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Tag Archives: trekking poles reviews
Gear Review: Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork Trekking Poles
Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork Trekking Poles.
Trekking & Snow Poles
Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork Trekking Poles
$170, 1 lb. 2 oz. (with trekking baskets)
One size, adjustable
backcountry.com
If you make the mountains your playground in all seasons and find your budget tapped by a variety of boots, packs, and other gear for your sports, the notion of purchasing more than one pair of poles may create some financial hardship (and it cuts into your beer budget). You need one pair of sticks that do it all. From six mid-October days of hiking in the western North Carolina mountains, including a 34-mile backpacking trip in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to days of backcountry skiing in the Idaho mountains, I leaned on BD’s Alpine Carbon Cork Trekking Poles and they stood up to every task. Continue reading →
December 11, 2016
The World’s Best Holiday Gift Guide: 40 Top Picks in Outdoor Gear and Apparel
By Michael Lanza
If you’re shopping for someone who loves the outdoors this holiday season… or, ahem, for yourself… look no farther. I’ve compiled my annual list of the best outdoor gear and apparel that I’ve used over the past 12 months. Two decades of gear testing has given me a pretty good eye for quality, I think. This list includes super values in jackets, backpacks, a tent, a sleeping bag and air mattress, trekking poles, climbing harnesses, snowshoes, rechargeable lanterns, a headlamp, knives, kids’ gear and apparel, and a pile of other stuff, as well as some neat stocking stuffers, and a huge range of prices. Plus, many of them are available at sale prices right now (I’ve indicated those below). You just might get all of your holiday gift shopping done right here. Continue reading →
Gear Review: Helinox Passport FL120 Trekking Poles
Helinox Passport FL 120 trekking poles.
Trekking Poles
Helinox Passport FL120
$140, 11 oz. (120cm)
Sizes: 115-130cm
backcountry.com
Yes, you read the weight listed above correctly: A pair of these adjustable trekking poles weighs just 11 ounces, which is several ounces below the weight of most hiking poles and the lightest model I’ve reviewed at this blog. With that tantalizing statistic in mind, I put them through the ringer on several hikes, including a 20-mile, 4,500-vertical-foot, trail run-hike in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains that included several hundred feet of third-class scrambling up 10,651-foot Snowyside Peak. I found several reasons to like them a lot, despite some shortcomings. Read on. Continue reading →
Gear Review: Leki Micro Vario Carbon DSS Folding Trekking Poles
Leki Micro Vario Carbon Antishock Trekking Poles
Trekking Poles
Leki Micro Vario Carbon DSS Folding Trekking Poles
$220, 1 lb. 1 oz. (110-130 cm).
Sizes: regular/unisex 110-130 cm, Lady 100-120cm
rei.com
How much does a good pair of trekking poles matter? I used these three-section, folding poles on a dayhike in August that I wasn’t certain I could finish: the 32-mile, 10,000-vertical-foot, nine-summit Pemi Loop in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. For the last few miles, the poles may have been the only thing holding me up. Whether or not you intend to take absurdly long hikes, this one did help me identify the many strengths of Leki’s Micro Vario Carbon DSS Folding Trekking Poles, and evaluate the usefulness of the antishock mechanism. Continue reading →
Gear Review: Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z Poles
Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z Poles
Trekking Poles
Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z Poles
$160, 10 oz./pair (110 cm)
Sizes: 110, 120, 130, and 140 cm
blackdiamondequipment.com
With gear, exceptionally low weight often means compromising functionality, durability, or both. With Black Diamond’s Distance Carbon Z Poles, though, there’s little compromise. On a mostly off-trail, two-day backpacking trip to Quiet Lake in Idaho’s White Cloud Mountains; another mostly off-trail, roughly 14-mile and 5,000-foot dayhike of 10,470-foot Horstman Peak and traverse of the Monolith Valley in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains; and a 6.4-mile, 1,400-foot, on-trail hike up 10,243-foot Mount Washburn in Yellowstone National Park, I found the strengths of these poles far outweighed the one shortcoming that helps make them so light. Continue reading →
