Backcountry Skiing Bindings

Virtual Museum (museum index)

Marker TR - Backcountry Skiing Alpine Touring Binding

Marker TR is an interesting binding. It approaches the ultimate goal of all randonnee bindings in that it uses a the state-of-art alpine binding of its day (early1970s), but adds a touring mode. Problem is that the touring mode only allows 3.75 inches of heel lift. This resulted in a truncated stride that was uncomfortable (and funny looking) at best, and could damage knee and ankle ligaments due to the jerking motion that ensued.

Complete Marker TR backcountry skiing binding shown above. It has no touring heel elevator post, and heel lift is limited. Nonetheless it was a useful binding since in downhill mode it equaled the performance of other alpine bindings of that era. Video of operation (slow connection) Video of operation (fast connection)

Heel unit in touring mode. Steel bar at front (right) fits under a slot/catch to lock down heel.

Heel unit in downhill mode, steel bar is located in the slot.

Another useful feature of the Marker TR is that since the toe and heel are separate, the toe could be upgraded to later models. Thus, the binding was sold for at least a decade with the same heel unit, but with the current Marker toe of the year it was distributed. Made with modern materials, this would probably be one of the lightest weight bindings available.

Weight: One binding with screws, 25 oz., 709 g