Salomon Shift MNC 13 Binding

The Good: It skis like an alpine binding
The Bad: It's heavy, and when not set up properly is prone to preleasing. It's also a little more complicated to transition than a true tech binding.

The shift gets a lot of hate from Facebook groups, and I'm sure the crew at Skimo cringes whenever someone walks in the door asking for one, but they do have a few great use cases:

1. On an (mostly) alpine ski that can go on shorter tours or is used for sidecountry missions.

2. For very fit individuals who want a one-ski-quiver

3. For people who want the safety of an alpine binding in the backcountry, and are not worried about some extra weight.

4. For people who backcountry ski in more visited places or low-snow areas and aren't skiing fresh snow. Sure you could make the argument that with a lighter setup they could walk farther and avoid crowds - but this isn't always as easy as it seems.

I was very into the initial hype when these first came out and bought them as soon as they were available. After skiing them on a few different pairs of skis over 100 days or so I can say they are pretty junk.

In bounds, they are almost too elastic and don't feel nearly as secure as most bindings, they do have better power transfer than any pin binding I've used though. The brakes are also very flimsy and don't hold the skis together well.

As for touring performance, they are pretty darn heavy, and hard to go more than one transition without having icing problems in the toe and brake, which pre-releases often. They also are flimsy feeling when putting any torque on the toe in something like a steep kick turn.

I would only recommend these to someone who rarely tours in any kind of powder, skis at least 90% of the time in bounds, and is very concerned about release values. I strongly recommend getting tech bindings if you are on the fence.

I just want to note for those considering Shifts, get your local ski shop (including Skimo) to double check the brake width. In general, they run wide, but it does depend on the ski.

100 mm brakes are the right size for my 106 mm Salomon QST skis. 110 is ok but unnecessary and tend to catch when skinning, and I'm annoyed at not-to-be-disclosed-name shop for installing 110s even though I asked them to check!

The holy grail of touring bindings is a binding that skis like a Look Pivot 18 and walks like a race binding. Is this it? No. Is it close? Kind of.

First, walk mode performance:
Obviously these things weigh way more than any race binding (or even regular touring binding) and you'll feel that on long days. But they otherwise feel like any other pin binding in regular use. That being said, they have a few drawbacks in my mind. 1) The heel riser is less easy to use than the flippy risers on most bindings and there's only one riser height. 2) You can sometimes walk out of the toe. Even if you lock the toe to the second click (which takes a decent amount of force) the toes can come unclamped when stomping to edge into harder snow or a breakable crust. This has never happened to me in any other touring binding with the toe locked over hundreds of days of touring, and is quite annoying and could potentially be catastrophic (i.e. if you're on an icy slope and the ski slides away). 3) The brakes don't stay stowed. I don't know why this is so hard to make work properly, but the brakes on these deploy just frequently enough to make it annoying.

As for downhill performance:
Like uphill performance, in normal use these are great. They aren't quite as confidence inspring as Pivots in chunder, but they ski significantly better than any other touring binding that I've skied. When you stay attached to them at least. And therein lies the problem - I'm one of the unlucky ones who has had major issues with pre-releases on my shifts. I've had them adjusted by two well respected shops, and I've adjusted them myself (I normally mount and adjust all of my bindings on my own but wanted to double check that I wasn't just making a stupid mistake that was causing this). In addition to trying the proper setup, I've also tried upping my DIN, Cody Townsend's method of of adjusting the AFD, and adjusting the AFD far higher up than it's meant to be. In all cases I experienced pre-releases, including once on the transition in between drops on a double cliff drop. That wasn't fun. The problem is that the AFD would, over the course of a day, drop down in height. No matter what I did it would always do this. So at the start of the day it would be set properly and ski fine, but after an hour or two the AFD would drop and I would start pre-releasing. I would adjust it back to the proper height (or even a step or two - or in an extreme case of frustration, several steps) above the proper height) but it would always sink back down.

I know a lot of people have had a lot of success with Shifts. Maybe the techs at the shops I visited were jongs and I'm a complete idiot and none of us adjusted the bindings properly. Or maybe a small (but large enough that there are many reports on the internet of the same) fraction of Shifts have issues with the AFD. Either way, after taking many a big fall due to pre-release on these guys, I have lost faith in their ability to keep me attached to my skis.

Shifts are an incredible idea, and I really hope that they can make something like this work properly in the future, but for now I'm going to stick to regular touring bindings (and maybe a CAST setup for rowdier days if and when I can afford it).

I have 1st iteration of the Shifts they have been my main binding for 3 years and still going strong. I use them as my resort binding and my backcountry binding. They do everything I want them to including keeping my knees intact. I've dropped 30'+ cliffs, stomped and crashed many tricks, hit backcountry jumps and rail groomers. The most vert I have been able to muster on them is 6000'. I am sure someone stronger could do more, but they are a notable weight on the ski.

Pros
- lightest alpineish binding on the market
- Ride it all, with a tech toe on the up

Cons
- Heavy compared to other tech bindings
- Not the easiest toe transitions
- If you bump the brake the wrong way while touring up it can pop down (annoying)
- Over time the AFD on the toe drops, so just check that every season.
- Some people have prerelease issues (not me, Im 160lbs, 9.5 din toes, 11din heels)

All in all I would buy these again for my resort/backcountry ski

I've toured about 30k on these bindings, and my wife has used them for the past couple of years. The shifts are a revolution in the freeride/resort touring binding category. A lot of dedicated ski tourers like to give shifts a hard time, but they work extremely well for many use cases.

