Tyrolia Adrenalin 13 short

There are so many options out there these days when it comes to choosing a framed freeride touring binding and it can be incredibly hard to decide which bindings you want to pick to help get your fix of sidecountry and backcountry skiing. When it came time for me to select a binding, I looked at Marker (Barons and Dukes), Salomon/Atomic (Guardian/Tracker) and Tyrolia (Adrenaline and Ambition). In the end I decided to go with the Tyrolia Adrenalin bindings for a few very specific reasons. They are lighter weight than their Marker and Salomon/Atomic counterparts, they seem to be just as durable and more functional (in my opinion). I didn't like the Salomon/Atomic bindings because you have to adjust the riser bar so that your bindings don't clip back in each time you step down, and I didn't like the Marker bindings because you have to pull your boot out of the binding to transition from ski mode to hike mode and vice versa. In the end I purchased the Tyrolia Adrenalin 13 bindings since they were less expensive than the Tyrolia Ambition bindings and had a higher Din rating. I have used them for around a hundred days of resort skiing and have probably twenty days of backcountry skiing on them. In this review I will write about skiing with the bindings, touring with the bindings, my setup experience with these bindings, and traveling with these bindings.

Skiing with the Tyrolia Adrenalin 13

Most people that have skied on a pair of framed freeride bindings know that you often times get a dead spot in the flex of the ski where the binding is. The Tyrolia Adrenalin 13 does not have this issue. One of the things that Tyrolia did with the Adrenaline is that they made it a "floating" binding, this allows the binding to move as the ski flexes, which in turn allows the ski to flex where it would otherwise have a dead spot. Having come from a racing background I found this an incredibly nice feature for this binding. Most of my skis have a racing plate, or a riser plate, that allows the ski to have a consistent flex throughout the body of the ski. It also adds extra height that allows the skier to get the ski "on edge" easier, but can be hard on your knees. The plate on the Tyrolia Adrenalin has a similar effect on the skis that you choose to mount them on. They allow the ski to have a more consistent flex, and while the height of the plate is not nearly as extreme as a racing plate, it still makes it easier to get your skis on edge while not as hard on your knees. All in all these features make the Tyrolia Adrenaline one of my favorite bindings to ski on in resorts. With this being said I do like to have a much lower profile binding (to keep my boot as close to the ski as possible) on my fat skis so that my knees don't kill me at the end of the day. The reason for this is because the fatter the ski the more forces that are on your knee, and the higher the binding is from the snow the more forces that are on you knee. So, my super fat 127mm underfoot skis get the Tyrolia Attack bindings so that my boot can be as close to the ski as possible. With all of this being said, if you have a ski that is 110mm underfoot or smaller I would recommend that you look at the Tyrolia Adrenaline bindings for day to day resort skiing, especially if you are considering going into the sidecountry or backcountry.

Touring with the Tyrolia Adrenalin 13

As touring bindings go, the Tyrolia Adrenaline 13s are really heavy, that being said they are still lighter than the Marker Barons, and the Salomon/Atomic Guardian/Tracker 13s. So, if you want to use a framed freeride binding the Tyrolia Adrenalin 13 is a great binding to use since it is the lightest of the framed freeride bindings. That being said if you want to use a binding that is a little more touring oriented you may want to try the Tyrolia Ambition 12s, or the Fritschi Diamir pro bindings. Anyhow the point of this review isn't to give you other options when it comes to bindings it's to let you know my thoughts on the binding when you are touring. Now that we have gone over the weight of the binding you can see why I choose the binding I did, at least from a weight perspective. The next reason that I chose this binding was due to the way that the binding releases into hike mode, and the different climbing angles that the riser bar can go to. While you are using your ski pole it is incredibly easy to transition from ski mode to hike mode, and hike mode to ski mode, as long as you don't get too much snow built up in the bottom of the framing plate. This makes it easy to transition when you have some short downhills in your hike. The next thing I really like about this binding is the different angles that you can hike at. It has three climbing settings and they cover most of the slopes that you will be hiking on. That being said I would like another higher setting for when I climb steeper slopes. I think that the worst part about using these bindings is that after a climb, where you have been cutting the trail, snow and ice builds up in the base of the plate because it has a honeycomb structure that packs snow and ice in. This is a small price to pay for the benefits of this binding over the other bindings that I could have chosen. The thing to remember is that every binding has it's pros and cons and that you need to select a binding that fits your needs and for me the Tyrolia Adrenalin meets my needs. 

Setting up the Tyrolia Adrenalin 13

Setting up the Tyrolia Adrenalin 13 is slightly more difficult than setting up a normal binding. The reason for this is that it is both Alpine Din compatible, your typical ski boots, and Alpine Touring compatible, your walk to ride rockered ski boots. This means that you need to adjust your toe piece for the boots that you are using. The toe piece does have markings for where you should adjust the binding to for Alpine Din soles, which does make it slightly more simple. Everything else is really easy to set up, the Din setting is changed just like most bindings and the heel piece adjusts just like a demo binding does. Over all these bindings are easy to setup, and even come with a plastic mounting jig but if you are not accustomed to setting bindings up you may want to take these to a ski shop to mount. 

Traveling with the Tyrolia Adrenalin 13

Traveling with these bindings can be a pain, I flew with my skis this last season and when I got to where I was going the airline company had adjusted my toe piece and I needed to readjust them when I got to where I was going. The problem, I didn't notice until I was already skiing and noticed that I had some slop in my bindings. Luckily there are always screwdrivers that you can use at resorts, and I always carry a screwdriver when I go into the backcountry. 

Conclusion

All in all I am very happy with these bindings and highly recommend them to anyone that is looking to use a framed freeride binding. Anytime that I want a ski that can tour but will mostly be used for resort skiing the Tyrolia Adrenalin 13 is what my skis will be mounted with.