DayMaker Touring

Brand overview and significance

Daymaker Touring is a backcountry hardware brand dedicated to one idea: turn the skis and bindings you already own into a legitimate touring setup. Founded in 2016 in a Salt Lake City garage by pro skier and mechanical engineer Giray Dadali and industrial designer Chris Trunek, Daymaker Touring grew out of years of frustration with frame bindings and entry-level adapters that felt heavy, awkward, or fragile on real tours. The result is a family of alpine touring adapters that clip into your regular alpine bindings and let you walk uphill efficiently, then step out and ski down on the same trusted downhill bindings.

The brand’s mission is summed up by its tagline: “Ski more places. Spend less getting there.” Instead of asking skiers to buy a full second kit of skis, bindings, and boots to start touring, Daymaker focuses on an adapter-first solution. Their systems aim to offer a natural walking motion, high durability, and clean transitions, while keeping the downhill feel identical to a standard DIN-certified binding. This makes Daymaker especially attractive to strong resort skiers, patrollers, and freeskiers who want to dip into sidecountry or backcountry zones without replacing everything in their quiver.

Inside the skipowd.tv ecosystem, Daymaker Touring sits in the same conversation as CAST and hybrid touring bindings, but with its own niche: a modular adapter that works with existing setups. You see the orange and black adapters under pros hiking for backcountry jumps, on ski patrols covering avalanche control work, and on ambitious resort skiers who finally want to follow their touring friends beyond the rope line without buying an entirely new rig.

Product lines and key technologies

Daymaker’s catalogue is compact and clearly organized. There are two main adapter systems: Daymakers Classic and Tekdapters. Both plug into your existing alpine bindings, but they target different boot types and priorities. Daymakers Classic is the original concept: an alpine adapter that works with standard alpine or GripWalk boots without tech inserts. You clip the adapters around your boot, step into your usual alpine binding, and your heel is freed for skinning uphill. Tekdapters are the more recent addition, built for skiers with pin-compatible boots who want the efficiency of a tech toe on the ascent but still ski down on full alpine bindings.

Daymakers Classic uses a linkage-driven mechanism called 4-Bar Tech. Instead of a simple single pivot under the toe, the Classic employs a four-bar linkage that creates a “virtual” pivot under the ball of the foot. That virtual pivot mimics a more natural walking motion, significantly improving comfort compared with older frame bindings and basic adapter plates. The adapters also offer multiple climbing heel positions and a neutral touring stance around minus a few degrees to counteract the ramp angle built into most alpine boot and binding combinations.

Tekdapters bring a second layer of engineering. They integrate a pin-tech toe built into the adapter chassis, so pin-compatible boots can take advantage of tech-style efficiency on the uphill. A quick-release Teklock lever clamps and releases the pins, and the Sole-Sync adjustment system lets the adapter quickly resize to boot soles from roughly mid-250s to mid-340s millimeters. Telescopic tubes can be trimmed for shorter pack length, and a three-position Pitch Switch riser system manages flat, medium, and high climbing modes with pole-friendly levers and guide rails that help keep the boot centered on the adapter.

Beyond the main adapters, Daymaker sells climbing skins, spare parts, and small accessories, but everything revolves around the two core products. The idea is not to build a wide binding line, but to refine a focused adapter platform until it feels bombproof under heavy, repeated use.

Ride feel: who it’s for (terrains & use-cases)

The “ride feel” with Daymaker Touring is split into two phases: the uphill and the downhill. Uphill, the adapters are designed to feel much closer to a real touring binding than older frame systems, especially in terms of stride. The 4-Bar Tech on the Classic and the geometry of the Tekdapters aim to move the effective pivot from the very front of the boot to somewhere closer to the ball of the foot. That change reduces the “tiptoe” sensation many skiers associate with frame bindings and helps reduce hip and calf fatigue on longer skintracks.

