The Green Beast
Marker has been one of the major players in the binding business, and the introduction of their “Royal Family” lineup a few years back solidified them as a prominent player in the freeskiing marketplace. Far and away the favorite of the lineup has been the Jester, and last year Marker upped the ante with the Jester Pro, a freakishly green, 18 DIN, powerhouse of a binding.
At a glance:
- 18 DIN
- Riveted AFD
- 0 degree ramp angle
- Cross bar for torsional rigidity and lateral power transfer
The most interesting feature of the Jester Pro is the cross bar on top of the toe piece of the binding. This little addition links the wings of the binding, providing unprecedented torsional rigidity as well as an increase in lateral power transfer. The classic Jester would develop slop in the wings on the toe piece after 50-60 days of use, but the introduction of the cross bar has solved this problem. It also doubles as a convenient scraper when your boot bottom becomes overloaded with snow!
Dash Longe sending with confidence on the Jester Pro. Photo: espn.com
The Jester Pro is exactly what the professional freeskiing community has been waiting for. This binding has the weight and specifications that meet the needs of skiers on supremely challenging and diverse mountain terrain. This binding can handle it all.
Dash Longe, Professional Freeskier
Another interesting characteristic of the binding is the riveted AFD on the toe. The AFD is the small plate that sits underfoot and twists laterally to assist in release. This knee saving device is static in the Jester Pro in order to gain the 18 DIN release value, but adds a touch of extra stress on the knee. The moral of the story: if you’re simply out for a joy ride, you might stick to the Jester or even the Griffin. The Jester Pro is oriented for those who need the higher release range.
This may or may not be a glimpse into the future...Jester Pro with new paint!
The primary issue experienced with the Jester Pro (and the Jester for that matter) is a loosening of the toe piece. After a season of hard charging or a big fall, the toe piece has a tendency develop a slight wobble forward and backward. This issue is easily resolved by adding a few clicks of forward pressure. If the wobble is substantial, Marker will warranty the binding if it is within a year old!
Overall the Jester Pro is a great binding, offering that extra holding power in the park, big mountain, or wherever your adventures may take you!
The Jester is a very popular binding with tons of rave reviews from customers. The toe slop issue after 50-60 days may be covered under warranty, however in my experience with the royal family bindings has been wonderful with the exception of a few issues with breaks:
While Mounting a Squire on a pair of last years Kenja’s for a lady, her boot would not engage. She had a smaller BSL, and her boots were Lange Comp 80s. The design of the heel plate of the Lange, in relation to how the break would engage, caused a small piece of the break to jam into a milled section of the boot heel. Therefore causing the boot to not engage properly. We ended up swapping out her binding completely.
Totally strange, 10+ years of mounting experience, and my boss who has been in the industry for 45 years plus was baffled.
The addition of the boot scraper seems functional, but so far the incorporation of the race stock spring has been the only thing good about the royal series (hence the din). Thanks but no thanks. Still looks like a plastic POS with over an inch of stack height. I’d rather huck with a pair of trekker’s…
sticking with the pivot 18
p14′s for me. no need for anything else.
after a nasty heel pre release @ DIN 11 on a pair of schizo’s and a torn PCL it was back to Look bindings for me…
!!LOOK!! There goes my ski
Get some look pivot 18′s and stomp the shit out of anything and everything. They work 98 percent of the time, all the time.
old school salomons for me. nothing clamps like a 15 year old metal 20 diner
Salomon STH16, nuff said.
Good to see people are informed. Marker is nothing more than a marketing machine. All the BS about wider platform for wider skis, whatever, a lot of people were and are still buying into this. Don’t reward crappy R&D for marketing hype. Stick with Look, Rossi, or Salomon bindings for real inbounds aggressive freeriding. 5 yrs ago Marker put out this POS, now it needs a stiffening bar because its made out of soft plastic, they changed the AFD to not move, like all the good bindings out there, and still no small person can engage them, even though they made a new binding, squier, bigger POS. Get your shit together Marker. Quit focusing on people who TALK about backcountry skiing. Hey checkout my adjustable poles. Posers.
RE: the soft plastic on their mounting points should be firmed up or reinforced with some type of alloy to prevent a super stoned mounter from bubbling the base. It does not take much for that screw to go 2 mm too far. Check your bases for damage and i bet there is at least 2 people who has had this happen.