Buying Right

Step-ins Hit Full Stride
By Mark North

The welcoming ease of step-in snowboard bindings may have converted legions of skiers, but only recently have they earned slope-cred among the natives. Even the holdouts, who've willingly futzed over their conventional bindings with each chairlift ride, might try this season's refined designs. Most of these systems — which operate like ski bindings or clipless bicycle pedals, except they don't release when you fall — use spring-loaded pegs or recessed cleats to connect compatible boots and bindings.

After four years of trying, manufacturers have overcome old pitfalls of various connecting mechanisms. Now they all perform well, which means choosing a boot should be your first order of business. Not all step-in boots equally mimic the responsiveness of conventional systems, with their highback structure and snug straps. As for fit, you want your heel to stay grounded — if it lifts in the shop, toe-side turns will be sloppy. Likewise, any pressure points will cause blisters. Look for supportive laces, heelhold straps, and adjustable forward lean — the key to responsive carving.

1. Device's Argon Linerless Freeride ($199; 800-713-1860) dresses like a traditional soft boot with its flexible sole and upper, yet it offers a responsive ride — particularly on heel-side turns. Credit the stiff, built-in highback and clever coupling of Device's Electron binding ($149): A peg behind the heel and a recessed bar at the toe of the lightweight boot give you firm command over your board's edges. Step in toe-first as you do with a ski binding.

2. Like the Device system, Rossignol's FS SIS boot ($249; 802-863-2511) seems soft, but a Sorel it's not. Rossignol boasts a stiff liner, an external strap to secure your heel, and a tongue with a removable plastic insert for adjustable flex. The FS SIS 360 binding ($159) uses two side-mounted pins that allow you
to paw at it from any odd angle to engage — the quickest off the lift.

3. Shimano's linerless Skylord boot ($239; 800-972-4038) provides a taller, beefier all-mountain ride, designed with big air in mind. The manufacturer essentially took a traditional binding and built a sturdy boot around it with an internal highback, adjustable cant and lean, and straps galore. The current generation of K2's aluminum Clicker SST binding ($189), developed with Shimano, rides much stiffer than last year's, making carving more achievable. Bonus: Shock-absorbing elastomer gaskets beneath the base plates smooth out the iciest of runs.

4. For big-mountain free riding, where support and responsiveness are everything, nothing beats Blax's I-5V ($309; 617-937-9979). Internal and external laces, a ratcheting ankle strap, and an internal highback that you can fine-tune for forward lean replicate the performance of a sturdy traditional setup. Blax's elegantly simple binding ($59) uses two moorings that lock onto the boot's two side-mounted retractable pins. A stiff release cord with a T-handle extends up the rider's calf and beyond stooping reach, making the system all the more convenient.

5. Batten down the hatches on Switch's Flexible Axel Pro ($249; 415-777-9415) and you're standing in the stiffest boot we tested — an ideal choice for carving. Dual hook-and-loop straps secure the liner to the foot, while a ratcheting forward-lean strap, an instep strap, and a rigid shank bolster the rest of the package. The sole rides in direct contact with the board's surface, via Switch's sleek Autolock 750 binding ($199), which connects to bales on either side of the boot.

6. Step-in convenience aside, it's hard to beat the performance of a conventional setup like the Drifter boot ($210) and Custom Freestyle binding ($170) from Burton (800-881-3138). The versatile Drifter delivers precision heel- and toe-side response in one of the lightest, most supportive soft boots around. The Custom Freestyle binding set the industry standard with its patented quick-release ratcheting buckles, and its refined Skyback binding — with a taller, more responsive highback, shock-absorbing padded footbeds, and lock-down forward lean adjusters — promises to keep classic setups alive.

Photographs by Clay Ellis