What this document settles
It fixes requirements and test methods for bindings used in ski touring — bindings that must hold the boot for a descent and release the heel for a climb. The two states are the point: a touring binding has a walk mode and a ski mode, and the document is concerned with how it behaves in both and in the transition.
Three constructions share the shelf. A frame binding carries a conventional toe and heel on a hinged plate, and skis closest to an alpine binding at the cost of weight. A pin binding grips the boot on two toe pins and is dramatically lighter. A hybrid puts a pin toe under an alpine-style heel.
Release is where the constructions diverge most. A touring binding may declare a release value on a scale, and many do; the lightest race bindings may make no release claim at all, and are sold on that basis.
What it does not promise
It does not promise the alpine release behaviour. The document is separate from the alpine one for a reason, and a touring binding is not a substitute for an alpine binding on a piste ski.
It does not cover the boot. A pin binding needs toe inserts, and inserts are a fitting on the boot rather than anything this document requires.
It does not make two pin bindings interchangeable. A ski crampon made for one maker’s binding does not enter another’s slot, and the crampon shelf on this site is where that shows up hardest.
It does not say the toe should be locked. That is a decision on the hill, described in the maker’s own instructions, and this site reports what those instructions say rather than restating them.
What it is read alongside
The touring boot sole standard, which decides what the frame bindings grip; the alpine binding requirements, which the frame constructions resemble and the pin constructions do not; and the assembly procedure, written around alpine equipment and applied to touring setups with the maker’s own reservations.
Where it turns up on this site
Bindings, touring skis, boots and ski crampons — the last because a crampon is bought for a binding and a binding width in millimetres is meaningless without the system name beside it.
This site handles it in one way, consistently. A touring binding page prints the construction, the release range where the maker declares one and the words “no release value declared” where they do not, the stated weight per binding, and the ski crampon widths and system the maker lists. It does not describe any of them as safe.
The questions asked most often
Does a pin binding release like an alpine one?
Some are built and declared to release to a defined value; others are not, and a lightweight race binding may be sold with no release claim at all. The listing states it or it does not, and a page here prints which.
What does locking the toe do?
It stops the toe releasing, which is what a skier wants on an exposed climb and the opposite of what they want going down. Every touring page here states whether the toe locks and whether the maker says to unlock it for the descent.
Is a frame binding covered by this or by the alpine standard?
Frame bindings are touring bindings that carry an alpine-style toe and heel on a hinged frame, and they are the part of this shelf closest to alpine behaviour. What a particular model is built to is stated by its maker.
Last reviewed 28 September 2026