Europeans have not been sitting on their laurels lately. The latest evidence comes from ATK, an Italian manufacturer of race caliber tech binding.

In spite of the apparent lack of interest in telemark skiing by retailers, interest continues by the practicing faithful as well as manufacturers dreaming of a better way. The latest variation comes from Italian tech binding manufacturer ATK and they are calling it the Newmark binding.

At first glance it appears to reinforce the concept that a Dynafit-style toepiece can be utilized as part of a telemark binding. The key, of course, is this requires a telemark boot with Dynafit inserts in the toe. For those intent on retiring the ubiquitous duckbilled telemark boot, the Newmark binding represents another threat to their continued existence.

Will it make it past the prototype stage and appear on shelves of backcountry retailers on the world market? Don’t hold your breath. To see development like this is encouraging, especially for folks like yours truly who believe that the future of telemark binding development rests on incorporating a Dynafit-style toe in to the system. However, cables and the tension they provide for balancing the rear foot in a telemark turn will be difficult to abandon without some sort of replacement. In addition, the wings that hold the sole of the boot in this Newmark binding will need to be capable of a level of stress that will require a special alloy of steel and unobtainium to survive, a feat yet to be achieved.

Again, despite my pessimissm on the chances of this binding surviving long term it IS exciting to see further development along these lines and I hope I’m wrong about it not working out.

© 2013