Backcountry Skiing Bindings Virtual Museum (collection index) |
Through years of testing and product development, backcountry skiing bindings have progressed from simple cable bindings to engineered machines that represent state-of-art materials science and mechanicals. This collection of backcountry skiing bindings covers the full historical range of modern bindings. | ||||||||||||||
Fritschi Diamir Titanal 1995 Fritschi Diamir Titanal was Fritschi's second offering in the binding market, and was a major and long overdue upgrade from their first effort, the FT88. The binding was distrubuted by Black Diamond Equipment, and hailed as the first modern randonneee binding that made an effort to match alpine bindings in downhill performance, as well as being quite light in weight. According to some accounts, the family tree of Fritschi bindings has roots in the Gertsch (though we are not clear during which date range this occurred). The story is that Gertsch jobbed out their parts manufacturing to a Swiss company, Fritschi, that made precision drawing tables. This prompted Fritschi to enter the ski binding business themselves using ideas they'd developed while producing the Gertsch. Examination of Fritschi's first binding, the FT88 (circa 1982), reveals many similarities between it and the earlier Gertsch, thus this story is likely fact. (source: Alpenglow.org ).
While the Diamir was revolutionary in that it had most of the function of its contemporary alpine bindings and looked the part, as a first generation model it was not without problems. Perhaps the worst of these was that the bar connection toe and heel was weak, and bent with heavy use. This was corrected in the next model, Titanal II. Another problem was that with flexible skis or aggressive use, the mode latch at the heel could inadvertently release in downhill mode, leading to a condition that came to be known as "insta-tele." This problem wasn't totally taken care of until 2005, when Fritschi changed the mode latch in all models. Weight (one binding with brake and screws): 32.3 oz, 918 gr Thanks goes to Boone Caudill for donating these bindings to the WildSnow collection. First Couloir Magazine review VIII-1 Oct/Nov 1995 | |||||||||||||||




















