The least durable piece of kit?

[Philip Tschersich]

I guess I’ve been relatively lucky in that I have not had many gear failures over the years. In many thousands of backcountry miles in coastal Alaska, the piece of gear that has failed with the greatest frequency for me are trekking poles. The time that I hiked and packrafted the length of Kodiak Island, I broke one of my poles three times in three different ways. I’ve asked other people who have done backcountry travel here what piece of kit failed them, and many of them brought up trekking poles. And yet some very experienced friends of mine here in Alaska somehow use the extremely lightweight carbon BD Distance ‘Z’ poles with no issues (on elk hunts, no less!).

I’ve taken to using fixed-length aluminum ski poles as my trekking poles whenever possible because failure of this item bugs the crap out of me.

What do you destroy most frequently?

[John B]

I also find that trekking poles are my most frequent equipment failures (very few others either).  I tried carbon fiber poles once, and now stick with the aluminum (heavier) poles.  They usually last me two or three seasons–cost of “doing business”

[JCH]

I haven’t had a gear failure in a very long time.  Last major failure was a Hubba Hubba that went all sticky at only 3 years old, but that was many years ago and it didn’t fail in the field. My trekking poles are 2-piece CF MYOG beauties that Bob Moulder made for me. 4.5 oz each and things of beauty. I think I’d have to try to damage them.

[dirtbag]

My Kahtoola micro spikes.  I just went on my 3rd pair. I do get lots of use on them and they do work awesome.. So I can’t really complain.

[Matthew / BPL]

Platypus bottles. I’ve had a couple start leaking from the crease at the bottom of the bottle.

[Ken Thompson]

Shoes. Definitely shoes

[Dan]

No trekking pole failures yet, knock on wood. I have had to repair inflatable sleeping pads and water reservoirs on several occasions.

[Thom]

Shoes

[jscott]

I have 2 piece carbon hiking poles…I’m blanking on the manufacturer’s name (more on that later). I loved the light weight, and then broke one near the tip on my third long hike. Got a replacement. Broke another the next year in the same place. Got a replacement. Fifteen years later, no more breakage. I learned what to watch out for when placing the tips. It’s an unconscious thing at this point. The cork grips are great.

these poles were the cat’s meow when they came out; now, I can’t find the manufacturer on a quick google search. Maybe out of business? Anyway, I also used these poles for many seasons as tent poles. Solid.

My point is, some pieces of equipment have a learning curve. I use a very thin 3 ounce pad under my real sleep pad to protect from punctures. And polycryo below the tent floor. Learning curve.

[Matthew / BPL]

Y’all are making me think I should look at my BD Alpine Carbon Cork poles very carefully. I’ve been hiking with them since 2014 and they’ve been dropped and wedged between rocks and knocked into things many times. I’ve replaced the screw on part of the tips once and the whole tip assembly another time because it split. I rely on my poles for shelter setup too. They are a key piece of gear for me.

[jscott]

I broke mine both times when the tip wedged between rocks and my wrist/arm levered them forwards in my natural motion.  Snap, about 4 inches up from the tip.

[Alex H]

Poles and pads for me, that I can remember ;-)

[Paul Wagner]

I don’t use poles, but I can be counted on to go through a pair of hiking shoes/boots once a season.  That’s quicker than any other part of my kit, unless you are counting food…

[dirtbag]

I actually broke my first pole this winter on my Pharaoh Lake Wilderness trip. Took an exciting slip going down the snow covered icy Pharaoh Lake Mt.. my Black Diamond carbon Z fold pole snapped. Lucky for me, Bob had some DCF tape and we were able to wrap a few pieces around the broken section.. it was just barely good enough to get me out of there.. but it worked. Other then my tarps.. another reason I prefer single pole shelters!  My son snapped his GG LT5 pole a few years back the first mile or 2 on the Loyalsock trail in PA. It just snapped the tip clean off while hiking on flat trail.. luckily we were able to extend the poles enough so he was able to use it just fine for the remaining 57 miles!

