Ski touring bindings · Test magazine 2025
Tech talk with Dominik Riediger, QWICKLANE
Managing Director · Print page 107
Who is Dominik Riediger? Co-founder and Managing Director of QWICKLANE
Dominik Riediger is co-founder and Managing Director of QWICKLANE, a technology provider focused on ski touring bindings. He is responsible for marketing, finance, sales and partnerships, freeing up his two development colleagues to concentrate on technology and the product. Riediger comes from Lenggries, has skied since childhood and took up ski touring after his time in ski racing.
In his interview for the BACKLINE 2025 test magazine, he describes what the company calls the world's first ski touring binding with electrically adjustable climbing aids at a weight comparable to conventional products. The climbing aid can be adjusted at the push of a button while walking. According to Riediger, the binding remains manually usable like a conventional pin binding when the battery runs out. He stresses that digital technology must deliver practical benefits without limiting independence in the mountains.
He sees QWICKLANE as a technology provider with a clear product focus and a system comprising the binding, app, charger and sensors. He identifies building trust, development, certification and financing with limited resources as challenges. Future plans include automatic climbing aid adjustment based on slope detection, additional app functions and transferring the technology to other sports.
Qwicklane positions itself as an innovative provider in the touring binding segment – what is your technical USP compared to established brands?
Our technical USP is the world's first ski touring binding with electrical ascent aid height adjustment – and at a market-standard weight. With the push of a button, the ascent aid can be adjusted while walking, without having to stop or bend down. This comfort function did not exist before – with none of the established manufacturers. We are solving a problem that has been unresolved for decades and combining it with an ergonomically optimized system that saves energy, as well as increasing safety and comfort.
Digital technology in outdoor sports is still associated by many with risks rather than benefits. How do you address these opinions?
That is absolutely understandable – the desire for simplicity, robustness, and independence is deeply rooted in mountain sports. That's why it was important to us that our binding remains fully usable even without electronics. If the battery runs out, the binding can be used manually like a classic pin binding. At the same time, our experience shows: If the digital solution delivers real added value, it will be adopted. See electric gear shifting on bicycles or the dropper seatpost. Our system is extremely energy-efficient, temperature-resistant down to -20 °C, and offers a clearly recognizable improvement in comfort, efficiency, and safety – that even convinces technology skeptics.
Does Qwicklane see itself more as a product provider or a technology provider?
Qwicklane is a technology provider with a clear product focus. We are not just developing an innovative ski touring binding, but creating a holistic system with an app, charger, sensors, and, in the future, automatic adjustment of the ascent aid via inclination detection. Our electronics platform is designed to be modular and, in the long term, transferable to other winter sports products or outdoor applications. Nevertheless, our goal is always to create a functional and reliable product for the user – not a tech gimmick, but real performance in the snow.
What has been the biggest challenge for Qwicklane in recent years?
The feedback from our test users is consistently positive – in all categories, our binding is rated better than conventional models. Nevertheless, we encounter a natural skepticism in the market towards new technologies, especially in the safety-relevant area of winter sports. Building this trust without being able to rely on existing brand awareness is a demanding task. In a small team with limited resources, managing product development, testing, certification, financing, sales, and market communication simultaneously represents an enormous challenge – but that's exactly what motivates us every day.
Where do you see Qwicklane in five years?
In five years, we want to be Europe's leading innovation brand in ski touring – known for smart products that improve the touring experience. We are already working on enhancements such as automatic binding adjustment to the slope inclination, app functions for security like anti-theft protection and performance tracking, and are also considering models with OEM partners. At the same time, our goal is to transfer our technology platform to other sports – where intelligent mechanics meet rough terrain. Qwicklane stands for technology that doesn't stand out but simply works – so you keep moving instead of stopping.
