From roots to peaks: a bindings' history.
ATK's history
A friendly spark
In 2006, Giovanni Indulti was running GIMEC, his high precision CNC mechanical workshop, alongside his wife Guerrina. The company was producing precision mechanical components for the ceramic, packaging and, of course, automotive industries.
It's safe to say that, at the time, none of them was an expert of ski mountaineering. "Our knowledge in regards to the backcountry skiing world could be summarised by a single, emblematic question that used to pop in our mind as we were sitting on a comfortable chair-lift: what kind of spirit moves these people to go through all that just to earn a few turns?" They admit.
That changed when a skimo competition enthusiast brought to the laboratory in Fiorano Modenese an old touring binding, asking if, with their expertise, they could improve that heavy and bad-tempered chunk of metal.
ATK's history
A fast ascent
Since nobody had worked on upgrading bindings for almost a decade, there was a lot of space for improvement. Also, at the soon-to-be ATK, they were working on a race binding, which allowed them to exasperate their innovative thinking, going all in on the quest for lightness.
The first prototypes started rolling out, showing promising results. Such promising, that in 2007 ATK was founded and the focus of the company shifted heavily towards bindings engineering.
At that time, nobody could know that success was waiting along that road. But, like a modern start-up, ATK fueled on passion, rather than fancy facilities and money, so they kept going with enthusiasm.
The reward came in 2009 when, just three years after seeing a binding entering its headquarter for the first time, ATK, an absolute underdog born far from the Alps, had already developed a championship worth product. The historic Race-NX.
ATK's history
A closer perspective
The years went by, bringing championships and an always greater awareness: the same passion for mechanical problem solving that flowed from the Indulti family into ATK, would have driven the organization through all the changes, and challenges, of its future.
ATK was in fact ready to leave its comfort zone in the racing world to take its philosophy, 'Performing Through Lightness,' to a wider audience.
At this point Davide - Giovanni and Guerrina's son - having joined his parents at the wheel of the company, had been feeling the urge to really dive deeper into the ski mountaineering world. "In those years I moved my attention towards a more relaxed approach, where the mountaineering experience and the quality of time spent with friends on the mountains came up beside the racing hunger" explains Davide.
ATK's history
A bright future
ATK does not have a present.
Every day we hybrid the values and the passion sparkled from our past, with a relentless push to design and redesign our future.
And while our touring and free touring categories are now the emblem of our growth; and while our race product are still the most winning of the circuit, rest assure that the next great innovation is already boiling in our caulderon.
Stick around and find out where our family is headed by constantly working to achieve lighter products. Lighter on your feet, to better enjoy your hard earned turns, and lighter on the environment, to ensure we will always be able to enjoy ski mountaineering.
Mission
At ATK Bindings, our mission is to enhance the skiing performances of enthusiasts of all levels by designing and producing lightweight bindings.
Vision
We aspire to create a world where skiers can effortlessly explore their passion for the mountains, thanks to the lightweight design of our products. We will achieve this goal by relentlessly pursuing innovation and becoming the global leader in the world of inline binding.
Family
ATK was born into a family that instilled it with its own set of values. They have guided us through the years, the changes, and the challenges that our growth forced us to confront. These values are the foundation that sustained all our efforts in reaching our goal: creating performance through lightness for you.
Inclusivity
Skiers' needs are the driving force behind our constant strive for improvement. Our strength comes from the thorough effort we put into understanding all the inputs that can feed our ever-going development process and help us tailor light products to unlock your best performance.
Lightness
Our strength is in the lightness that allows you to enjoy all the aspects of the ascent and have the most fun on the descent. This isn't casual; it's the result of all the years that ATK spent experimenting in the Race world. Years of activities revolved around one guiding philosophy 'Performing Through Lightness!'