[Mudjester]

Right – “price of doing business”: shoes especially. Poles & polycro too. Replaced a few tips on GG LT4s, finding the narrow part under the tips w vertical cracks, so they get shorter each time. I now often go with aluminum (Fizan). Although, I had one ripped off my pack & lost during dense bushwacking = not the poles fault. The GG Silverback/Gorilla has external pole caddies that IMO are ill-designed. I’ve cut em off. Losing a pole you need for pitching your tent is close to an existential loss.

[Steve Thompson]

Trekking poles for me, mostly from my own clumsiness.  The carbon poles are pretty fragile and don’t take kindly to a hard plant when trying to catch a fall. Went through 3 sets of REI branded made by Komperdell in 2 seasons.  Upgraded to BD Alpine cork, got about 5 years per set with these.  When the clamps started failing I switched to Mons Peak.  Actually wore out the tips before snapping the lower section of one traversing a talus field.  The clamps were in good shape so just replaced the lower sections.

Will see how it goes, but so far the Mons Peak seems best of the 3 models.

[Amber]

Socks. I’ve been using the Cascade aluminum poles for 3-4 years, since they were given to me as a gift. The tip is completely gone on one of them, but for $30/pair, I’ll just buy another set. If all things lasted that long with as much use…

[Steve Thompson]

Amber, I’ll add one brand, one model of sock:   Injinji nuwool trail socks. Perfect thickness for wearing with trail runners, but didn’t last one day on my JMT hike last summer.  I like toe socks and have great luck with their original weight coolmax socks.  But the wool were a fail.

[Amber]

I’ve been using wool, which I’d expect to wear out faster. I haven’t tried toe socks, but I should (a synthetic version, it seems!). I like to carry around a cheap pair of dollar store flip flops for walking around camp and getting up in the middle of the night, but I can’t use them in cooler temps with regular socks on. That might solve two problems!

[Bob Kerner]

Footwear; in particular, lightweight trail shoes. My Altra Lone Survivors (my preferred name for them), are two season old and parts of the sole are delaminating at the toe box. I don’t put a lot of miles on them, mainly because I don’t think I really like 0-drop shoes. So to have them coming apart like this is pretty bad.

Similarly, I have a set of Brooks trail runners that delaminate at the heel. Second pair that’s done this. This pair is a little over a year old. These are my daily drivers (pun intended) and I think the tread is peeling off because of how I rest my heal when driving. Still, they must have contemplate that people would drive their cars wearing these shoes!

[Larry Swearingen]

I needed to think about it a bit and couldn’t remember any gear failures at first.

Then i did remember an uninsulated wide and short air pad that developed a slow leak

and I wasn’t able to localize the leak.  I really like that configuration, wide and short (sort of)

and tapered with longitudinal tubes that I got from Gossamer Gear (discontinued of course).

Other than shoes wearing out from constant use that’s all that I can think of.

Ultralight dyneeema (Cuban) have held up just fine.

Larry S

[Amber]

+1 this. I didn’t think about it, since I’m primarily in a hammock now, but I did have an issue with BA QCore SLX pad. Only used a couple of times before it started losing air, so not really a “wear and tear” issue. I will say their customer service and warranty is outstanding. Just had to send them a photo to prove I’d snipped the nozzle off, and they shipped me a new one.

[Scott H]

Somebody above mentioned socks, I was only meant to have one foot, I know this because I have tons of socks that are singles.

As to equipment my son and I both had a fall on our last trip, he fell on his trekking pole and bent one, it was aluminum but it was done.  I made due the rest of the trip with one poll and gave home mine, I am the stronger hiker.

[jscott]

Interesting–and good!–that no one’s mentioned tents, or sleeping bags/quilts, or packs. These are all expensive pieces of kit. Poles are expensive, yes, but a lot less so than the big three.  So are shoes, but don’t we expect these to wear out? Overall, most equipment seems pretty robust!

I’m also surprised that no one’s mentioned water filter systems. I’ve read a lot of frustration around clogs. I use a Steripen. No issues over hundreds of miles.

[David Hartley]

^ Speaking of water filters – the bags that come with the Sawyer Squeeze filters are my least durable item.

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