“Hybrid” bindings are all the rage these days, and for good reason — they promise the downhill performance and release characteristics of alpine bindings while providing you with the ability to skin uphill in a tech / pin setup.
Today, Tyrolia throws their own offering into the ring, in the form of the new Attack Hybrid platform.
Similar to the Salomon / Atomic / Armada Shift2, Marker Duke PT, CAST Freetour 2.0, and ATK Hy Free, the Attack Hybrid functions pretty much like a regular alpine binding in downhill mode, but it has an uphill toe piece that works like a typical tech / pin binding.
But how does it actually work?
In short, the Attack Hybrid features a heel piece that’s very similar to the standard Attack heel, but with a latch / button to lock the brakes for uphill mode and a single climbing riser so you can skin with your foot flat on the heel or raised to a stated 9°. (If you look at the Attack Hybrid 14 images above, the brake lock and climbing riser are both gold.)
Up front, the Attack Hybrid features swappable toe pieces that slide on and off a metal plate with a quick-release tab that’s very similar to the demo / rental version of the Attack platform. The downhill / alpine toe is nearly identical to a regular Attack toe, while the uphill / tech toe is very similar to Tyrolia’s Almonte touring binding.
So, when touring with the Attack Hybrid, you’d keep whichever toe piece you’re not using in your backpack (they come with a protective case) and then swap them during transitions. The Attack Hybrid’s tech toe reportedly offers an “emergency mode” that allows you to ski down using the tech toe (e.g., in case you forget / lose your alpine toes), but that’s just for worst-case scenarios — you want to ski with the alpine toe.
The Attack Hybrid reportedly uses more than 50% renewable plastics, as well as a 30% carbon-fiber composition that brings the weight down to a stated 880 grams per binding in uphill mode and 1125 grams for downhill mode for the Attack Hybrid 14 (the Attack Hybrid 11 is about 60 grams lighter per binding).
UPDATE: Expect an upcoming First Look with all the specs, but for now, our measured weights for the Attack Hybrid 14 with 110 mm brakes are:
- 883 g per binding for uphill mode (i.e., plates, tech toes, & heel pieces)
- 1134 g per binding for downhill mode (i.e., plates, downhill toes, & heel pieces)
- 1256 g per binding for all parts (i.e., plates, tech toes, downhill toes, & heel pieces)
- 162.5 g for protective case for carrying toe pieces
Tyrolia says the heel stack height is 32 mm and the ramp angle (aka, heel-to-toe delta) is 4 mm in ski mode.
The Attack Hybrid will be available in two variants, with the Attack Hybrid 14 covering a DIN range of 4-14 and the Attack Hybrid 11 spanning 3-11. Both feature adjustable “MN” toes so that they can work with all ISO-certified binding sole norms (i.e., Alpine, GripWalk, & Touring).
We’ve got two Attack Hybrid bindings in for long-term testing, so keep an eye out for more coverage as we spend time on them this season.
Related Articles & Reviews:
Tyrolia Attack Hybrid 14 MN/PT Ski-Touring Binding
Tyrolia has entered the “hybrid” category of touring bindings by expanding their well-known Attack series with the all-new Hybrid 14 MN/PT. Check out our First Look for our measured specs and all the details on this new system.
Flash Review: 25/26 Head Kore 118Ti
Crested Butte has gotten 30+ inches of new snow in the past few days, so we’ve been breaking out several new pow skis. First up is the Kore 118Ti, which represents a pretty big shift for the Kore series. Here are our initial thoughts.
Blister’s Flash Reviews and Deep Dives are accessible to those who purchase one of our paid subscriptions
To get our comprehensive Deep Dives and our initial, unfiltered reports on new gear, become a member and receive many other services, deals, and discounts.
If you’re already an active member, please log in.
(If you’re already logged in and a member in good standing and seeing this message in error, please refresh this page in your browser.)
Head Overhauls Kore Skis for 25/26 + Launches Dual-BOA Kaliber Boots
Head is making big changes to their lineup for 25/26, including a complete overhaul of their longstanding Kore skis, the new dual-BOA Kaliber boot collection, and more. Here are all the details.
When they say “weigh in up/downhill mode” are they conveniently ignoring the fact that you still have to carry the other toe piece?
Let’s have the weight of the whole binding, including all the parts you need to go up AND down.
That’s a good point, but because of angular momentum and the need to move the skis forward, weight on the skis has 3-5 times the impact on energy consumption compared to weight in the backpack.
I assume that’s the assumption they’re making, and it’s the one that CAST and Marker make for their stated weights for their respective systems. But we’ll be getting our own measured weights shortly.
Marker’s “downhill” weight IS the complete system weight though, isnt it?
To be clear, I think it’s very useful to know just the uphill weight on the ski (although the only study* I’ve seen lists 1.71x more effort for weight on the feet, not 3-5x) and just the DH weight (if your just riding lifts, you can leave the tech toe at home).
It’s just that total weight is equally, if not more important.
* https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19188892/
So funny to see these come to market. I created my own version of these several years ago:
https://youtu.be/hiifCYU3WoE?si=R6iRq9gzGwzXU_FF
Rad work. So you didn’t have any hand in Tyrolia’s effort? They never contacted you?
Hi tjaard. I inserted an update into the article above, to list our measured weights for the binding parts in various configurations. I am pasting it right here, too:
–
UPDATE: Expect an upcoming First Look with all the specs, but for now, our measured weights for the Attack Hybrid 14 with 110 mm brakes are:
883 g per binding for uphill mode (i.e., plates, tech toes, & heel pieces)
1134 g per binding for downhill mode (i.e., plates, downhill toes, & heel pieces)
1256 g per binding for all parts (i.e., plates, tech toes, downhill toes, & heel pieces)
162.5 g for protective case for carrying toe pieces
–
Also, later today, I will take time to comment here about the screw pattern, and the “interesting” tool-less removability of the heel pieces.
