The Salomon Shift binding, as you can see above, takes those toepins and disregards them completely when in ski mode. The pins fold in, traditional alpine toe wings spread out, and you’re left looking at a touring binding that looks a whole lot like an alpine binding.

Anyone who knows me as a skier knows I’ve had very few good things to say about women’s skis in the past. Typically, I have found that women’s dedicated ski models are too soft, not torsionally rigid enough, and inhibit rather than help my skiing. But, I’m not the only one who has felt that way and the ski manufacturers are listening. Finally, I can honestly say I have found some women’s skis that I don’t want to just throw in the trash. In fact, I actually love them. These three skis will allow women to charge hard.

Frank and I agree on a lot of things. But, baselayers is one of the areas where we differ. That’s why we haven’t sought a sponsorship with a baselayer company in years past. Due to Frank’s eczema, he prefers synthetic baselayers. I, on the otherhand, have not been able to find a synthetic baselayer that performs as well as wool for me in the backcountry – too often synthetic layers don’t dry fast enough, leaving me chilled to the bone on a winter day. But then we tried Corbeaux Clothing, and my views of synthetic baselayers have been forever changed.