REVIEW: InWild's SIMPLL Telemark Binding Has Some Kinks To Work Out. But It Sure Skis Well.

No matter the quiet controversy it has stirred in frontcountry free-heelers who see its ascent as a red herring, telemark gear–perhaps telemark’s future–is decidedly pointed toward the tech toe. What better example than French maker InWild’s latest foray, the release of the SIMPLL TTS binding, brought to market at the beginning of the last ski season. 

Ever since the 2011 release of Mark Lengel’s original telemark tech system (TTS), the first time a Dynafit toe was married with the cable and cartridge of traditional 75mm traps, telemark has leaned into all things tech. InWild itself (then known as The M Equipment) later brought the revolution to the new telemark norm with the innovative Meidjo binding. All the while, DIYers of all stripes have long experimented with myriad tech options. Now, freemo darling ATK is poised to release their revamped Newmark binding next season, an NTN tech model whose promise has left the telemark world swooning. In the space of fifteen years, the tech toe binding has evolved into the next big thing for telemark. 

The new SIMPLL TTS binding is the latest evolution in that legacy. Though the model skis with a sensation that brings to mind the most free flexing bindings of recent free-heel lore, the current version is essentially a beta variant, with several bugs in need of fixing. But designer Pierre Mouyade has plans to update next year’s release in an effort to bring the SIMPLL into maturity.

As InWild generally encounters–especially on this side of the pond–the release of the SIMPLL has been marked by a certain mystique. The model wasn’t officially announced until late November of last year, shortly before the actual release date. And it came with the promise of availability by Christmas, something that surprised even long-time telemark retailers. Moreover, the lack of distribution of the SIMPLL in North America has led to conjecture about the model, its features, and if it is actually suited to the use cases the binding seems aimed at.

In reality, the SIMPLL melds a beautifully free-flexing skiing sensation with a touring platform that leaves something to be desired, though many misgivings will likely be alleviated on the future version of the binding.

The SIMPLL borrows its tech toe from InWild’s alpine touring model, the Linea, which was announced well before but released contemporaneously with the SIMPLL. The proprietary tech toe has a snappy entry, affixing quickly and easily to the boot. Though I noticed that it occasionally doesn’t stay in the open position, especially when the ski’s top sheet is icy, at times making entry difficult. Regardless, the Linea toe allows for telemark touring that is intuitive, modern, and frictionless. 

The heel pad flips up for a single heel riser for steeper climbs. It left me wanting a little bit more lift for steep resort tours, but is probably all you would need for what the binding seems best suited for; big objective backcountry days where approaches are flatter, and where skis are removed and then strapped to one’s back before boot packing up something cool.

The SIMPLL continues the tech toe revolution for earning telemark turns, a movement the free-heel scene is now intimately familiar with. But the model has a few drawbacks, particularly in its heel assembly.

As with other TTS makers like Voile, the SIMPLL is touted as being a premier telemark touring rig. It has a trick up its sleeve: the heel assembly can be removed and stowed in a backpack to save “touring” weight. The entire setup comes in at 470g per binding (roughly one pound) and just 240g with the heel assembly removed. The SIMPLL indeed tours adeptly in this configuration, but the crux of the issue lies in reattaching the assembly for descent, something this version of the binding necessitates.

For comparison, I tour regularly with Voile’s TTS Transit, and exclusively with the heel assembly still attached. I simply engage the low heel riser to keep from clanging onto the assembly as I stride on tour so I don’t have to fiddle with getting the assembly back into ski mode in the field.

Touring with the heel assembly still attached and stowed underfoot is not possible in the same way on this version of the SIMPLL, and my first outing on the binding doing so was something of a comedy of errors. In softer, fresh snow, both of the knobs that keep the springs attached to the binding backed out on my left foot and were lost, and one unscrewed itself on the right. All within about ten minutes. Going forward, I only toured on the SIMPLL with the heel assembly removed, making it necessary to reattach it at the top of my tours before descending. 

But the SIMPLL’s heel assembly is difficult to remove and reattach. Again, it’s doable in the warm confines of a home. But in the field? More difficult and complicated. That is due to how the heel assembly attaches: its cable is fed under the toe from the rear and snapped into place with a removable plastic key that is inserted fore of the pins. The cable attaches snuggly at one of six positions on the plastic insert, depending on boot sole length. 

The cavity that houses both the cable and the plastic insert is necessarily small. By shoving the heel assembly forward, the plastic insert is easy to remove, but disarming the cable from its slot still requires a gloveless fingernail for me to remove. 

For transitioning to downhill mode, I experimented with different ways to attach the heel assembly. I had some luck doing so without taking my skis off. But cold hands (and an occasional iced insert cavity) could make reattaching the heel assembly difficult enough to warrant removing skis. This issue is alleviated greatly using glove liners, and is doable on a warmer day, but is still difficult, and impossible with a gloved hand, at least for me.

