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So 2009 rang in with a nice little package from the Spark folks in Montana.

I've alluded to the fact that Will and the rest of the Spark crew is not just hanging out resting on the success of the Ignitions. Will is not forgetting about the hardbooters either. I ride both hard and soft boots depending on conditions and the tour. I know I (and probably others here) have been bugging Will to make a Dynafit adapter plate set so we can run Dynafit toe pieces and throw our sliders in our pack for the climbs. You know, the old saying 1 lb off the feet is equal to 5 lbs in the pack or whatever it is.

So here is what Will came up with:


Toe piece adapter bolted up nice and easy:


Heel piece adapter bolted up:

Although I ended up moving the heel adapter back one set of holes to get the lifter to align more where I wanted it on my boot.

Then the Dynafit toe pieces and Voile heel lifter bolted right on to the adapters real slick like:


Here it is all ready to go:


Here it is with boots in:


So I hope to get out on this set-up all weekend and report back. Ellis liked it so much he is rocking a similar set-up in Kyrgyzstan. I can’t wait to try it out.

Plus there is more, but I can’t talk about that just yet…….but it is going to rule when it’s all dialed in…


Thanks Will! Keep up the good work. Will mentioned something about the Dynafit adapters being in stock and ready to rock, but you'll have to check with him first.

UB

I'm SO PSYCHED to see these!!! When can I get a pair? I just started doing some work for Scarpa and I was planning on getting some F3 AT boots. The F3s have the TLT attachment, so if I'm correct, this would be the perfect binding set-up. AWESOME job Will!

They look real nice. I am sure this will make UB way faster on the up.

The only thing that will make me faster up the hill is if can find one of those mini Inspector Gadget type heli-hats.

I'll take all the help I can get though and this set-up is silly light for touring.

UB

ME WANT.

So I got several thousand feet of touring in on these over the weekend and am pretty stoked on them.

Step in and step out for ski mode is pretty sweet. They ski really well when the toe piece is locked. If my NS board wasn't such a tank this set-up would be silly light. These adapters with toe pieces on a Mojo or my Prior SH would be rediculous in terms of weight. Even on my NS compared to my Prior SH with Ignition II's the NS/Dynafit set-up is lighter.

A few pics of first outing, no riding pics as I was the guy with the camera.


Touring is a little different since the pivot location is now in front of the toes, where on the Ignition and Voile plates it is closer tot he ball of the foot. There are pro's and con's to each, but the Euro-spandex-randonee crowd swears that the Dynafit pivot point is "ideal" for "egonomics" or whatever. With the pivot closer to the ball of the foot you can do "cheater steps" on short steep sections where you can balance and keep your heel up and not have to put up your heel lifters, you can't do this on the Dynafit set up. But the stride and skinning motion feels a bit more natural with the pivot at the toe. I don't know, need a few more tours, but I like the weight of the Dynafit set-up for sure. This will be my go-to set-up for long tours with firmer snow.

Strap in:

Another look:


I run a 23-in stance with 18-degree front foot and 3-degree rear foot. Can't talk much about the plate binders, if Will wants to chime in he can, but there is another revision or 2 we are working on, but let's just say the lateral flex issue of harboots while riding in board mode will be a thing of the past. In my opinion, the best of both worlds is coming.......

UB

I must say that is pretty sweet. Nice work Will.

From the last picture, i'm guessing the next move will be to integrate the "plate bindings" to the sliding plates... Should be promessing... and super light!

Nice!

Innovation and adaptation at it's finest.

Mmm .... looks really nice. This may be what it takes to convert to hardboots for split mountaineering outings .... keep it up Will

Hey splitters,
Thanks as always for the feedback! I've got some sets of Dynafit adapters and toe pieces in stock here at the shop, we'll try to get them listed in the store tomorrow or the day after. The binder proto will need more work before we bring it to market, just wanted to let you know what we're up to. Thank UnrulyBaker and Schralptowner on this one, there wouldn't even be a proto if it wasn't for those guys.

Very nice Will. Id be all over these if I had Dynafit compatible boots.

UB - I envy your set up of hardboot/dynafit/titan, then softboot/sparks/spearhead for the Pow. One day when I can afford two setups Im going to do something similar....

edit: what about the dynafit heel piece? Or a riser that can be easily lifted with a regular ski pole???

Our Dynafit converter plates and toe pieces are now listed on our online store, have at it! There's some more info on our Dynafits page.