great light weight poles. I use them only on down hills and tricky bush-wacks. Love the fast flick locks and light weight. Actually I bent one on the first trip I used them. Tripped and fell head first into a bush with snowshoes on. Tried to role with it but ended up putting a lot of weight perpendicular to pole. It bent slightly and had a hard time collapsing. For only 12 bucks BD sent a new middle section for the pole! What company would do that? The color of the new section is different, but it makes for a good story.

just finish 5 nights of staying in this thing. I'm 5'10" and I hit both ends if I lay out. So the end of the bag can get wet from condensation if your not careful. We had 32 hours of rain on Isle Royale and the tent couldn't do it. The tent was seam sealed and stuff too. After the second day of rain it just rained right through the top of the tent. No not the seams or where the polls hit. Strait through the fabric. We spent most of our time mopping up water and huddled for warmth. Eventually we put pack covers and rain coats on top of the tent to stop in from raining on us. Thankfully we could fit in one mostly dry bag and like each other a lot. Made for a romantic trip but could of gotten really ugly if we weren't on our way out of the back country when it started raining.
Probably an OK tent for snow, but forget using it for rain. Forget down sleeping bags. I teach survival skills for work and this tent was making me really think about how to stay OK. Its a death trap man. Black Diamond should be on the Poo Poo list for a while for this mistake. But, if it was a bit longer and had a water tight fabric it would work pretty good. Had the same rain problem with a Mega too.

I use them at work in the winter and when backpacking. Work means hiking in snow and through forest. Good grip and ankle support. I roll ankles like its my job but can't do it in these boots. Three complaints: 1. water proofing for snow is hard. I can walk through a sort stream and not get my feet wet, but snowshoeing is a problem. With snow melt working on them for a few hours they will leak through. They also seem so leak through the sole stitching. I've done about three re-water proofings with nik wax stuff. Works OK for rain, but after a full day of watery work, they will leak. Water-proofing also makes them steamy inside. So if you don't think you need waterproofing, don't do it.
2. I don't like the toebox. It's too Euro cut for my square american feet. There's not enough room for my little toe but too much room for the middle toes. Looks more like a girly cut on it than a guys. Size is true though.
3. What color lasses do you put on them? This is mostly a joke but really. Black would be too dull and everything else looks weird. Merrell should do this boot in brown.