Snowboard bindings haven’t changed a very much since their form was more or less agreed upon in the 1980s. Materials have improved, tow caps came around in the mid-2000s, various ways to strap in have come and gone but the essential function has remained unchanged in decades.
Professional snowboarder Austin Smith has been plagued with knee injuries during his career and went to the drawing table to come up with a new binding design that is more forgiving to prevent further injuries. What he came up with is a baseplate system that rotates a bit under pressure:
“Been thinking about this for a decade and brought it to life this summer for Season Equipment. In 2014 after my fourth knee surgery I wanted a binding that could slightly rotate under pressure, creating a little looser and more forgiving ride. I’m not the first one to dream up this idea, I’m sure I won’t be the last and I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes. I didn’t love the experience as much as I was hoping but now that I’ve tried it I can finally stop dreaming about it.” -Austin Smith
Swipe through this Instagram post to see Austin’s prototype made in collaboration with Season Equipment:
While having a snowboard binding that rotates under pressure may give you the shivers, Travis Rice sees the wisdom in the design:
As far as we can tell, Austin’s new snowboard binding design is just a prototype and not available for purchase but if it proves effective we may see bindings with a built-in wiggle in the future.