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First Look: ATK Haute Route Plus 10 Ski Touring Binding

By

Gavin Hess

The new Haute Route 10 Plus marries low weight and high function.

The new Haute Route 10 Plus marries low weight and high function.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. It takes a lot to sell me on over-race-weight ski touring bindings these days. Special scenarios and reviews of bindings like the Slatnar or Raider series have pulled me away from race bindings some, but when I’m buying, Ski Trab Gara Titans have continued to be…

Responses

  1. Slim

    These seem really nice. I got a set, but haven’t put them to use yet.

    One other update you didn’t mention is the reduced heeltoe height delta the new toe piece provides.

    I looked at the Superlite 150, for its lightweight and favorable reviews, but when I added heel adjustment plates and crampon slots, the weight crept right back close to the Haute Route.

    1. Andy

      Hey Slim, I have (the improved, steel) crampon mounts and kreuzspitze adjustment plates on my superlite 150 setup. I believe the actual weight to be 181g/side vs 233g/side for the haute route 10 plus. So while the HR10+ offers some big advantages, 50g isn’t nothing!

  2. Jason Albert

    That Superlight 150 looks nice. My partner on a long traverse used them one year, I had the old Haute Route. After watching me keep my heel in flat mode and flipping into the higher riser as needed while he was rotating the heel from flat to an orientation to engage a riser… not exactly all the time…but I think he sort of felt like it was all the time, the next year he showed up with some Haute Routes. Keep us posted on how you like the reduced delta. I’ve never had an issue with the old delta (I do use the adjustment plate, but still)… maybe I don’t now what I am missing.

    1. Slim

      Yes, I have the old HR (non plus) as well. The delta is not high, (6.5 mm) but not low like the new on or the Alpinist either. The new one is going on my wife/kid’s skis.
      I am going to shim my old HR to reduce the delta.
      I didn’t get along super well with the skis I had the HR on, compared to the skis I had the Alpinist on. Obviously the skis are a big part of it, but I figure reducing ramp angle will help too. And it’s easy to fix. I’m a low ramp angle person in general.

  3. Travis

    ATK makes so many bindings it’s amazing. I have some HRs and I like them. Not many meters on them yet, the Crest is usually my go to. But when I put together a quasi/Skimo setup I put HRs on some Movement Race Pro 77s.

  4. Will Tabor

    Any comment on whether some sort of stomp pad would improve the skiability? I am debating between this binding and a plum pika for a 108 reverse camber ski. The pika has a “heel stopper” similar to a free raider spacer, and the HR plus does not. I too traditionally gravitate towards race style bindings, but would like something in the “lean” category for this ski.

    1. Gavin Hess

      My current line of thought is that ski conditions make the biggest difference in the efficacy of a freeride spacer style device. In firm, 3d, or other ‘demanding’ snow types I can feel the added support and precision gained with a spacer, while powder skiing, I often cant tell/feel a difference.

      I do wonder about the performance differences between various spacers – the ATK and Slatnar options with a sliding afd and a wide base that supports the boot heel to its edge seems much more effective than a smaller stomp pad contacting more in the center of the heel such as the Pika. Hard to give a good answer on that as other factors seem to play a bigger role in ski/binding feel.

      1. Andy

        Really happy to find this comment Gavin, as the lack of the freeride spacer (or ability to use one) is my biggest hesitation on mounting the HR10+ to a set of Heritage Lab BC120s that are on their way to me. Have you had a chance to ski this setup and do you think you’re missing any performance with no freeride spacers?

        My other option would be to mount some Freeraider 15 Evos I’ve had on Dispatch 120s and the Line Vision 114s that replaced them (warranty) but I can’t truly say that I can tell the freeride spacers are doing anything. I probably should have A/B’ed the setups without the spacers, but I don’t expect to have the opportunity to do that before I mount these BC120s.

        This setup is for touring only, so while it could encounter some hard snow on windblown ridgelines in the top of couloirs, I generally should not see a lot of demanding snow with them, or I picked the wrong ski for the day :p

  5. Lukasz Michalek

    Great review! Waiting for a longterm usage report!
    How about ski width and skier weight recommendation? They say that Haute Route 10 Plus fits the best skis to 97mm and skier to 85kg (185 pounds?). How do you find those recommendation suitable?

    I see that you guys are using mostly bindings version without breaks. Are you using leashes instead? Honestly I found breaks useless in my ATK rider (they are almost frozen all the time and automatic release do not work) so I’m looking for something like Haute Route.

    1. Slim

      Hey Lukasz,
      ATK founder David has said in a podcast that the ski width recommendations are not hard and fast, and that they themselves often ski the lighter bindings on wider skis.
      Especially with the new, wider toe mounting platform, I don’t see any reason why it would be bad for the ski or binding to use these on a wider ski.
      However, you might find the lack of the heel freeride spacer to be an issue in demanding snow (see Gavin’s reply above).
      As far as skier weight, they are pretty solidly built, so the only reason I could see for skier weight to matter, would be if you can’t get the release value high enough. But of course, that depends on boot size and ski style as well as weight.

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