When it comes to backcountry touring you used to only have two options: lightweight tech bindings or dependable DIN-rated frame bindings. Just like having cake and eating it too, you couldn't possibly have a light pair of bindings to skin up and a burly pair to ride down, until Atomic presented us with the Shift 13 MNC Alpine Touring Binding.

The Shift requires you to skin in tech mode. Simply flick switches on both the toe and heel pieces to engage the toe's pins and activate the heel's walk mode. In walk mode, the Shift's pins provide the same walking stride and touring efficiency as any tech binding, with a heel riser to assist on the skin track's steeper sections.

Without a frame, the Shift only weighs a mere three pounds, which isn't as light as ultralight tech bindings, but certainly lighter than alpine touring bindings and those hybrids with DIN heels and tech toes. After reaching the top of the skin track, you can flick those same switches on the toe and heel pieces to clip back into the binding like it was a regular alpine binding.

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