trekking poles reviews

Gear Review: Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork Trekking Poles

by
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
moosejaw.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.

Read on

Gear Review: Helinox Passport FL120 Trekking Poles

by
Helinox Passport FL 120 trekking poles.
Helinox Passport FL 120 trekking poles.

Trekking Poles
Helinox Passport FL120
$140, 11 oz. (120cm)
Sizes: 115-130cm
moosejaw.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.

Read on

Gear Review: Leki Micro Vario Carbon DSS Folding Trekking Poles

by
Leki Micro Vario Carbon Antishock 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
moosejaw.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.

Read on

Gear Review: Leki Micro Vario Carbon Trekking Poles

by
Leki Micro Vario Carbon trekking poles
Leki Micro Vario Carbon trekking poles.

Trekking Poles
Leki Micro Vario Carbon Trekking Poles
$200, 1 lb./pair (without storage sack)
moosejaw.com

From a four-day trip backpacking the Rockwall Trail in Canada’s Kootenay National Park, and a seven-mile, 2,300-foot dayhike on the Iceline Trail in Yoho National Park, to a rocky and often steep, 17-mile, 6,800-vertical-foot dayhike over the four summits of the Northern Presidential Range in New Hampshire, and an approximately 27-mile dayhike on Idaho’s Middle Fork of the Salmon River Trail (and other dayhikes of up to 10 miles during a six-day rafting trip on the Middle Fork), the Leki Micro Vario Carbon Trekking Poles repeatedly demonstrated their usefulness and versatility.

Read on

Gear Review: Black Diamond Trail Pro Shock Trekking Poles

by

 

Black Diamond Trail Pro Shock Poles
Black Diamond Trail Pro Shock Poles

Trekking Poles
Black Diamond Trail Pro Shock
$140, 1 lb. 5 oz.
Length: 27 to 55 ins./68 to 140 cm, collapsed length 27 ins./68 cm
blackdiamondequipment.com

On a 13.5-hour, roughly 18-mile, mostly off-trail dayhike in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains in July, I encountered the kind of terrain that makes a hiker wonder why humans ever thought walking upright was a good idea: steep, sliding scree, talus, firm snow that was slick on its surface, exposed ledges carpeted in sand and pebbles, and several thousand vertical feet of up and down on severely angled earth. It was the sort of day where you’d appreciate having four legs—or, short of that, a pair of sturdy, reliable trekking poles, which is why I was glad I had BD’s Trail Pro Shock with me.

Read on