I have had a pair of REI carbon ul poles for a few years, the kind that get returned because the licking mechanism slips. That shortcoming has been overcome by loosening the sections barely enough to adjust, requiring maybe 10-15lbs of force to move.
Currently, the upper section on both poles requires 50-75lbs of effort to collapse, even with the locking mechanism backed off completely. Two things have happened since they were last collapsed for storage:
1) used is heavy rain
2) tied poles together tightly for use as center pole of 6' mid. The handles were at the top and bottom in this set-up and there was an obvious bend in the lower sections from the tension of binding.
Did I ruin these poles or is something else going on here?
