the shocking way your bindings can break, and how to keep it from happening to you

This was a first for me! A few weeks back I headed out on a pow day ready to rip. After a couple of lifts, I hiked up to the top of Long Shot and noticed a small crack in the back of my highback. Not an ideal time for a break but the binding was still functioning so no biggie right? Well, later that afternoon I looked down to see the pressure of the day had severed the highback in half and was now dangling by a thread. An unfortunate end to a bluebird day but figured it was better to stop early than risk further breaking the binding or hurting myself.

Still a bit shocked and confused, I headed up to Radio Board Shop for help. Turns out it’s super common for highbacks to get clipped by chairlifts after big snowstorms. Since the platforms are much closer to the bottom of the chairs, if your highback is upright it will likely get caught and crushed by the chair as you get off. Fortunately, a super easy fix! Radio set me up with a temporary highback and I was able to contact Union Binding Co. customer service to get a replacement in the mail. $13 later and we are back in business.

Now how to prevent. Definitely not rocket science but no one had explicitly told me to do this so I’m passing along my wisdom to you. When loading and unloading from the chairlift make sure your back highback is bent down so it’s laying flat. That’s it! All there is to it. A super simple step that will keep you boarding longer and save the headaches associated with malfunctioning gear. Now go tell 5 of your friends and #savethehighbacks!