Spark R&D 2013-2014 Splitboard Bindings Preview

Alright, here we are at Spark R&D, I’ve got Will here presenting his product line this year, so Will, what have you got for us?

The main new thing for this year is what we’re calling our Tesla system, it’s a snap wrap in the binding, locks in you for both the ride and the tour mode. Just flip the ramp up, slide the binding off like so. For tour mode, it goes onto these brackets here, snap the same ramp down, and you’re good to go. No more pins on a string to fiddle around with, just a nice integrated system, no loose parts.

Also, in these bindings we’ve integrated two different climbing wires, twelve and eighteen degrees. Having them in the binding makes them really easy to work with a ski pole, so you’re able to pull them down and pull them back up without having to flip your pole over or bend down or anything like that. The fat width of these bars puts your edging power right where you want it right at the edges, so it’s going to increase your edge hold on a traverse and so on, and they also always push the crampons all the way into the snow, so some nice advantages there with that.

For next year, we have two different models of the Tesla system. We have the Afterburner, which is similar to our burner model of the last couple of years where it’s a solid base plate, fat ankle and toe straps for lots of support, and a stiff, high glass filled high back there. We’ll be offering that in three different colors for the Afterburner. Our other model, which is new for the Tesla system, is the Magneto. This is more of a pocketed out, lightweight binding. Softer flexing straps and highbacks for more agile riding through the trees, and maybe some freestyle and so on.

We’ll also be keeping our classic style pin bindings for next year so we’ll have both the Burner, which is the more whole mountain binding, and we have the Blaze, which is the more pocketed out, lightweight, softer flexing.

With these new crampons, they’re easy to install and remove on the fly. There’s just a little bracket that the crampon slides into, it flips down and you’re ready to rock. As I talked about before, the climbing wire always pushes the crampon all the way down, so it maintains your traction anywhere. Removal is just the opposite, you just slide them out through the side. We also have this block around the board, keeps the wire from chewing up your topsheet, and there’s this little V that the wires go into so there’s no chance that they’re going to collapse, even if you’re a big guy stomping around on cornices and so on.

We’re also keeping Mr Chomps, which we’ve had in the past, which works with our Blaze and Burner bindings. So that’s our new line, thanks for stopping by Snow Crunch and we’ll see you in the skintrack!