Because the heel assembly is finicky to remove and install, and has two separate parts in the plastic insert key and the heel assembly, the binding seems ill equipped for multiple backcountry laps. And considering the heel assembly screws have a way of backing out of the cable threads, the binding is also a poor choice for scaled meadow skipping and its seamless transitions. The SIMPLL is likely most at home ascending and skiing a single big objective, where the heel assembly is removed at home, stowed in the pack, and only reassembled for one long run. Or, ironically, as a resort binding, where the heel assembly isn’t removed at all, though the SIMPLL is clearly designed for touring.

Finicky heel assembly aside, skiing the SIMPLL is a full sensory experience. Its soft, neutral feel has enough travel to ski knee-to-ski, something InWild owner and chief designer Pierre Mouyade created the binding to achieve. In other words, for people who prefer a softer flexing telemark binding, it skis marvelously. 

The SIMPLL’s skiing sensation can be customized by tightening the knobs attaching the springs, adding a second inner spring for more tension, or skiing with a stiffer outer spring, allowing a certain breadth of flex options, though with the additional inner spring I still found the binding skied more neutrally than Voile’s TTS Transit, and much more so with just the standard spring.

I paired the SIMPLL with Voile’s Vector ACE ski, and three different Scarpa boots: the F3, the Italian maker’s bellowed, soft-flexing, and long since discontinued AT boot; the TX, another soft-flexing, discontinued telemark option; and the new TX Pro.

The F3 and its stiffer bellows took well to the SIMPLL with both the single and double spring configuration, while the TX’s softer build skied a single spring better. I skied both with an aggressive ZipFit Gara liner, and, especially with the F3, the SIMPLL skied not only with a breadth of feel, but aggressively, even on refrozen spring groomers and icy mank.

The SIMPLL binding also pairs well with the newer version of the TX Pro. Its soft bellows but more rigid frame made using the inner spring with the standard spring an apt pairing, taking to the firm conditions I skied it on well. What’s more is the springs on SIMPLL have ample travel, with a mellowly progressive feedback. Especially compared to NTN toe cage bindings, but even Voile’s Transit TTS. There’s a range of flexibility and softness of feel in the SIMPLL perhaps not present in any other modern telemark binding. 

The SIMPLL also employs the 22 Designs six hole mounting pattern, a departure from the Meidjo’s thirteen screws per ski that will please home mounters and free-heel shop employees alike. It speaks to the rising ubiquity of the pattern (Bishop Telemark also employs it with an additional seventh hole) that is likely to become a standard moving forward.

In all, this iteration of the SIMPLL is something of a dream to ski for neutral binding lovers, but in its current form there are a few glaring drawbacks, the biggest being the propensity for the knobs keeping the springs in place to back out. Beyond losing three of the four knobs in soft snow within minutes on my first tour, I also noticed the knobs tightening and backing out sitting idle in my backpack while ascending. And one knob completely backed out when the skis were atop our car rack coming back from the ski area one day, luckily remaining on the roof of the car.

But this issue–and others–may be alleviated with next year’s edition of the binding. Next season’s SIMPLL will include springs that are affixed in position at the back of the spring box (the current version’s springs slide fore and aft along the cable), likely removing much of the movement that causes the knobs to back out. Furthermore, the next version will allow the heel assembly to be stowed on-ski by snapping behind the heel pad like Voile’s Transit offers. Together, those abilities should allow next year’s SIMPLL to tour without removing the heel assembly and to switch to ski mode without reattaching it–a needed upgrade for the system.

Along with that, the heel pad will include a “bed” where the heel assembly on the downhill ski can rest when skiing, granting a more secure forward foot in the turn. Lastly, and true to InWild form, next year’s SIMPLL will also allow for a Linea alpine tech heel accessory, granting a hybrid setup when paired with Crispi or older model Scarpa boots that include alpine touring hardware at the heel. Mouyade notes that with the removal of the heel assembly, the newer SIMPLL can double as a pure AT option (if one’s AT boots are the correct size), though the alpine heel would preclude stowing the heel assembly on-ski. InWild also claims that AT-compatible telemark boots can be skied on the system without an added shim underfoot, as the binding’s toe piece has a platform for mitigating sole and bellows flex in fixed-heel mode.

In all, the SIMPLL binding–like the modern telemark gear paradigm–is exciting, innovative, and grants an amazing range of features with great skiability. The trade-off is that telemark’s newest gear seems to come with a certain penchant for trial-and-error and go-to-market strategies more comparable to beta programs. Our new boots are modern, sleek, and expensive, but many require a protracted break-in period. Our new bindings are strong-skiing and have achieved a certain weight and feature parity with alpine touring options, but are finicky, prone to icing, and first iterations are often a work in progress. 

But there’s much to be excited about for the SIMPLL’s future. The binding could surely use the range of updates coming, but it already skis with a sensation that many will love, continuing the long tradition of full-sensory, neutral skiing telemark gear. Something that is undoubtedly an asset in a telemark world that often seems bent on more rigid, higher performance gear, often at the expense of the free telemark flex many of us still love.