If you have never toured on a frame binding (marker duke/baron, guardian, etc) then you may never know just how great the shift is. Frame bindings in comparison are heavier, place that extra weight on your foot, and place the pivot point far in front of your toe. This adds up to a "baby giraffe" walking experience. The shifts provide a more natural pivot point and lower weight. It feels like you are just touring on heavy pin tech bindings. The shifts have completely displaced frame bindings - they are that superior. In this category, there are other comparable options out there such as the cast system and the duke pt, but these are much much heavier and probably only necessary if you are hucking > 30' cliffs.

Skiing performance is just as you'd hope - they ski like an alpine binding.

Touring wise, they work well but are vulnerable to icing and snow packing in the right conditions. Like all touring bindings, you need to take the time to understand how they work and learn where snow/ice accumulates and how to clear them for safe function. These bindings have only one climbing option and it feels a bit low. I'd like to see a second climbing bar added in the future. Lastly, if you not careful and step on the brake arms while touring, the brakes will unlock from their stowed position. This can be remedied by adopting a slightly wider, straighter stance which comes with experience.

So what are the use cases?
1. Ski touring curious - you are a resort skier and want a setup to try touring, but you are not sure how often you will go.
2. Travel ski - take these on a trip when you will be resort skiing and touring
3. Freeride Touring - if you want to huck and ski pillows in the backcountry
4. 50/50 setup - you like to tour and you like to resort ski, and you want one setup to do it all
5. Ski tourer who wants din certified release characteristics

What use cases will want to look elsewhere?
1. Dedicated ski tourer - you can get much lighter pin tech bindings that'll do the job
2. Extreme freeride tourer - duke pt or cast system probably, or a heli and pivots :)

Lastly - I took off one star due to: icing problems, one of my toe pieces has trouble staying locked in tour mode, and brakes deploying while touring.

does 30mm of BSL adjustment mean that if someone else wants to use a pair of skis with Shift bindings, they have to be within + or - 15mm (or within ~1 mondopoint) of my BSL? I am debating on which bindings to use for the second mount on a pair of skis. I want other people to be able to use the skis later on and am also considering some demo tech bindings.

Double checking that the Solomon shift binding comes with brakes? 1 picture shows with and the other picture shows without?

Do you sell or can you order the heel plate of Salomon shift bindings?

Do you guys know the clearance width on the 110 brakes? Looking to put these on boundary 115 skis, would prefer the narrower brakes if they'll fit. Thanks!

I would like to put the Shift on a 122mm ski. Reading some of the other comments/reviews it sounds like the brakes come wider than advertised. Will the 120mm Shift brake fit my 122mm ski?

I recently ordered the Atomic Shift bindings with a 100mm brake, but I would prefer to use a 90 mm brake, which the ski shop said would be able to fit my 104mm width skis. Is there a way for me to buy the brake only? Thanks.

Still getting to know these bindings, but for those who miss alpine bindings, or were previously maintaining an MNC compatible resort setup, these are awesome... a stable feeling on the down, without too much issue on the ups. The switch from ski to walk and back on the toes can be tricky, but learned quickly. The toe pins are not a nice "step in" like a good radical toe, but you can hook one side and get the other in.

Highly recommended if you want downhill performance, and are a strong skinner... if looking for an everyday touring binder, perhaps something lighter will make sense

Do you have a crampon compatible with these bindings? Dynafit crampons don't seem to be compatible. Thanks.

I moved from the gentle powder of Colorado to the humid crust of the Alps a couple years ago and realised how much more forgiving the snow in the Rockies is than the stuff we get here. As such, this winter I changed over some of my gear to be able to charge a little more on the incredible terrain we have here.

Part of that, putting Shift bindings on my Corvus Freebirds and Faction Dictator 1.0s. I've got probably 40 days on the two set-ups combined and can say that the bindings are incredible. Like the other poster, I had never used an alpine binding before, other than a couple runs at a ski demo, and was greatly impressed with the power and smoothness of these.

They are easy to transition, but the heel is a bit less-easy than the toe.

The killer is the weight. They are pigs. You have to really want it to add a pound per foot.

What these have done to me is made me rethink my entire ski quiver - I used to like touring reasonably long days with my Corvus, but at 2.5kg per foot with the Shifts, they are just a bit too heavy and are relegated to free-rando use now (some lift-assist, cat skiing, or single-run big objectives).

I'll adapt, sell some other gear and buy some new toys (alright, I'm pretty excited to do that, honestly...). The thing is that this is not a binding for most ski tourers. It's a hoss that does what it does better than any other binding out there, but it does it with a big weight penalty that isn't necessary for a gross-majority of randonnée skiing.

I've done probably 30 days on this binding thus far (southern winter, hence got em early).

It's no hyperbole that the Shift is such a revolutionary product. I've only ever skied traditional tech bindings, and never even owned alpine gear. Coming from that perspective, they are obviously quite a bit heavier, but I find the weight to be worth it for the style of descent they provide.

The big thing I noticed was power transfer and elasticity - you can go fast and take hits from variable snow that usually would've been much harsher in comparison to something like an ATK FreeRaider. The release seems good. Had one fall where both skis came off as needed. They also seem to be much more stable on teeth-chattering ice than standard tech bindings.

Transitions are pretty easy, and it won't take you long to get an efficient system in place. I find stepping in can be tricky (lining up the heel), but I often just reach down to lift the heel lever up to step in. I like the simplicity of the heel riser - a good reminder that far too many people set stupidly steep tracks!

Overall, I can thoroughly recommend the Shift. I think that Tectons could be a great option too, but if you want that little bit more elastic retention and burliness, the Shift is the answer you've been looking for.

Note: Brakes tend on the wide side. I can get a 110mm over a 116mm ski.