Life-Link Variant Probe Pole - 2004 BCS

This last winter I got the poles at the end of the season. I used them in the resort a lot. I ride park too. They held up. I went on a few backcountry trips but one of my poles get stuck and i could't get it out so I had to use it like it was. I had to do some pulling to get it unstuck. It sucked. But they work well. Good poles. They will hold up.

These poles are buff and I like the big snow basket, but for some reason the locking mechanism on these poles doesn't work well and my poles are constantly collapsing on me. It’s not very fun when you're going up a steep switchback or poling across a flat traverse. I'm switching back to the fliplock type of locking mechanism, from my experience it seems to hold better.

The Lifelink variant probe poles will serve almost all purposes well and fall short in two particular areas. They will make great resort poles. They will make great day/in & day/out backcountry or heli-guiding poles. They will bash cornices; they will break ice from your roof rack, boots or anything else for that matter. They will not break easily either. For that reason they make great every day use poles. They are heavy and not compact so there are two things they will not do well at all: 1.) They will not make good lightweight assault poles on big ascent/descents 2.) They will not fold away for pack storage on snowboard outings or summer trekking expeditions. If you bring them plan to carry them the whole time.

They were well designed and serve their intended purpose perfectly; Every day greatness in every day situations.