Over the past few weeks I’ve gotten several reliable reports about the plastic base plates of Dynafit bindings breaking. Seems the slot that holds the Dynafit crampon is somewhat fragile, and the area under the Comfort model touring lock is as well (the lever you pull up to lock the bindings in tour mode). Dynafit told me that next year’s bindings will have stronger base plates.
Also reported to me: Life-Link is being very helpful with warranty replacements for Dynafit bindings. More, they’ve sold thousands of the things, and I’ve only heard of a handful breaking, so don’t panic when you see comments about this on web forums and such.
I’ve mounted quite a few pair of Dynafit Comforts, and from day-1 was suspicious of the plate strength under the touring latch, so I’ve always squirted a bit of silicon RTV under it while mounting, to fill the voids and ostensibly make it more resistant to cracking — that probably won’t be necessary with next year’s crop of bindings.
Failure of the Dynafit crampon slot is not catastrophic, and the binding will still function in downhill mode if the plate breaks under the touring latch — though you’ll have a long trip out with a fixed heel if the going gets flat. As always, for expedition use carry a complete spare binding — no matter what binding you use. Most people I know who use Dynafit carry NO spare parts and have had no problem with that — though any savvy skier should still carry repair items such as duct tape, screw driver for binding screws, and other favorite gewgaws.
WildSnow.com publisher emeritus and founder Lou (Louis Dawson) has a 50+ years career in climbing, backcountry skiing and ski mountaineering. He was the first person in history to ski down all 54 Colorado 14,000-foot peaks, has authored numerous books about about backcountry skiing, and has skied from the summit of Denali in Alaska, North America’s highest mountain.