Gear Review

Atomic 614 Race

1. Natural Ski Flex
2. Top Retention/Release
3. Ultra-Stiff Interface
4. Heavy!!

Atomic's excellent but now-discontinued 614 Race are my current Alpine Ski bindings—and the current high water mark I keep in mind when testing today's Alpine Touring bindings.

As a racing binding, the 614 Race is weighted toward retention (rather than release safety), providing a rock-solid interface to transfer energy as efficiently as possible between boot and ski.

Atomic's bindings are based on a design by ESS-Var, allowing the ski to flex naturally beneath the binding. This technology was something of a revolution when it first came out, though many of today's best Alpine bindings offer a similar feature.

By eliminating the "flat spot" caused by fixing a rigid ski boot against a ski, you get a host of benefits, including much-improved edgeing, as well as a safer binding. Perhaps most importantly, the performance achieved by a binding like the 614 Race provides the ultimate in control and feel.

The Atomic 614 Race, like any good race binding, displays absolutely no play when your boot is snapped in. Various intermediate-level alpine bindings, and practically all Randonee bindings allow for quite a bit of slop: wiggle and jiggle between boot and ski, particularly at the toe, all of which translates into reduced downhill performance.

You'll particularly notice the difference on hard snow. The Atomic 614 Race lets you make the most of your ski's edges. Unfortunately, Alpine skiers used to such high standards of performance will find many of today's Alpine Touring bindings a very poor substitute indeed.

It is possible to use an Alpine binding in the backcountry, either by simply skiing through a ski resort's backcountry access gate, or hiking up short distances with your skis over your shoulder, or even by adding Backcountry Access' Alpine Trekker binding adapter.

Unless you're a sponsored heli-extremist, however, at some point quite soon in your backcountry career, you'll want to find a lighter, touring-capable binding to make life more enjoyable on the ascent.

Weight tends to get the last word in the backcountry, and at 10 lbs plus, most Alpine bindings are simply too heavy for all but the most fanatic of climbers, and that's pretty much the final word.

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