At bindings

marker baron would be the best choice on the pandora, you don't want to put a naxo/rottefeller on there (trust me i have them on e.p's and they are slop buckets and i have broken them 9 times in 2 seasons no joke). there is the fritchi option i have owend(broken 2 pairs) but they have a high stand height, and develop slop overtime, and don't have a significnant weight advantage over the baron. black diamond has a pair out now i don't know much about them, but if you  are more about the down then then up, you would want to go with barons. i have skied dukes for 2 seasons now with no issues and am really happy with there downhill performance. out of these 3 touring bindings i skied fritchi / naxo / marker i wouldn't trust anything else in the back country marker is the only option on the market right now.

(dynafit is a whole different picture)

I would say get freeride +'s as much as people may rant and rave about the duke i hate mine. I am 155lbs and am skiing a din 14.5 and still popping out of the suckers when i dont want to. Markers pre-release way to much, im not the only person with this issue. aka this is not an isolated case. Never had a problem with my freerides.

If you plan to ski inbounds as well you arnt bc skiing, go for the baron/duke as the freeride will disappoint with lateral stiffness on hardpack.


make sure you have beacon+training, probe, and shovel before going into the bc, never go alone.

thats funny, i hated my fritchi, found naxos better for uphill and downhill (except durability)
to the post about pre realeasing, what do your din soles look like, is your forward pressure adjusted properly, is the toe afd adjusted properly, theres lots of reasons why could would pre realease. imho duke.baron is the only option for slack country and dynafit is the only option for big tours. the other companys are stuck in the middle scratching there heads, i'm excited to see the salomon touring binding when it drops.

^^^ listen to this man^^^ he knows his stuff

my forward pressure, height, all are adjusted perfectly, i have even gotten a second opinion. My boots may be the issue, i am picking up new ones tomorrow and by sunday I should be qualified to write up another review. Dont get me wrong the binding is stiff and responsive, excellent inbounds/slackcountry binding minus the lack of ramp angle.

Dynafit is the current god of AT bindings, maybe that will change with some new companies with improved heel designs on the horizon.

Its your call, rent some test em...its all personal preference.

Keep in mind the naxo is discontinued so finding parts if it breaks might be hard.

i hope you have better luck with the new boots, i was getting spit out of mine when landing switch, so my heel pieces are 10 and my toes are 9. 

Baron/Duke is a great ski binding that can tour, and the Dyna FT12 is a great touring binding that can ski. The whole Dynafit compatible boot thing sucks though. Frischli and Naxo both elevate you too much to get a good feel for the ski, unless you used to race slalom/GS. Plus they are mostly plastic, which creates durability issues. For a fat ski like the Pandora and minimal touring experience, Baron/Duke is the only way to go.

ski the fritshi freeride plus with rubber soled boots. unless u have some cash to spend then get a dfit or onyx setup. the baron would also work if you have llegs of steel, but i have found my dukes to not be able to stay in steep skin tracks unless you are one of the first few people on the track. also the dukes and barons have a mounting plate which is bare when you are touring and it can get iced up and its a pain in the ass to get it clean and your binding locked back down (for me anyway)

it would help our suggestions too if you were to say what you are looking for out of your touring  binding.....

short tours and more aggressive skiing once a week  with alot of inbounds skiing id get a baron
touring often all distances some inbounds id get a free ride plus
backcountry domination would be a dynafit set up. i rarely ski my dfits in bounds.

and like i said rubber soled boots are going to make your at bindings much more reliable

I have last years freerides, did the CB extremes with them, and had no issues. It really comes down to what kind of touring you're doing. I have a preference for freerides because the bar lets my ski flex evenly underfoot, I can switch between touring and a locked heel with my pole, and its been pretty bombproof for me.

I know 5 other people who swear by freerides for long tours.

Barons > bootpacking

this is true, on a fat ski the naxo/fricshi fell way to sloppy.

if you are going to keep your skiing under an 1:30 hrs baron/duke is the way to go. if your looking to do more then that you would want to look at a dedicated AT set up.

This sounds like a skin issue or a technique issue, I've gotten my Dukes with G3 Alpinist nylon skins up some pretty steep pitches that friends on Naxos/Freerides had to switchback on, despite their higher lifter bar angle. The Duke/Baron can get up just as much as anything else, despite how people criticize the lower lifter bar settings. But legs of steel do help with Markers, mostly because of weight.