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I got my elitist Black Diamond poles at the REI Garage sale for 15 bucks!!

I have the Life Link Odyssey III. Work fine for me and used to appear on Steep and Cheap a lot. If you don't know steep and cheap check out http://www.gearattack.com/ (beware you may end up addicted and poor)

Damn! What happened Bucky?

Mah BD Alpine Carbon Cork Trekking Pole, I brokeded it. Worst thing I did to it was knock clumpy snow off the top of my board, that's probably what did it in. Also I have been lifting the heel risers, but I've been pretty careful with them, knowing that carbon shatters. I guess not careful enough. REI returns here I come.

Komperdell - 2 pices - light and strong - and click key




Burton

Hey man how are you liking your whippet? I got mine a couple months ago and am pretty stoked. Haven't had to self arrest on a split trip yet, but I guess its there when I need it!

Anyway, it is a tad heavier than my normal pole, and I leave the plastic end cap on so as to avoid impalement.... Still not totally convinced that I'd take a whippet instead of a normal ice axe on any kind of serious climbing trip. You can't drive it up to the shaft for stability during steep ice climbing...

I've got the BD Trails 3-piece flikloks with one of them using a trimmed down whippet upper. They compact very well, and my model (I don't know if this is true of all of them) Trails fit right into the whippet upper w/o an adapter.

I've had em for several years and they are very reliable. I once lost a lower but I think it's because I didn't fliklok it all the way closed, and fullers 20h found it in one of my pole plant holes so no harm no foul. I don't carry the whippet instead of an ice ax, I carry it in addition to an ice ax. If I'm booting something steep I just hold the ice ax in one hand and the whippet in the other. Only one of my poles has the whippet, though I carry both whippet uppers in the event I ever decide I want two--but haven't yet. Still prefer whippet+ice ax.

I love my dual whippets! I've had them for like 5 years now, and take them on every tour. One is the previous generation, the other is the generation before that when they actually used to make a 3-section version. The newer one I modified to use Expedition lowers and I shortened the upper shaft. If you want to make yours into a 3-section pole, call BD and they can get you the correct lowers that will fit with it. You will still want to cut the upper shaft so that you can collapse the pole as fully as possible. With the older whippets, there was a tab from the removable pick that prevented the pole from collapsing as far as the current model with the non-removable pick.

I think that an often overlooked advantage of dual whippets is when you're *skinning*. For example, if you slip while skinning on an icy traverse, you can stop yourself immediately with the whippet. Having two means you can stop with either hand.

It's true that they aren't as secure as an ice axe for climbing, or for arresting a fall. But they definitely are better than regular poles for climbing. Having the picks available gives me just enough extra purchase when necessary on pretty much all the steep slopes I climb. Oh and I'm not doing any "steep ice climbing", only steep snow climbing, because I don't like snowboarding down ice (contrary to popular belief) . All kidding aside... I may bust out the axe for some steep stuff that's frozen in the AM in the spring, but typically I reserve the axe for steep descents with no-fall entrances. Everyone has a different comfort zone so YMMV.

As an example, I generally feel totally fine climbing slopes like this with 2 whippets and Verts or crampons:



Again, YMMV.


Dude, how much further did you go "air-poling" before you noticed?

It was a wierd runout section and I was actually in ride mode while Dave was in ski mode. It was pretty deep pow, and I would use my poles on occasion to push through a flat spot etc...Dave was a hundred yards behind me or so, and when I realized I was "air-pole-ing" I thought it had gotten wedged in between the snow and a rock that I had just tried to push off of. So I unbuckled and started digging near this rock when Dave says, "here ya go". So the short answer is about 100 yards

I also learned last weekend that Dave is good at finding keys too