CAST Freetour touring binding review

Update February 2020: All issues with the bindings have been fixed. Got them installed to new Armada JJ 2.0 skis and using new Rossignol touring boots with them. The bindings work really well on tours up and superb when skiing down, see for example Sound of ski touring.

Update January 2019: New AFD provided under warranty. Brake lock and heel riser plastic plate broke and will be replaced with a new piece via warranty.

Update: Look has recalled some Pivot 18 bindings bought in 2017 but my set bought for CAST Freetour via Sego Ski Co. is not part of the recalled set. More details from Look, Consumer Product Safety Commission and Powder.

This is a review of my CAST Freetour alpine ski touring bindings. The bindings combine Look Pivot 18 din full metal racing class alpine bindings with a plate system to switch the toe piece to an Alpine Touring pin binding for the uphill. They also include a locking mechanism for ski brakes and heel risers. Normal alpine or WTR standard ski boots fit to the Look bindings but for the uphill part they also need to have the AT pin binding inserts.

Background: Mikko as skier

I'm a 40 something year old former mogul skier and a wanna-be-park-rat. I would like to be a cool freerider going fast and dropping big cliffs but in reality I like 18 meter radius turns and small jumps. I can still do a few backflips on the big park kickers though. I'm 182 cm tall and weigh a lowly 65 kg. I ski around 40 days a year in the Alps and mostly off piste.

Binding history: Marker Jester

From about 2008 to 2012 I was skiing with Marker Jester 14 din bindings but the toe piece started to wiggle and have too much play so that the binding was no longer solid in park or in rough terrain. This was likely a manufacturing fault and I should have complained to the to the dealers but for some reason I did not. For touring I used BCA Alpine Trecker adapters for few days a year but they were heavy in the backpack when skiing down.

Binding history: Salomon Guardian

From 2012 until early 2018 I was using Salomon Guardian bindings. The bindings were supposed to be sturdier than the Marker Jester ones and good for touring as well. I did not buy the Marker Duke's since all of my friends had broken the toe piece height adjustment plastics in normal usage and I was expecting ski kickers and rails with them too.

For the first four years the Guardians were ok, but then the toe piece started to wiggle in the same way as Jesters before. This was only a problem with big kickers and their landings, and when really charging on rough or icy terrain. The play between boot and binding triggered an annoying early ejection and killed my confidence.

In 2017 the anti friction plate support started to break down and pieces falling off.

In early 2018 metal touring frame broke down cutting a ski tour short, but at least locking back to ski mode worked and I could ski down. This is clearly metal fatigue and a design fault, but I've not managed to contact Salomon about it. I've done maybe 5 to 10 ski touring days a year with them during the past 6 years.

CAST Freetour

As I noticed the end of life of the Guardians approaching I was looking for alternatives which would be good enough for touring and reliable in park and rough terrain.

Technical touring bindings are low weight but do not enable skiers to charge in moguls, kickers and rails. I had been following the previous generation of CAST with interest and when a new product was announced in 2017 I jumped and ordered the set.

CAST is a small company so I was expecting some startup company hickups but the 18 din Look Pivot binding for downhill parts convinced me that they would not be worse than my wiggly Guardians.

The set was pre-ordered in April 2017, ordered and paid in September 2017 and finally after a few delays delivered in February 2018. The price of Look Pivot bindings was 350$, CAST Freetour modifications another 350$ and boot mod 100$ plus shipping and 20% import tax in Germany. The set is not cheap but I'm expecting it to last long.

Home made AT tech insert boot mod

CAST Freetour ski tour system needs an alpine or WTR standard ski boot with AT tech inserts for pin bindings.

My current Fischer RC4 110 Vacuum ski boots are still working so I decided to try modifying them with tech inserts. The tech insert kit and soles were bought from CAST who rightly suggested finding a boot fitter for the job, but I did not want to send my boots from Germany to the US and back.

I tried to find a boot fitter but failed after several tries to find one in Southern Germany so I decided to try the modification on my own. I mean, how hard can it be?

After a few iterations and failures including accidentally drilling holes to the soles I now have a somewhat ok looking pair of Fischer RC4 110 Vacuum boots with AT tech inserts. Iterations were needed since I didn't know how the alpine ski boot toe piece hight was measured and in the first version the soles were too high. The old toe side soles were removed, plastic cut down from the boot, place for tech insert drilled to the sides, and new soles were screwed in. Silicon was used to seal the soles to the base of boot to avoid water getting in, freezing and breaking the boot.

The extra 1½ mm of sole hight actually seems to fit into the WTR standard and switching to the WTR Anti Fritction Plate (AFD) makes me confident enough to try skiing with the modified boots, though with din values set at 8 which is as low as it goes with the Look bindings.

Mounting Look Pivot and CAST Freetour bindings

The CAST Freetour set comes with mounting instructions on paper for the heel piece. I was hoping to find a shop with a jig for Look Pivot bindings, but that turned out to be hard too. Luckily the local sport shop Sport Sohn in Ulm wasn't afraid of the challenge and mounted the bindings manually to my old Line Sick Day skis. In the process they created a mount jig if anyone else ever needs to mount Look Pivot and/or CAST Freetour bindings. They also correctly noted that my ski boots were not up to alpine standards with the custom tech insert mod.

