I was first introduced to trekking poles three or four years ago. I liked them right away and had them with me on nearly every hike as well as about a half the time when walking my dog.
My first poles were a pair of black diamond ellliptic adjustable aluminum poles picked up from REI (that link is pretty much the newer version of the poles I had purchased).
The elliptical shape offered more stability and the adjustable height worked really well. Occasionally if I pushed the poles past what they were supposed to be doing (running with trekking poles through the foothills etc.) the poles would slightly collapse and shift down. This happened pretty rarely and was fixed by tighting the locks that held the pole in position.
My newest poles are the : Black Diamond Distance Z-Pole Trekking Poles
I saw the new z-pole series at REI and was intrigued by their design. I liked the fact that they were compact as adjustable poles but ridged like fixed poles. It was the best of both worlds!
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| Z-poles, Banjo "side mounted dog" (his leash was tethered to my belt), Vapor Trail loaded up |
To test these poles I went hiking through mixed terrain in the sandia mountains. The trail we picked would lead us over forest, mud, ice, rocks, dirt, tree mass etc. This was the first real test of the poles.
The hike covered about 4-5 miles. I am wearing my Granite Gear Vapor Trail loaded up with 25 lbs of beans and about 10 lbs of water.
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| Damnit Banjo |
Durability: Tentative 4 (I have only just gotten them, so far so good)
Cool Factor: 5 (the pole collapse assemble with a kevlar core...bad ass)
Final Verdict:
4.66 out of 5
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