Have you been checking out some of those rad backcountry ski videos and thinking to yourself, "Backcountry lines look like the bomb, but I'm not sure I want to fork over the dough for new gear or take the time to learn a new ski technique?" After all, traditionally, those who fly in the backcountry are either telemark skiers, heli-skiers, or those who buy alpine touring equipment like Dynafit bindings. While alpine touring gear gives a lot of performance, it does require different ski boots and bindings than your traditional downhill setup. Well, Boulder's Backcountry Access has come up with the answer.
The Alpine Trekker is a new touring binding that is designed to be compatible with your current downhill setup. Instead of having to invest in new boots and bindings to access the backcountry, you clip the Alpine Trekker into your current binding, then step your boot into the Trekker and voila, instead uphill touring capability. When you get to the top of the skin up, remove the Trekker and step into your regular binding and you're off, with all the control and power you normally get from standard alpine bindings.
Of course, skinning uphill in traditional ski boots probably isn't as nice as doing it in flexible telemark gear, or in standard alpine touring boots, but you get unrivaled downhill performance and can access sweet backcountry lines without forking over the cash for a whole new setup of skis, bindings, and boots.
Backcountry Access has put together a video filled with ski stoke about the new binding. Check it out! Of course, if you do decide to go for the backcountry stoke and pick up the bindings, get some of BCA's avalanche gear too, or you might end up like the two snowboarders who got partially buried on the Professor Sunday off Loveland Pass.
