Expert Review: Marker Griffon 13 ID

About this review This review is my own honest opinion of the bindings, which I bought with my money in January 2021.

My take

The Marker Griffon 13 ID binding is perfect for a huge variety of resort skiers; simple, straightforward, and reliable, intermediate and expert skiers especially will appreciate it's positive retention and the control it provides over their skis.

About the gear

• Model: 2021 Marker Griffon 13 ID bindings

About me

• Height: 5’9”
• Weight: 173 lbs
• Preferred DIN range: 9.5
• Experience: 29 years

Test conditions

• When I bought these: January 2021
• Days tested: 20
• Boots: Lange RS 130, Power Wrap liners, World Cup Booster straps, Custom Insoles
• Boot Size: 26.5
• Skis: 180cm Atomic Vantage 97Ti
• Where I’ve used it: Alyeska Resort, Girdwood, AK
• Terrain: Groomers, packed powder, powder

How it performs

What I was looking for

I was curious to experience the performance of the newest version of Marker’s Griffon as their ‘Royal Family’ of bindings has been a benchmark for a lot of skiers for many years. The Griffon strikes a great balance between power transfer, weight, durability, and price. I had an unmounted pair of skis, so when Marker released this binding, it was an easy choice.

Why I chose this gear

I was excited to try Marker’s new Griffon because of the toe piece redesign. The binding strikes a great balance of weight, power transfer, durability, and price.

My go-to Alpine binding has typically been Salomon’s STH2, but due to low inventory, I was unable to get my hands on a pair of them in the time frame I’d desired. Marker’s Griffon was available, and I’d had a great history with their older versions of it, so I gave it a shot again and am glad I did.

What I love about it

• Release Reliability: I haven’t had any unexpected pre-releases from this binding, and while I haven’t been in a situation where I needed it to release, I trust that it will function exactly as necessary.
• Downhill Performance: The Griffon is a binding that is okay with being pushed and skied aggressively. I don’t have any complaints about this with it.
• Durability: While I’m fairly hard on my equipment, I haven’t seen any issues with these regarding durability. I didn’t use them long enough to really encounter any big issues, but visually, Marker seems to continue adding features (for example, the toe-bar) that should help improve durability. If you’re after even more durability, the Jester, also in the Royal Family of bindings, should answer those concerns for you.
• Weight: This binding feels fairly light on the ski - it’s certainly lighter than all-metal bindings, but skiing performance seems pretty close to on-par with those.
• Power Transfer: In general, this seems excellent. The binding has a quite wide footprint on the ski. I had it mounted on a fairly stiff ski, but the only ‘delay’ I experienced with it wasn’t so much a binding issue as it was a skiing technique problem - while muscling the ski around in variable snow, the elastic travel of the heel wasn’t quite as smooth as it is on Look Pivot bindings, so I could feel the binding re-center itself a little bit more noticeably than Pivots do. That said, this is a powerful binding, so I’m keeping this comment in the ‘love’ category rather than the ‘issues’ section.

Issues I’ve encountered

• Features: I sometimes wish that Marker utilized a twin-cam style binding like the Salomon STH2 or Warden so that it would be extra easy to step into and had more elastic travel.

Favorite moment with this gear

It may sound gimmicky, but my favorite moment with it is stepping into it getting off the tram here. The toepiece has a bar that connects the left and right sides to add a bit of rigidity to the toe of the binding, but the big bonus with it is that it’s sculpted like an ice scraper - so kicking built-up snow off the bottom of my boot is now far easier with it than I’ve experienced with other bindings. It’s really nice being able to do a single swipe with the boot, and immediately step into the binding without any issues.

Value for the money vs. other options

Marker really hit the nail on the head with this one. It’s a bargain at $225, and compares skiing performance-wise to bindings closer to $300. That said, those more expensive options do offer a little bit smoother elastic travel, which could potentially translate into a smoother release if and when that happens.

Final verdict

Marker’s 2021 Griffon 13 ID binding is an excellent option for intermediate to expert skiers looking for a great mix of downhill performance, durability, and keeping the price of their bindings under control.