Downhill, the promise is simple: you are skiing your regular alpine bindings. Because the adapter comes off and goes in your pack for the descent, you retain the release characteristics, elasticity, and dampness of bindings like Look Pivot, Salomon STH, Marker Griffon or Tyrolia Attack. For many freeskiers, that is the main appeal. You can hit the same airs, stomp backcountry landings, and trust your bindings in rough snow in the same way you do in the resort. For patrol and avalanche-control teams using Tekdapters, that also means familiar, predictable release behaviour on heavy and unpredictable snow.

In practical terms, Daymaker Touring is aimed at skiers whose tours are often 300 to 1,000 vertical meters rather than full-day traverses. Think sidecountry laps off big resorts like Revelstoke BC, sled-access laps in interior zones, Hokkaidō ridge hikes on powder days around Hokkaidō, or short patrol missions where you need skins and explosives in the morning and full alpine reliability in the afternoon. Dedicated, ultra-light touring boots and bindings still make sense for huge days, but for the majority of lift-based skiers who want to tour part-time, Daymaker’s ride feel hits a very attractive middle ground.

Team presence, competitions, and reputation

Daymaker Touring is not a race-federation brand; its reputation is built instead in film segments, sidecountry jump sessions, and avalanche-control work. The company’s own “Used by the Best” roster includes names like Tanner Hall, Tom Wallisch, and Justin “Juice” Kennedy. Hall has used Daymakers for big backcountry maneuvers while still relying on his preferred alpine bindings, and Wallisch has brought the adapters into Good Company films for backcountry jump lines where takeoff and landing trust is non-negotiable. Kennedy and the OS Crew have leaned on the system for creative spring builds and hybrid street–backcountry setups.

Media coverage from specialty outlets and community reviews consistently paints a similar picture. Long-term tests highlight that Daymakers let riders keep skiing their “real” bindings for descents, while gaining a more natural uphill motion compared with older frame systems. The tradeoffs—extra weight in the pack on the way down and slightly slower transitions than a pure tech binding—are generally judged acceptable for the target user: strong skiers who prioritize downhill performance and cost savings over minimal uphill weight.

Within the wider industry, Daymaker Touring has carved out a clear identity: a focused adapter brand that takes engineering seriously, listens closely to backcountry and freeride athletes, and embraces iterative improvements. That reputation has helped the company punch above its size in freeride and film circles, especially in North America, where their adapters appear regularly in edits and behind-the-scenes footage even when the hardware itself is buried in snow.

Geography and hubs (heritage, testing, venues)

The brand’s roots are in Utah. Giray Dadali and Chris Trunek developed the first Daymaker prototypes after years of ski touring in the Wasatch backcountry, testing frame bindings, tech systems, and other adapters in real storm cycles and variable snowpacks. Designing hardware in Salt Lake City means daily access to steep resort terrain, sidecountry lines, and classic tour routes where gear weaknesses show fast. The first generations of Daymakers were refined on those local laps, then taken on longer road trips to other North American mountains.

Over time, the adapters have spread far beyond Utah. Distributors like Blackbird Bespoke Ski Co. bring Daymaker Touring products into Australia and New Zealand, while European shops and online retailers supply markets from the Alps to Scandinavia. Ski patrol teams, such as those at Les Contamines-Montjoie in France, have adopted Tekdapters to give patrollers efficient touring capability while retaining alpine bindings for avalanche control work. Customer reviews and brand stories mention everyday use in places as varied as Alaska, the Tetons, interior British Columbia, and Japanese powder zones.

For skipowd.tv viewers, that geographic footprint matters because it mirrors modern filming and travel patterns. The same adapter that a Utah skier uses for tram-access lines can show up in Japan on a storm-chasing film trip or in British Columbia on sled-supported pillow sessions. The hardware is meant to be transferable across quivers and continents, not locked to a single pair of skis or a single style of skiing.

