My two adult kids are both frequent uphill inbounds tourers. Basically they will skin up early AM before the lifts open, and before their work days begin. Sunrise morning workouts. They also will do some real touring and backcountry when they get the chance. A lot of vertical in a day, both up and down. Not frequently as they work in the ski business, and they often work seven days a week. The real exploring is often at the end of the season when the lifts stop spinning.
Both are in a Scarpa Freedom {can't recall which exact models}. When they got the boots a couple of seasons ago, the boots were a good mix for the uphill, skied a lot like a serious boot on the way down, and "morphed" for them into a great work boot when coaching, etc. My son was amazed at how well they skied, with a variety of alpine skis.
At time, both also had frame bindings for AT. They had predominately been more biased to having a solid interface for skiing downhill, and they were often skiing on groomed inbounds terrain, or more soft, woodsy side country. Fresh snow if it had fallen. They both in retrospect admit that they might have skipped the frame bindings if they knew more.
Son was affiliated until a year ago with Blizzard. Now Nordica, but seeing as at the top they are one company, nobody seems too concerned about what he skis on his time, as long as when he's working he's got Nordica logo's on him. And nobody is suggesting dumping skis that work. His AT skis are Blizz ZeroG 108's. Bindings are Kingpins. He thinks they are "solid enough", and for the way he'll ski down, even on a firm surface, they ski great for a tech binding. He's not expecting them to hold him like his all metal race bindings. As good as a frame binding? He's OK. But he's not skiing them inbounds all day, everyday. It's a run a day kind of stuff. No lifts.
I "inheirited " his old AT setup. Blizzard Scouts with Guardian frame bindings. I also scored a pair of his old barely used Cochise boots. Is this a great set up? Nope. But it lets me get up, move myself uphill, get the heart pumping, enjoy the scenery, be with our friends and have fun. And where I'm skinning, it's with a decided downhill bias. At this stage, I'll suffer a touch uphill to be comfortable on the way down. So a pretty good setup. And, I can't ignore that "the price was right."
Daughter is also in a Scarpa Freedom. It took her quite a white to dial in the boot. But it's good now. She almost never wears it other than for AT. Probably because she moved out of a plug boot into a RS130 with a foam liner, which she still considers pretty "cush." Her AT skis are Volkl V-Werks BMT-94's. Bindings are Kingpins. She's a former Volkl athlete. Her first set up were frame bindings. When she first skied on the new skis, she joked that she almost felt guilty at how easy it was to move uphill. Whole new world. Better everything. I think that her first few days also involved skis down in about a foot of fresh snow. She was surprised at how well the skis skied, and in that snow was delighted with the bindings. Felt solid in them. A few days later skinned up early AM with some friends, and skied down on a long wide series of freshly groomed runs. She was not so sure about the skis, and wasn't sure if it was the bindings or not. Turns out that the skis needed to be put on a belt, and she had that done. Much better. But she also realized that she simply was never going to feel the same truly laying the ski over and working it like her other alpine setups, on fairly firm snow. She's used to a VERY solid binding interface.
She told me that "Maybe it's in my head, but this Kingpin and my Scarpa's is not as confidence inspiring as my Langes and STH-2's in SOME situations. But I modify things, ease up, smile, enjoy the whole situation, and it's good. It's a compromise, and I hope to not be skiing down too much on groomers." Makes sense to me. The some situations were firm hard groomers, where she is used to just ripping, and doesn't really know about how much force she is generating as she has always done it.
I think it depends on what inbounds means to each of us, and on how rigorous or long the climb up may be. For me, the frame binding and a non ultralight ski is fine. I'm a 60+ year skier, with a lot of experience, but new to current touring. A lot of this for me is pretty much "Joey inbounds touring" which is fun for me. I'm not climbing for hours, for example.
My wife is interested in this, and both kids are advocating a frame binding. Her new boots for everyday use, BTW are looking like they will be a boot that will work for everything. Decided DH, and inbounds bias. Probably the Lange, as she has been in a Lange boot "forever." That happens next weekend, we think.
I don't see how any of we mortals could or would ski a tech binding as a full time inbounds set up. In my case, I'm a newbie at AT, and "I'm OK with my alpine skiing." As is my wife with hers. so the compromise leans to the downhill. And most of our skiing is in the East. 70% of it.
I do have a couple of friends who ski, based in the Rockies {actually ski everywhere!}, on a Kingpin for everything. They also get paid to do so, and the minute one feels slightly "loose", it gets swapped for a new one. So that's just different. But it can confuse people as "If........uses them, and skis on everything, they must be fine for me. I have seen the film." Not so sure. These guys can swap out boot shells, or even have their boot companies swap out the tech inserts, as easily as they swap bindings. Stuff that most of us can't do. They are always dialed in.
I like the advice of a frame binding if you can only have one setup. For sure.
