Use of Carbon Fiber Poles w/ Shelters

CF poles will conduct electricity quite well.

That said I have used mine for many, many nights supporting shelters like Tarptents and the NEMO Meta 2. I am using a Brooks Range Propel tent next month that will use them too.

I better edit this to say that I use CF poles, but not the ones you have.

"CF poles will conduct electricity quite well."

Huh! Didn't know that. Learn something new every day.

What are you preferred CF poles?

KJ

bump

If you break a cf while using it with a shelter then you are like having bigger issues than just your poles. The strength of a collapsed or partially collapsed pole is much stronger than other parts of the system like stakes, guy lines and tarps. Most cf poles get broken by being stepped on or by putting the tip in a crack and pushing forward.

The BD alpine carbon poles are very burly, I wouldn't worry about them being a weak point in your shelter.

Yep, depending on the shelter i'd think the fabric would rip or the poles would tip over before anything snapped.

I guess I'm more so referring to the stresses put on them by a shelter (perhaps similar to a "prolonged" fall catch with the pole…if you will) adding to their likelihood of breaking at any point in time…even though I did mention concern for high winds and a taught pitch being a possible cause for breakage.

Either way, it's sounding like the ones that I'm looking at, this issue should be nonexistent.

KJ

They use carbon fiber to make masts and booms for racing sailboats. it is strong stuff.

"The BD alpine carbon poles are very burly, I wouldn't worry about them being a weak point in your shelter."

+ 1

The BD Alpine Carbon Cork poles are ultra beefy for a carbon pole. Short of severe user error (ie. have no overlap between sections), you're extremely safe with these. I'd suggest going with a lighter pole personal. Locus Gear has some new flick lock poles coming out that weigh ~12oz (vs. 16oz for the BD ACC poles) which should be a nice compromise between the gossamer gear LT4's and something beefy but heavy like the BD ACC's.

http://locusgear.com/products/trekking-pole/cp2

The GG LT4's are great for holding up a shelter too. I've snapped a couple during off-trail mis-haps, but I continue to use them because they are so much nicer to hike with and short of me landing on them, they hold up just fine. I would like flick locks though and I can see the benefit of a 10-12oz set of poles for off-trail/snow use.

Still using my MYOG CF poles. My wife and I have combined about 2000+ miles on our original pairs. 185 grams per pair. $30 and 10 minutes of work.