kingpin 13 vs freetour 2

The Kingpin 13 is a pin binding that skis hard; the CAST Freetour 2 is a full Look Pivot alpine that can also tour — pick by which problem you're actually solving.

The Marker Kingpin 13 and the CAST Freetour 2 both target the freeride skier who tours, but they answer that brief from opposite ends of the design spectrum. The Kingpin is a tech-toe pin binding with a reinforced alpine-style heel — built around uphill efficiency, then engineered to ski as hard as a pin binding can. The CAST Freetour 2 is a true alpine binding (the Look Pivot heel, a freeride reference for decades) with a swappable toe piece that converts the system to a tech binding for the climb. One is a touring binding that skis hard; the other is a resort binding that tours.

That split is not a marketing nuance — it shapes everything about weight, descent feel, safety certification, and who each binding is for. Pick by where your skiing actually happens 70 % of the time, not by the day you wish you skied more often.

Downhill: the CAST wins decisively, by a wide margin

On the way down the CAST is in a different league. The Look Pivot heel offers 28 mm of heel elastic travel and a 270° rotating heel — the same release pattern that has held up under Freeride World Tour skiing for years. The toe piece delivers 45 mm of elastic travel, and DIN goes to 15 (or 18 with the upgraded Pivot heel), well above what any pin binding offers. The Kingpin's alpine-style heel is genuinely good for a pin binding — 9-11 mm of elastic travel, far more than a classic tech binding — but the tech toe still gives you a fraction of the CAST's lateral retention. Hit a buried rock at speed or load the binding through variable snow and the CAST absorbs more energy before it pre-releases. For hard chargers over 85 kg, or for skiers who line up cliffs and consequential terrain, the CAST is the binding you trust more.

Uphill: the Kingpin wins decisively, by a wide margin

The other side of the day is just as one-sided. The Kingpin tours at roughly 650 g per binding (no brake) — a pure pin connection, low rotational drag, fast transitions. The CAST tours at ~1,016 g per ski in walk mode (the alpine heel stays on), and the transition isn't a flip lever — you physically swap the toe piece for the touring toe at the bottom and top of every climb. Per 1,000 m of vert, you're carrying ~730 g/pair more weight and adding several minutes of toe swap at each transition. On a single sidecountry lap that overhead is fine; over a multi-day hut tour it becomes the difference between feeling fresh and feeling like you brought too much gear.

Safety: both credentialed, but the CAST's Pivot envelope is materially larger

This is a rare matchup where both bindings hold real third-party certification — but for fundamentally different release envelopes. The Kingpin 13 is the only pin binding with TÜV-DIN-ISO 13992 certification (the touring binding release standard), with 9–11 mm of heel elastic. That's solid for a pin binding but small by alpine standards. The CAST's Pivot heel runs ~45 mm toe and 28 mm heel elastic — the longest envelope in the alpine binding world, decades-proven on the Freeride World Tour. Both are "safe" in their certified contexts, and a skier in tech-insert boots on the Kingpin gets a certified pin release. But the CAST's raw release envelope is several times larger. For aggressive freeride, hucks with flat landings, or the heaviest skiers, the CAST has more measured reserve before pre-release.

Versatility: the CAST takes alpine boots, the Kingpin does not

The CAST accepts ISO 5355 alpine soles, ISO 23223 GripWalk, and ISO 9523 touring soles — a true multi-norm binding once the alpine toe is fitted. You can ski it with a 1,900 g alpine boot on resort days and switch to a tech-insert boot for tour days, all on the same ski. The Kingpin only accepts pin-insert boots (ISO 9523 with tech fittings). If a tech-insert boot is the only boot you ski, that limit doesn't matter; if you want one ski to cover two boot quivers, the CAST is the only option of the pair.

Durability: the CAST/Pivot lineage is bombproof

The Look Pivot heel that sits inside the CAST is one of the most over-built bindings ever made — steel, aluminum, decades of FWT abuse with very few failure reports. The CAST conversion plate and toe pieces use 7075 aluminum and stainless steel. The Kingpin is built well for what it is (carbon-reinforced composite, steel, aluminum), and Marker's long-term reliability has been solid, but lighter polymer construction is intrinsically less abusive-friendly than the CAST's metal-heavy build. For a skier who routinely hucks or rides aggressive terrain, the CAST's edge here is real.

Pick by where you actually ski

Pick the Kingpin 13 if your year is mostly touring with a few resort days mixed in — multi-day tours, weekly skin track laps, anything where uphill efficiency and a fast transition genuinely shape the outing. You give up some descent margin versus the CAST, but you get a binding that wants to be on the up.

Pick the CAST Freetour 2 if your year is mostly resort and sidecountry, with the occasional dedicated tour — lift days, inbounds freeride, short skin laps to access a line. You accept the weight and the transition overhead because the descent is what you came for, and you want a real alpine binding underfoot when it counts. A rough rule of thumb: more than ~30 tour days a year, lean Kingpin; fewer than that with a freeride bent, lean CAST.