Need pole advice for snowshoeing

"I have LT4's but want something specifically for winter and not carbon fiber. Probably a flip-lock instead of twist lock?"

Black Diamond makes a number of flip lock poles that would fill the bill. Definitely go flip lock, as water can work its way up to the expander plugs and cause them to slip, often at an "inconvenient" time. I'm not sure why you don't want CF, but BD makes both, so you have a choice. The CF poles are considerably lighter.

I use the BD carbon corks for snowshoeing- this will be season number four for them, no issues- they appear to be very stout

my wife has a (now discontinued BD mode)l that is a combination of carbon and aluminum- appear to be equally stout

Twist lock poles are miserable-to-impossible to operate when wearing gloves/mitts adequate for really cold weather.

Black Diamond Trail Ergo Cork poles are what I use.

REI specs page gives 18.2 vs. 17.4 ounces per pair when comparing against the Alpine Carbon Cork. (Am I missing some lighter BD CF model, or are the spec'd weights off?)

"Twist lock poles are miserable-to-impossible to operate when wearing gloves/mitts adequate for really cold weather."

+1, although I find them annoying to use in any weather. I have some BD flip lock poles that are great.

my carbon corks are 15.8 oz, nowhere in the GG LT realm, – but yeah many of their aluminum poles are only slightly heavier

Consider a cheap set of ski poles

They are useful for hills as

– you can lean on em heavily when traversing hills (always risky anD good to have a strong third leg)

– you can use em for going up steep ground by holding em sideways in both hands and putting it in the snow in front of you … Similar to what snowboarders do with their boards

One piece ski poles are strong enough to self arrest with shouls the need arise as well

Not to say you cant do the above with other poles … But you do incur more of a risk of damage IMO

I like the Black Diamond Trail Back poles. They're aluminum and Flicklock. Mine came with a set of powder baskets for winter.

definitely flicklock. i have the BD CF ones and they are nice. only used them a few times in snow but i don't see why you couldn't

+1 for the BD Flicklocks!

I still have two sets of the BPL Stix to keep weight down but still use my BDs as my "Beater" and Climbing poles as they are super sturdy and collapsible.

Komperdell Carbon Contour II Touring Poles – Powerlock at STP

Thanks everyone. Somewhat surprised at the overwhelming majority using BD poles. I guess there aren't that many brands, BD are easiest to find, or they are really good poles.

My reluctance on CF poles is because I have broken a couple LT4s. Not necessarily the fault of the poles, as I hike in some pretty rugged places. Also they are two piece versus 3 piece, which probably means there is a lot more flex in a longer section. Perhaps the 3 piece are less likely to break because of this. The other thing I do not know is how thick the other CF brands are compared to the LT4s. Obviously the LT4s are much lighter, but they don't have the heavier flint locks. But I suspect the LT4s are a thinner material.

So at this point I will research the BD further. Interestingly the aluminum poles are not much more weight maybe around 12% for what look like similar poles. So I will take at look at their CF poles.

I definitely am not going to deal with twist lock poles in winter any more!

Well, we use the same Leki poles for winter and summer — in our attempt to not have too much cr*p. They adjust using a twist lock, though we only use that function to set up a Pyramid Tarp. I mean, how often do you need to adjust them over the course of a day?

We use them in muskeg and alpine up mountains and down along snow covered streams. They seem to work fine.

I generally only use my poles for downhill, wet rock hopping trails/bog monorails or stream crossing. Which means I open and close my poles at multiple points during the day depending on what the trail does. That is for summer. For snowshoe or xc ski obviously i keep them out but the use in summer is greater.

I have some Leki adjustable twist-lock aluminum ski poles that I purchased in 1995, and I haven't had a speck of difficulty with them.

–B.G.–

"My reluctance on CF poles is because I have broken a couple LT4s. Not necessarily the fault of the poles, as I hike in some pretty rugged places. Also they are two piece versus 3 piece, which probably means there is a lot more flex in a longer section. Perhaps the 3 piece are less likely to break because of this. The other thing I do not know is how thick the other CF brands are compared to the LT4s. Obviously the LT4s are much lighter, but they don't have the heavier flint locks. But I suspect the LT4s are a thinner material."

The BD CF poles are much beefier than the LT4's. I have both and would be hard pressed to think of a situation where I could break my BD CF flint lock poles, unless it were deliberate. Thicker material and, as you mentioned, shorter, overlapping pole segments. I would at least take a look at the CF poles before making a final decision, were I you.

Thanks, Tom. Always appreciate your opinion. Yes I am going to look at them.