MARKER 19/20 UPDATE

Marker has a new touring binding for winter 19/20, to work well with the new Dalbello Lupo Air, as well as new kit for your head.

BINDINGS

Marker’s been one of the main players in pushing forward the development of freeride touring bindings in recent years, and they’ve a new toy for 19/20; the Kingpin M-Werks 12.

In 2007 they released the Marker Duke frame freeride touring binding, then two years later they released their lighter weight F-Tour bindings.

In 2015 came the Marker Kingpin, which was a game changer for many. The Kingpin has pins at the front, for ease of touring and so you don’t need a frame connecting the toe and heel, which keeps them light. Then at the heel it has a downhill-style step in heel with sideways and vertical release for safety. This was quite unlike other bindings on the market.

For 18-19 winter they developed a super lightweight pin touring binding called the Alpinist. This also had some innovative features to enhance safety, ease of use and it was designed to be incredibly light (335g including the brake).

Marker Kingpin M-Werks 12

Toe piece

For 19/20 season they’ve combined the toe of the Alpinist binding with an adapted and lighter weight version of the Kingpin heel unit.

You get the best of both worlds – lightness for the up with skiing performance and safety for skiing hard on the way down. The new binding is called the Kingpin M-Werks 12 and weighs only 620g with a brake (540g without).  It has a DIN range of 5-12 and costs £500.

The toe piece is straight off the Alpinist binding, so has the neat rubber anti-ice pad under the single pair of springs. Rubber boot toe guide is still there – worth noting this is NOT a toe stop, but just a guide. I’ve used the Alpinist quite a bit and haven’t had any major issues using this system and I’m a big fan of the Alpinist binding.

Heel piece

The heel is new for this binding, although it has a lot of similarities to the Kingpin unit but with some upgrades.

The ski/walk lever has been improved to make it easier to operate and lighter. The carbon sliding lever has been made a little stronger (I’ve heard of one or two of these breaking in extreme cold on the Kingpin, although I’ve not seen it in person). The heel body has been reinforced with carbon which can add strength while reducing weight. It still releases sideways and vertically, as the standard Kingpin heel does.

These changes add up to a weight saving of 110g over the Kingpin, per single binding. The Kingpin M-Werks’ stated weight is 540g without a brake / 620g with the brake mounted. The brake is the same as on the standard Kingpin and weighs 80g.

The Kingpin M-Werks 12 would be a great set up with the with the new Lupo Air boots (there’s more about that in Dalbello’s section).

Other Marker binding developments for 19/20

The kids Free Ten binding has been updated too, and is now Sole ID, so can accept Alpine (ISO 5355) and Touring (ISO 9523) ski boots along with Grip Walk soled boots. The kids Free 8 binding has been dropped from the range.

For 19/20 some new bindings are introduced in their all-mountain and piste line up. These take inspiration from the race binding’s X-cell toe construction with the piston to absorb short, sharp impacts and increase retention, along with the Twin Cam-X heel piece, which again improves retention due to greater vertical energy absorption. They are Grip Walk ready bindings, so work with Alpine (ISO 5355 boots) and Grip Walk soled ski boots and are available in DIN ranges 6-16 (XComp 16 GW) and 4-12 (XCOmp 12 GW). They were originally called X-Cell 16 GW and X-Cell 12 GW, but Marker’s since changed the name.

HELMETS

Convoy / Convoy+

Marker has dropped the Consort helmet and introduced a new model called the Convoy. It’s double in-mould construction; the main body of the helmet is bonded with the outer shell, keeping weight low and increasing durability and performance. The Convoy has removable audio-ready ear pads and comes in three options, in a host of colours. The Convoy+ has a magnetic Fidlock buckle, while you get a standard snap buckle on the standard Convoy, and there’s a Convoy Jr too for the little ‘uns. Stated weights are 427g for the Convoy and 444g for the Convoy+, in size M. Convoy junior is 430g.

Squad / Squad FE / Squad JR

The Kojak and Kojo line of helmets is replaced by a new Squad range, (which look very, very similar). The three Squad models are all ABS hardshell helmets, available as Squad, Squad FE (fixed earpads) and Squad Jr.

Clark is still in the range, with a change in colours, but Kent has been ditched.

GOGGLES

For 18/19 season all of Marker’s goggles had spherical lenses (curved vertically and horizontally). For this season they’ve introduced two new models with cylindrical lenses. Cylindrical lenses curve horizontally, like it’s been wrapped around a cylinder – as opposed to wrapped around a sphere.

Squadron / Squadron+

The Squadron is their headline goggle. It’s a slick looking frameless offering which replaces the 3D+ goggle. The Squadron is a large fit goggle, as was the 3D. You don’t see any frame, so they look really clean and pretty sweet in the deep mirror finish. Available with polarised Blue HD lens or non-polarised Red Plasma lens (pictured).

The lenses are NMT coated, also refer to as 3rd Eyelid. This treatment is designed to prevent snow, water and grease from sticking to the face of the lens, to keep them clearer for longer.

Other features are comparable to other higher-end goggles on the market, like trip layer face foam, excellent venting, silicone lined strap and so on.

The goggles are also offered in a ‘plus’ model. The Squadron+ comes with a Clarity Mirror lens for low light, along with a neoprene box case and standard soft case. Squadron+ is available with polarised Blue HD mirror lens or non-polarised Green Plasma mirror lens.

The Squadron+ lenses are really easy to change with a magnetic lens attachment system – so no pulling the frame apart and spending 10 minutes fitting the new lens in.

Spectator

The Spectator is the second new offering from Marker’s goggle line-up. Again, this is a large fit, cylindrical lens goggle, although this doesn’t have a frameless look. It also has the NMT lens treatment, silicone strap and other benefits of the Squadron. Available with polarised Black Light HD or non-polarised Pink Plasma mirror lens.