Excellent poles

By Steve Rowe Ranked #112 - Snowshoes January 7, 2009

I was going backpacking with my son on the Knobstone Trail in Indiana and he indicated it would be a good idea for me to get some trekking poles (something I have never used before). We set out on Dec 21st with the temperature at 15F and wind blowing at 25mph. Slick leave covered trails on inclines proved the value of these poles. They held solidly, and were easy to adjust but not as easy as my son's Leki poles. However, as the day wore on and the temps got colder, it became evident that the Black Diamond flick lock was superior to the Leki. By the end of the first day, one of my son's Leki poles would only lock at the fully extended or retracted position. At the beginning of the next day with the temp at 0F, one of my son's Leki would not lock in any position and the other pole would only lock in the fully extended position. The BD flick lock never had a problem locking in any position.

It was just dumb luck that I got the BD poles since they were on sale and I was suffering from the sticker shock at getting completely outfitted for a winter backpacking over a 2 month period. I honestly just bought the least expensive trekking poles I could find that appeared to be reasonable quality. The bottom line is I would buy these poles again without any hesitation as they far exceeded the performance of the more expensive Leki trekking pole.

On another side note regarding Backcountry, the poles initially shipped were a set of BD ski poles. The return and replacement of the poles with the correct units were done expeditiously and very professionally. Thanks Backcountry.

View Details: Black Diamond Trail Back Trekking Pole

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