Construction, durability, and sustainability

Daymaker Touring’s construction focus is on mechanical reliability and modularity. The Classic adapter blends stainless steel components with glass-filled nylon linkages and robust hardware to keep weight reasonable while handling repeated impacts and torsional loads. The adapters clamp securely to alpine boots and interface cleanly with standard alpine bindings, with adjustable heel risers and a neutral touring stance to keep long traverses comfortable. Tekdapters use a mix of carbon-infused nylon, impact-resistant plastics, and high-strength aluminum alloys to deliver a feature-rich chassis at a relatively low weight for an adapter system.

Key mechanisms such as the Teklock lever, Sole-Sync length adjustment, and Pitch Switch risers are designed for glove and ski-pole operation. Ice-shedding details—hydrophobic finishes, open cam housings, and carefully shaped pockets—aim to prevent snow buildup that could otherwise jam moving parts. Both adapters are compatible with the major alpine-binding families from brands like Look, Marker, Rossignol, Salomon, Tyrolia, Atomic, and others, and the company offers crampon compatibility for more technical terrain.

On sustainability, Daymaker’s philosophy is clear: the most eco-friendly choice is gear that stays in use for decades instead of heading to landfill. To support that, the adapters are fully modular. They are assembled with hardware that can be taken apart with standard tools, not permanent rivets, and Daymaker sells individual replacement parts for every significant component. This lets users repair worn or damaged pieces rather than replacing a whole adapter, and enables second owners to inherit the system for new seasons. In other words, sustainability is approached through repairability, adjustability, and long service life instead of a disposable product cycle.

How to choose within the lineup

Choosing between Daymakers Classic and Tekdapters starts with your boots. If you ski in traditional alpine or GripWalk boots without tech inserts, the Classic is the obvious fit. It lets you tour using the exact boots and bindings you already own, making it a straightforward entry into sidecountry or short-touring missions. You get the benefits of 4-Bar Tech stride, multiple riser positions, and a fully removable adapter that stores flat in your pack for the descent.

If your boots do have tech inserts in the toe, Tekdapters open up a more efficient uphill experience. The pin toe in the adapter lets you tour with the low-friction swing familiar from tech bindings, while still clicking into your full alpine binding for the ride down. Tekdapters are especially appealing to strong freeriders and patrollers who own hybrid or freeride touring boots but want to keep skiing their most trusted alpine bindings on descents, whether that is a metal Pivot heel or another full-alpine platform.

Beyond the boot question, think about your typical vertical and terrain. For 300–1,200 vertical-meter days on mellow to moderate terrain, either adapter system can work well, with Classic slightly simpler and Tekdapters slightly more efficient if you already have pin-compatible boots. If your primary goal is big traverses, high-vertical ski mountaineering or extremely long approaches, a dedicated lightweight touring binding may still be the better main setup, with Daymaker reserved for quiver-expanding missions and sled-access laps.

Finally, match sizing and binding compatibility carefully. Both adapters cover a wide boot-sole-length range, and Daymaker’s guides help you set up heel height, length, and AFD thickness for different sole norms. Taking the time to configure the adapters once at home pays back in seamless transitions and less fiddling when the weather is bad or your group is eager to move.

Why riders care

Riders care about Daymaker Touring because it lowers the barrier to real touring while preserving the downhill performance they rely on. Instead of forcing an all-or-nothing decision between a full touring kit and a full resort kit, Daymaker offers a bridge: keep your skis, bindings, and boots, add adapters and skins, and you can start chasing powder beyond the lifts with a familiar feel underfoot.

For the skipowd.tv community, that bridge shows up in very concrete ways. It is the crew in a film who uses Tekdapters to skin to a backcountry jump, then skis the feature on the same bindings they use in the park. It is a patrol team that can respond quickly to avalanche-control routes without rebuilding their whole gear room. It is a strong resort skier who finally says yes to “just one lap out the gate” because the cost and complexity are no longer overwhelming. Daymaker Touring has become a recognizable name in this space because it turns an engineering idea—the adapter as a modular, repairable tool—into more lines skied, more zones unlocked, and more days that qualify as a true “daymaker.”