The mounted bindings look cool and gathered some interest also in the shop.

CAST Freetour on snow

Here is a video from my first tour with the CAST Freetour bindings. It shows how the bindings and pieces are used in touring and skiing mode and the changes in between.

CAST Freetour testing: Bschießer in Tannheimertal

First real tour with the bindings and modified boots I did in March 24th 2018 to Bschießer in Tannheimertal, Austria. On the spot I decided to ski down the route I did with Jouni back in 2012, since snow stability was good and a few tracks showed the way to the entrance.

CAST Freetour testing: Gaishorn in Tannheimertal

On March 25th 2018 I did another proper tour with CAST Freetour bindings. Gaishorn in Tannheimertal is a slightly higher peak, 1200 meters vertical, than Bschießer before, 1000 or so meters vertical from the Tannheimertal valley floor.

CAST Freetour review

Weight

First big difference with CAST Freetour bindings compared to Salomon Guardians was the weight. Skis were odd to carry around. The Look bindings are heavy, but the heel piece is much heavier than the toe piece which changes the carrying balance. Guardians with pivot on the toe are more 50-50 balanced between toe and heel side. This will be cured by time as I get used to the new balance but the set is not light to carry around.

When touring the set feels light, or at least not heavy. No more frame bindings to lift on every step and this feels good, though grannys and granpas are still faster than me with their light touring sets on the uphill. With Guardians I would not have been able to do two over 1000 meter vertical tours in two days.

Heel risers

The heel risers are really good. They are easy to operate with ski pole. They are much better than the one in Salomon Guardian bindings.

Switching between touring and ski mode

Switching from ski to touring mode and back will take some time to get used to. It is not a fast operation. The pin bindings are a bit tight to get in right on the first try, but after a few tries it gets easier. Locking the alpine toe piece in is fast already. Clearing snow from the plate before inserting bindings is a good idea. In my case the test tours were done in warm conditions so I don't know if the bindings can also get too icy in cold weather. Storing the tech toes in skin bag is easy, but using the rubber band to tie them together feels a bit fiddly, though it clearly makes sense.

Ski brake lock

The ski brake locks keep the brakes away when touring. The finish on the metal hinge and pieces was rough. I had to file the edges down to avoid cutting my fingers. I think I need to do that again as a few times I felt the edges ripping into my light touring jacket when carrying the skis. I also bent the lock on one side already, possibly during transport in car, and had to bend it back with a multitool before start of a tour. The lock works, but locking and unlocking is a bit tricky. Must remember to use gloves to avoid cuts and black fingernails.

Skiing mode

Skiing mode feels really solid. Stepping into the bindings feels good. Without boot there is minor play in the toe piece mount, I'd say less than 1/10 of mm, but this goes away after boot with correct forward pressure has stepped in. While skiing the heel vs. toe weight difference needs some getting used to but I barely notice it anymore. For me the heel piece could also be lighter one as I don't need more than 12 din values there. Toe piece is actually pretty light even with the switch plate.

And regarding forward pressure, I'm not sure if the white plastic bit on the Look heel piece correctly shows it. I wasn't able to get see it moving when adjusting the length with boot, but right now the adjusted length and test ejection feels ok.

Tech insert boot mod

The ski boots are my old trusty pair. No issues so far with the tech insert mod. If there are problems, I will likely just buy a new pair of boots with tech inserts.

Ejection

I have not ejected from the Look bindings yet. This does not happen very often to me unless there are problems with the bindings. Now that I think about this, maybe it's a good idea to bring the set to a test in the local shop where a machine can test the DIN values before something bad happens on the slopes.

Quality issues

Anti Friction Device (AFD) broke off

Update January 2019: CAST provided new AFDs within warranty and they are working well. I added small drops of super glue when mounting them to the metal toe binding plate.

I am using the WTR AFD plate on the alpine toe piece since they fit with my boot mod. Unfortunately the white low friction skid plate already broke off from one ski when I was skiing on glacier in Sölden, and I eventually lost the plate completely. It wasn't a complete suprise since similar problems were reported in the awesome CAST Touring TGR forum thread. I'm waiting to get some warranty feedback from CAST regarding this.

In theory the binding should not be used without proper AFD plate but to me it feels ok also when ejecting the toe piece, but I will keep the DIN values low until the situation is resolved. So far 8 has been really good while with Salomon Guardians toe was problematic still at 11.

Brake lock and heel riser plastic block broke

Update January 2019: Unfortunately the black heel riser and brake lock housing broke on a tour when I was trying to lift the risers up. Right side of the housing was still ok so I was able to lock the brakes and use the heel risers for rest of the day. CAST support was fast to respond and a new piece will arrive via mail.

Summary

Are CAST Freetour bindings better than Salomon Guardian? For uphill yes. For downhill yes. Quality wise not yet.

Currently I suspect that AFD and brake lock will not last long, but I hope that some fixes will be available from CAST support and warranty.

I hope this project stabilizes at some point and that I can start trusting my bindings again for uphill and downhill.

Cheers,

-Mikko