on most current touring bindings (Dynafit excluded),still a bit higher than on alpine bindings without lifters. But this didn’t bother me at all actually. One could even argue that a slight lift helps edging on hard pack with skis like Gotama.

The binding’s contact area is shorter than on a Diamir or Naxo binding too, allowing for more free ski flex.

Some people have criticized a few details on Dukes:

- Climbing bar is a bit too low. For me this wasn’t an issue (yet). I only used/needed the tour mode on a few flat/very slow upgrading forest roads. Word is that a replaceable, taller climbing bar is to be released soon.

- Changing from tour mode to ski mode requires you to take off the ski. I just don’t get this one….I’m not going to win randonnee races with these. I only see this being an issue if you have continuous small uphill/downhill variation on the way up? Still, you probably take the skins off and put them on again etc. The lever where you switch from ski mode to touring mode is located under your feet and this eliminates the possibility to so called “instant-tele mode” which has sometimes been an issue with Fritschi bindings.

- There are still too much plastic. This one is pending IMHO…if the binding will last and take abuse, it’s all good. A few seasons will show this. After all, buying a first year release production is always a bit risky, despite all the initial field testing.

- Weight. This one depends on what you are looking for. Dynafit bindings are known to be very good if you are into long touring. In my opinion the Duke is a freeride alpine Binding with the touring possibility.

- Breakability. There has been some malfunctions coming from a very hard skiing (again, source the TGR forum). But keep in mind that those guys can break a full metal 20 DIN race bindings too! So, this one is also pending, and time will tell the full results. Also, be sure to check the right size: size S will take boots up to 325mm sole lengh (recommended 265 - 320), and size L 305-370. Seems like the binding might be a bit more prone to break if you are using, say, 310mm sole lenght boot in a size L binding. (for example: I chose the size S with 317mm boot lenght)

Ok, you get the point: I’m pretty happy with the product and if it will last a few seasons, this one’s a winner for sure. Mount a Duke with some ~100mm middle allmountain freeride skis and, in my opinion, you have a perfect one-ski-one binding set-up for the Alps (and similar Mountain ranges).

The picture, especially moving one, speaks more than thousand words. I don’t go as huge as younger but on this run I felt pretty good on the Dukes, you be the judge:

Ps. Smaller areas in Austria rule. People just don’t ski powder there. A story and trip report coming from a (family) trip to Ski Amade Area in Austria. Keep checking our blog…