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"  To the west: Lake Champlain, the Adirondacks. To the east: Mount Washington, the Whites, pink peaks plastered with snow. In between: four guys on a Green Mountain summit, pulling climbing skins off their skis, sipping Long Trail Ales by the actual Long Trail. The uphill slog -- forty-five minutes of one ski in front of the other -- is over. The reward: fifteen hundred vertical feet of creamy corn snow and not a soul to share it with. They&amp;#039;re all down there. They think skiing requires lifts. Combination alpine/touring bindings -- the heels detach, so you can ascend, cross-country style, any mountain you care to ski; get to the top, lock your heels in, and you&amp;#039;re ready to rip alpine style -- are not new. But the Duke ($495; markerusa.com) is, and it fundamentally changes what a binding means. That doesn&amp;#039;t happen often, in any sport. It&amp;#039;s the sturdiest of the breed, built for skiing, not pussyfooting down untracked steeps that should be skied like a man. You&amp;#039;ll work harder going up, but the way down will change your life.  This story is part of our second annual register of emerging ideas, trends, discoveries, products, people, and obscene gestures you should know about before everyone else does. &amp;amp;lt;&amp;amp;lt; Read Previous * [Back to Esquire 100] * Read Next &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a3389/theduke1007/>