Italian design company Risk Protect has just come up with new alpine touring bindings that automatically adjust position according to the slope of the mountain. The centerpiece of the Skystep alpine touring bindings is an oil mounted sphere which, acting like a pendulum, automatically brings the climbing aid into one of three positions, depending on the slope of the terrain.
Risk Protect was started in 2008 by solo designer Ulrich Schwingshackl. After increased product demand, Ulrich hired a team of designers and turned Risk Protect into a company earlier this year. Risk Protect now encompasses a team of product managers, designers, engineers and alpine climbers that are creating innovative products for both sports and workplace applications.
Risk Protect also designs for the automotive and aircraft industries and tries to translate the best practices over into climbing. Risk Protect has already created a line of climbing hardware including carabiners, quickdraws, pulleys and slings. The Company is currently working on a line of climbing harnesses based off of their aircraft harnesses and has a cool gear haul bag for big wall climbs.
The video below shows the Skystep alpine touring bindings in more detail. Risk Protect will be showing the new innovative alpine touring bindings at ISPO in February.