Burton’s ICS Boards & EST Bindings Explained

Burton EST Bindings

A lot of my friends throw their snowboarding questions at me. In a way, I’ve only got myself to blame; what with all the raving I do about riding and how awesome I look decked out in gear. Lately, I’ve been getting a ton of questions around Burton’s ICS snowboard technology. With that, I thought I’d post quickie on it and talk about the new EST bindings and clear up the confusion around whether you can use old Burton bindings with the new ICS boards (if that’s all you came for, go ahead and skim to the bullet points below you lazy bastard!).

First, ICS stands for Infinite Channel System and is supposed to provide the board with a better flex pattern. Woopdy doo, yet another fancy jargon! The ICS technology is basically an old idea re-introduced by Burton. Companies like Forum and Capita had this a few years back, and when Burton bought Forum, it inherited the ICS license with the purchase. In a nutshell, rather than mounting the bindings by screwing them into metal plates in the board’s core, the bindings are attached onto a track system which runs lengthwise at the center of the board.

Burton's Custom ICS 158

What are some of the advantages?

• Unlimited stance options compared to the older system (maybe that’s why it’s called infinite?)
• Easier binding stance adjustment
• Provides the snowboard with a more balanced flex pattern (supposedly)
• Saves on weight by using less metal plates
• Old Burton bindings can be used on the new ICS design with an ICS ‘adaptor’ that Burton provides

This brings us to the Burton EST bindings, which stands for… wait for it… “Extra Sensory Technology”! I don’t mean to bash the fancy wording, because it’s actually a cool design, but I can’t help myself. The main difference is where the bolt heads used to be in the old Burton bindings, you’ll find 3 plastic looking windows. One to adjust your stance setback, one the toe/heel, and one the angle. Like I said, the design is wicked, because it lets you adjust any of the 3 in a matter of seconds. This feature alone warrants the upgrade to the new Burton ICS snowboard and EST bindings combo. So better start saving those pay cheques folk!

Burton EST Bindings