Komperdell Pure Black Ski Poles - Carbon

Super strong.

These poles are light weight, stiff and strong. Since that are not sectional, there is no need to readjust the length periodically. The grips are comfortable, but don't seem to be sturdy (time will tell). The tips are steel rather than carbide. Based on my experience, the tip will be gone in a 14-16 months (1200-1500 miles). Carbide tips would have garnered another "*". Even so, I like the the poles a lot. I would buy them again. I use these poles for more causal hiking. I have set of collapsible carbon poles for backpacking.

After 20+ years of using aluminum poles, I finally decided to try out a pair of composites. The price of composite poles has always kept me from purchasing, but Sierra came through once again with a great deal. Extremely light weight and incredibly strong, by far the best set of poles I have ever owned. If you are looking for a set of carbon poles at an amazing price, these are well worth it!

Lightweight and comfortable. I plan on switching to larger baskets for the deeper/softer snow I typically find in the trees.

As an experiment, I used a vintage 1980 pair of aluminum XC ski poles to hike with and found they really helped distribute loads and impact. I hike very rough terrain, often alone, and the thought of a collapsable pole collapsing under me and causing injury from a fall did not appeal to me so I began searching for a pair of non-collapsing carbon poles and found these. At [$], they are less than half the cost of a collapsable carbon pole by same manufacturer and many ounces lighter, too. Do not hesitate to use these for hiking, they're excellent. Choose length about 2 inches below your armpit. I am a former outdoor ed instructor and I've hiked/backpacked literally 1,000s of miles. Only negative: I would angle tips forward like XC pole tips as they release from each plant easier than straight tip. This is minor.