According to ESPN there are no techno-light wonder binding coming anytime soon unfortunately, so does this mean that Mr. Hill will be now ski touing his millions of feet on Salomon Guardian and Salomon Quest boots?

Continuing its shift toward becoming a backcountry-focused ski brand, Salomon has signed Revelstoke, B.C., ski-touring luminary Greg Hill to a three-year deal effective July 1 and announced on Monday.

Hill told ESPN.com that he is leaving light-and-fast product leader Dynafit -- where he had a signature pro model ski, the Stoke -- to help Salomon develop a comprehensive line of hardgoods while advancing his own career "from the minors to the majors."

"I think Salomon can take me from the fringe to the mainstream," he said.

His signing also represents Salomon's new vision. According to global brand director Niclas Bornling, the company is at a "turning point" and is making sponsorship decisions differently than it did before. Over the past year, Salomon parted ways with X Games gold medalists Simon Dumont and Sammy Carlson and committed more resources to skiers who make their livings on natural terrain, largely under human power. Most notably, Salomon signed Swedish ski mountaineer Andreas Fransson earlier this year and now follows by inking Hill.

"Our strategy has changed," Bornling said. "We're building an inclusive team of passionate mountain people who will shape the evolution of Salomon in skiing and our product."

The brand shift comes in response to the fast-growing backcountry market, Bornling said. "We deeply believe this is not just a trend but something that's here to stay and will inspire more people to go skiing. Looking back at our heritage as a brand born in the heart of the Alps and driven by passionate mountain people, we feel that this is the right time to come back to our roots and the very basics of skiing."

Hill -- who set a world record by climbing and skiing two million vertical feet in 2010 (a feat to be chronicled in a film premiering this fall) -- began loosely looking for a new hardgoods sponsor last winter. "My ski brand has become a business," he said. "The numbers really have to work out. But the model wasn't making sense."

Knowing Dynafit wasn't in a position to pay what he wanted, Hill reached out to Salomon this spring. Further talks eventually led to a three-year contract that he signed in late June.

"I'm 36," Hill said, "so I was like, let's make this long term. Because I'm not moving over to just try something, I'm moving over to work toward an end that we've both agreed on." As for what product innovations he'll be working on, Hill -- who flies to France next week to begin R&D work -- said the designs won't be geared to the über light-and-fast crowd. Instead, he's more likely to tweak a ski like the Rocker 2 into a more touring-specific design. "I like to go fast, but I like to ski, too," he said. "We're going to try and find that perfect line where it's not cumbersome to get up but it's amazing to come down."

This is really interesting.  I was looking a the Rocker II last year and had a day of Cat skiing with them.  A fantastic ski, absolutely so much fun and the fastest, most controlled powder ski I'v every been on.  I'm looking to pick up a pair of the smaller ones this year for a touring/cat skiing set-up for deep days.  Not sure if I'll go with tech bindings or one of the newer offerings form solomon etc., but I'm leaning towards saving some weight in the binding to make up for a heavy(ish) ski.  

Maybe I could test some skis for Salomon this winter?  Hello?  Anyone listening?

This is big news for the backcountry skiing world, Greg Hill at Salomon can only mean that Salomon is looking to make a difference in the ski touring world. New backcountry specicific skis, tech bindings - who knows? What ever they come up with will be good for all of us and the industry as a whole.

We rode the Rocker2 last season and they are a really fun ski for all conditions but you are right, it would be nice to see a Salomon ski for the die-hard dedicated backcountry skier. We hope to have some time with the new Guardian AT Binding this season as well and will report any news we hear about new products comng down the pipe.

Go Greg, Go Salomon!

Looks like there are big plans in the works, nothing for this season as it is only 4 months away and these things obviously take time. Found this info on skiingbusiness.com:

What type of products do you have in the works?

I can’t say too much, but it includes skis, boots and bindings. We’re the top boot brand, and we want to take that expertise to the backcountry. It took us 40 years to get where we are now, but we feel like we can bring great product to the backcountry market and be innovative.

We’re talking things that aren’t in the market right now. We’re taking ideas from things that we do and like, and things that other brands do that we like. We’re sending Greg Hill and Chris Rubens to our global headquarters soon to get going on the first project: a new boot that will be between 1.2 kilograms and 1.5 kilograms per boot.

And with that, we’ll target the same consumer that Dynafit and Garmont and others like that target. Those customers are there, and that segment is growing. There are consumers that don’t even know they want lightweight gear right now, but they’ll eventually realize it.

Why do this now? It seems like you’re a little late to the party like with the Guardian.

We don’t feel like we entered the market late with the Guardian. We could have brought that to market earlier, but we wanted to do it right and make sure it was exactly what we wanted. And we’ll do the same this time. We’re going to make sure we have everything right if we want to come out with a new type of boot or binding.

We don’t feel like there’s a great lightweight backcountry boot that also performs really well downhill, so we’re going to develop our own. We have the ability to make products that aren’t out there right now, and we’re innovative.

We have the credibility to enter new markets, and we see the backcountry market as being a good place to put resources. More and more people want to earn their turns. It’s big in Europe, and it’s getting bigger in North America, so we’ve invested in the right people-like Greg Hill and Andreas Fransson-to help us get there.

What’s the timeline for the new boots or even skis and bindings?

You won’t see this stuff at the next SIA show, so we’re at least two years out. First, we’ll expand on the Guardian family for the 2013-14 season and bring back the tech-compatible boot-which will be much better than the first time we did it.

You may potentially see new lightweight stuff for the 2014-15 season. My inclination is that the first lightweight backcountry-specific equipment is most likely going to be a boot and ski. 

It sounds like you guys will develop a new lightweight binding instead of acquire a company that’s already doing it.

It’s hard to say, but I think acquisition is a last resort for us. We feel like we have the money, people machinery and other general assets to make a better product on our own without acquiring another company.

Will you guys be collaborating with Atomic on the lightweight gear?

We’re not working on the lightweight stuff with Atomic like we did with the Guardian and Tracker bindings. As far as I know, Atomic is focused on the freeride community, and hasn’t committed to the lightweight market. We’ll also go after that freeride market, but we’re going further into the backcountry market.