Tjaard, is this so you can say how heavy it is compared to Shifts, Kingpin, or any other touring binding? If it is anything similar to the Duke PT, the two toe pieces combined weigh less than a sixteen ounce bottle of water. When you carry a bottle of water in your pack, does it just weigh you down SOOOO much? If someone invented some amazing device that converted touring/tech bindings into an actual DIN 13-16 with all the elasticity/capability/power of a Look Pivot or Marker Jester for those days that you aren’t lightly fluffing your way through powder, AND it only weighed <250 grams per side, would you be interested? Oh hello, they already have.
It is not so I can say anything, it is so we can compare it.
Right now we don’t know because they don’t tell us what a complete binding weighs.
If you don’t care, that’s fine, but for the rest of us, either mention all the weight specs, or none at all. Right now we don’t know what it weighs. Even regular lift served bindings usually list the weight, so it seems to be something people want to know.
I’m really surprised it took this long for someone to just use a demo plate on the front for this type of application. I do short low angle and side country touring, still haven’t gotten super serious about touring, but this would be a great alternate to something like a shift or even the cast system (depending on price). When my Shift inevitably brake, this will be top of the list.
Steven K this has been a thing guys in the TGR forums have been doing for at least a 5 years (search DIY Alpine Downhill + Tech Toe touring binding”). They use the demo Attacks and mount a pair of tech toes forward of the track (which has been cut down). For uphill you slide the alpine toe AND heel off the track, click into the forward mounted toes, use voile heel lifters or homemade ones and go. For downhill: slide the alpine binding back on and go. The tech toe is permanently mounted. Looks a bit silly and the toe might be a bit far forward for kick turns, but not a bad option for people who think they might want to tour once a season or so.
Exactly, it was former Blister reviewer Brian L who did that. I have also read about a dad who did it for a kids set up.
I have my own version of that, based on a Marker Griffon 13 demo. I started out with a fixed tech toe, but now I have made it removable instead with a slider that fits the demo track. It looks pretty much identical to the Tyrolia. Just slide the toe in and go. I normally don´t remove the heel though and I just use a rubber band to hold the breaks.
It’s difficult to see in the images above, but the Attack Hybrid 14 MN/PT uses a heel track in addition to its toe track. Its heel track is very, very similar to that of the Attack 14 MN Demo, but it has a different screw pattern, has a shorter range of adjustment for forward pressure (24 mm instead of ~60 mm), and has a stopper at the front of the track, so that the sliding pieces must enter and exit from the rear.
Although the Hybrid’s sliding brake with riser and locking arms is obviously a brand new part, the sliding heel piece seems identical to that of the Attack 14 MN Demo. And just like the Demo’s heel piece, the Hybrid’s heel piece has that spring-loaded finger tab, which allows the heel piece to be removed and installed easily without any tools – as long as it’s not iced up too much.
The Attack Hybrid 14 MN/PT is *not* designed to be used uphill or downhill with the heel piece removed, but given how easy it is to remove and install, I suspect some tinkerers and do-it-yourselfers out there might try their own modifications to remove the heel piece for the ascent. We’ll see. (414 g per heel piece, 227 g per brake with riser)
Yes, I have made and used the TGR “FrankenCast” for a few years now. Never had any problems and I trusted it enough to bring only that binding system for a 9 day touring trip to Japan a couple years ago. Never seemed to slow me down on the skintrack or transitions and it’s really nice to step into a more substantial binding for the descent.
Tyrolia was obviously inspired by the TGR original. Hey, Tyrolia… while you’re listening… could you make Attack2 demo plates available for purchase separately? It would help with our R&D for you.
So…. did Tyrolia do the really magical thing and keep the hole pattern the same?! (Either as the normal Attack or the demo). That’s one of my favourite things about the Attack binding platform – its always been the same hole patern. Us binding insert guys love that.
The hole pattern for the Attack Hybrid 14 MN/PT uses the same jig as Tyrolia’s PT Demo touring bindings. This means that neither the toe holes nor heel holes of the Attack Hybrid 14 MN/PT match those of the non-demo Attack bindings. This also means that the Attack Hybrid 14 MN/PT’s toe holes match those of the Attack 14 MN Demo, but the heel holes don’t match. And this also means that the Attack Hybrid 14 MN/PT’s heel holes match those of the non-demo PT touring bindings, but the toe holes don’t match.
So, I don’t see any “magical” matches for inserts here – but one could still set up inserts for multiple bindings in the standard “non-magical” ways.
Dude, thanks for all of the super detailed info and follow up on these. Much appreciated.
Will these slide on to the standard attack demo rails? I understand the heel rail is 20mm shorter on the hybrid.
Sure wish Tyrolia would sell the demo rails separately.
The standard Attack Demo toe plate does not have the same notches as the Attack Hybrid toe plate. So, although the Hybrid toe pieces will slide onto the Demo toe plate, the toe pieces will not lock into any position on that plate – so they are not compatible.
However, the Demo heel plate and Hybrid heel plate seem to share the same style of notches, so it appears one could attempt to use the sliding Hybrid heel piece (and sliding brake with riser and locking arms) on a standard Attack Demo heel plate – but that is NOT the intended design, and such unsanctioned usage would be at your own risk.