ATK Hy Free 13 Binding

I’ve been waiting for a lighter hybrid binding to use on my 50/50 setup. (Weight for one binding with 108 brakes, AFD and screws was 711g on my scale - about 200g less than the Shift). I mounted the Hy’s to use on Volkl Blaze 94’s with my Atomic Hawx boots. When I’m not touring on another setup, I’ll head to the resort and get a couple of sidecountry laps before riding the lifts for a couple of hours. To use a baseball analogy, I swing a heavy bat for my fitness laps setup, it makes me stronger and I want the hybrid binding at the resort. I like the Hy better than the Shift for touring but can only hope it is in the same safety category when talking about DIN certification in the alpine norm. You still have to take off your ski to swap modes but that is a commonality with all the non-pin toe-release hybrids.

Heads-up: Make sure to flip the toe pins all the way up until it clicks into place before pressing down on the lever to spread the pins for your boot. Snow can compact in the holes of the plastic pieces that pivot the toe wings out. One can press too hard on the lever to open the wings and snap one of the plastic pieces. If this happens, the binding still works but it’s harder to get your toe in and out since the wings don’t spread apart as much. It’s user error by not ensuring the wings are all the way up before trying to get into the binding and pressing too hard on the toe lever thinking packed snow will move out of the way.

I didn’t notice, or care about the higher pin height while skinning. I measured and it’s 52mm on the Hy vs. 37mm on Raider Evo 11’s (with 4mm toe riser to decrease ramp angle), so about 15mm higher. Without the toe riser it’s about 2cm higher. I didn’t notice any negative effect while crossing icy slopes or otherwise. In fact, because of the higher pins I found I really liked the negative ramp angle and used it a lot on flat and short downhill sections. I thought this was marketing speak to rationalize the design but it does really help make walking more comfortable with the less rearward cuff movement in beefier boots.

The highest climbing riser is about the middle riser on the Raider, so not all that high but sufficient. (I can’t find the pin delta height of the Shift to compare it to.) The middle riser is a little hard to flick down with your pole but easy to flip up with the basket. They function very well, don’t rattle, and stay where you put them.

The AFD is simple to set up and works well for boots with Gripwalk but the very rockered soles of my Skorpius don’t work. The sole contacts the removable crampon slot (with the AFD removed). I don’t see any way to angle the AFD so the Hy may not work with some non-Gripwalk soles.

The brakes work very well. No issues with accidentally triggering them while skinning or switching modes.

It’s solid on the downhill and skis nicely. Feels noticeably smoother than pin bindings and I didn’t pre-release when set at my normal alpine DIN setting.

Hi SKIMO.
Wanted to revisit the ATK HY mount inquiry, circa January, relative the raider evos and the ATK jig: my question relates to compensation for changes in boot's toe (and overall) position over the ski, between the HY's touring and downhill modes:
When using the ATK Jig (boot's inserts sit in 2 tech-pinned posts, rear lug abuts a single posted-pin) and the HY-designated hole pattern, I'm guessing that this puts boot sole center over the ski's recommended (or one's desired) line in Downhill Mode? (If it does not, I imagine that might mean a HY remount on a ski with raider-egos could get a bit more tricky?) Thanks!

I just received an email saying these are now in stock. They're now showing up as out of stock 1.5 hours later. Has the website not updated or did they already sell out?

When do you expect to see these?

the PR for these say "Th HY is compatible with most alpine skiing, ski mountaineering, and freeride boots." what does that mean. I am assuming this a full size toe lug is required but "ski mountaineering" in their description makes me wonder. Will this work with boots like the Ridge Pro and others with smaller toe lugs.

It could just be me but the binding ramp angle being zero seems maybe an odd choice when it's scratching the itch of a frontside--aggressive--go-wild binding at an incredible weight. I'm interested in getting some forward lean into the equation but what are the heel shim options (how many millimeters and at what added weight?)

Also I assume these are already gobbled up for the Spring release or is that still on the table?

How do you think these will compare to the TR1s? Looks pretty similar in terms of specs. Negative "flat mode" is interesting.

Probably too early but… do you know if the hole pattern is the same as the Raider series? Will it need a new mount (and jig)?

Any idea when these will come in stock? Bumped into a guy named Nikolai Shirmer (SP?) in Engelberg on the Steinberg and he was loving them.