Hy Times for ATK Bindings

ATK might be a young brand in the world of winter sports, but the company behind the Italian binding specialist is much older. It was an established manufacturer of parts for the automotive and ceramic industry when the company first got in touch with ski touring. Based in Fiorano Modenese in the region of Emilia-Romagna—at the foothills of the Apennines and basically next door to Ferrari, but far away from the Alps—it had great competence in machining high precision mechanical parts from metal, but not much connection to snow sports. 

When in 2006 an ambitious ski mountaineering athlete walked into their workshop with a sample of the established, but since years not much improved pin binding—also known as tech binding—the engineers found interest in the task of improving the product. A year later, they had some promising prototypes and decided to found ATK. After another two years, a stripped down, lightweight race binding managed to make waves in the competition scene.

Let’s talk about hybrid bindings for a moment. The still rather new concept of hybrid bindings fully combines the downhill functionality of traditional alpine bindings with the uphill functionality of a pin binding. That means that classic plate bindings like the original Marker Duke aren’t hybrid bindings, and pin bindings with a classic alpine-style heelpiece aren’t hybrid bindings either. Both blend uphill and downhill functionality; but the first don’t have the ease on the ascent that pin bindings offer, and the second can’t be skied with a classic alpine boot without pin inserts.

But why are hybrid bindings necessary? Well, plate bindings are a real hindrance for serious touring, not only because they are heavy per se, but their entire weight needs to be lifted with every step, and the axis of the plate is less favorable for walking. The pin toepiece, on the other hand, not only limits the choice of boots that are compatible with the binding for skiing, it also implies certain limitations in binding functionality. It’s not a problem of stability in a static state, but the limited range of motion before an eventual release compromises the ability to absorb energy in a dynamic skiing scenario. The consequence of such limited energy absorption is either more unwanted releases ,or a bigger risk of injuries because of higher applied retention forces—represented by DIN settings—in order to counteract unwanted releases. (The topic of force versus energy absorption in binding functionality is a topic that asks for its own article and I will try to follow up with one soon.)

Finally, the ATK Hy. This is a real hybrid binding that looks very promising. It’s not really on the market yet. There was a very limited edition available this season for purchase and there are final products around for testing, but if you want to mount a Hy to your own ski, you’ll likely need to wait until next autumn. If you’re really interested, though, I’d suggest you keep tabs on the Hy because demand for these bindings could be big and, since all bindings are manufactured in ATK’s own facility in Italy, production numbers won’t be endlessly scalable.

I had the chance to have an early look at the Hy when ATK introduced the product to their distributors and a host of media representatives in December. It was a classic product presentation: one night followed by a morning of skiing in Cervinia the next day. Due to the very slow start of this winter, I could only bag one run that I would rate as a real off-piste run—one of the ATK ambassadors had found a piste that wasn’t groomed and therefore had a foot of fresh on an actual base—plus some piste skiing and a short hike. What really stood out was how easy the Hy is to operate and how “normal,” from an alpine skier’s perspective, it feels while going downhill.

The heart of the Hy is its toepiece. It features a clever design with a rotating module that functions both as the alpine-style toe bracket and the pin carrier. You simply rotate it by 90° and it takes on the other functionality. When in use, it self-arrests in each position, so no need to lock anything and therefore no chance to forget some important step as a user. It’s really easy, super quick and foolproof. The heel piece doesn’t have to move, since the rotation of the toe module shifts the boot forward in walk mode. So the heel piece only needs to be closed down and the ski brake needs to be locked. Two heel raisers are built into the heelpiece. When changing back into ski mode, simply flip down the toepiece, open the heel piece and you’re ready to step in for skiing. 

One big advantage of this design is that you stand really low and basically flat on the ski while skiing. Since none of the binding pieces needs to be shifted around as a whole, there’s no need for any plates underneath them. Freeriders will love this feature. It’s only in the uphill position that the toe of the boot is raised off the ski, since the module holding the pins rotates upwards a few centimeters for the walk mode. Whether this might pose a problem in certain snow conditions remains to be seen. At my short tryout in Cervinia it wasn’t bothersome at all. In fact, with stiff freeride boots in flatter terrain, it’s a feat since it results in a negative rise when no heel raiser is used; you can still move backwards with your calf while walking. For steeper terrain, there are two heel raisers which are easy to handle. Overall the Hy offers walking modes of -18, +10 or +34 mm.

The Hy will be available in two versions, one with a release range of 4-11 and one with 6-13 (and both versions will be available in black or white variants). ATK calls it the “release range,” since it is not yet decided whether the Hy will be DIN certified, but the retention forces are at the levels of the respective DIN settings. While this range may sound a bit low at the upper end for some, it’s worth remembering that the Hy in downhill mode is a full alpine binding with a relevant displacement before final release of the boot—ATK specifies 7 mm of elastic travel for the heel piece and 18 mm on each side for the toe piece. That’s a big difference over a classic tech binding. As I already mentioned before, this displacement is relevant in dynamic skiing scenarios, and the energy absorption before a release depends on how the retention force increases in respect to the displacement. ATK showed some graphs on this matter that looked really good, and it suggests that the Hy will work well for most skiers in its available release range. It seems to work for their team rider Nikolai Schirmer, at least. 

In terms of boot compatibility, the Hy works with most ski boots in downhill mode, whether they are classic alpine boots, modern freeride hybrid boots or traditional touring boots; for uphill mode you need a boot with pin inserts, of course. In order to fit different soles of a great variety of boot types, it is necessary to adjust the platform height of the toe piece in downhill mode. While many bindings deal with this adjustment via a screw mechanism, ATK opted for a solution with spacers. The reasoning behind it is that alpine boots have stiff and rather low profile soles that need a lot of rise. ATK uses rubber spacers in this case to add vibration absorption. For high-profile, rather soft touring soles, there are slim, hard plastic spacers for direct interaction. A feature of the Hy is that it can be used with different types of boots; it’s not likely, though, that customers will change their boots all the time—there is an adjustment range in heel piece positioning of 25 mm in case you do. Anyway, it is advised to check compatibility of a specific boot with the Hy before purchase, but a vast majority of available boots will work.