Splitboard.com Forums

Ahem...poles.
I am in the need for a nice colapsable set of poles and I am really leaning towards the BD Expedition poles. http://www.bdel.com/gear/fl_expedition.php

Biggest reason is they colapse the smallest I think I have seem of any pole out there. That and I can get pro deal on them.

But I want to see what everyone else is using. I know its mid summer, but I can't stop thinking snow.

The BD Expediton poles are great, but they are more designed for skiing (aka downhill). Unless you always snowboard downhill with poles, then why not get poles designed better for climbing uphill.

Look for my (Yoda) arguments for the BD Trail posted here - http://www.splitboard.com/talk/viewtopi ... &start=0re -

Just add the 3/4 baskets and you're golden!

Doh! And they just had some of those BD trekking poles up on SteepAndCheap today!

I use the BD Expedition w/Whippet upper. I agree w/all your reasons for preferring the trekking models, except that for me the Whippet outweighs all of that.

Don't get the BD trekking poles. I have had lot's of problems with the push button connectors. They don't hold up.

I find the expeditions to be great poles. They compact nicely, are light, and reliable. For $80 they are good deal.

I currently have the Voile push button poles. They work great. The one minor problem was revealed on a powder day where iridepow and myself were eating some shit on flat landings. They don't lock down when collapsed. Iride's poles came apart and went flying on his tumble. With the Flicklocks, you can lock 'em down when collapsed. That is about the only knock I have on the Voile poles.

I wanted to clarify that the BD trekking poles now come in two flavors... 3 season and 4 season. The 3 season versions come with the push button lock that I strongly recommend to avoid... thay are prone to freezing up.

The 4 season versions come with dual FlickLocks for cold weather performance and are very simular to the Expedition model, but with extra features and lighter weight.

Check these out - http://www.bdel.com/gear/trail.php
http://www.bdel.com/gear/alpine_cf.php

I bought a pair of the BD trekking poles off SAC last year and wouldn't recommend them. They are skinnier and much more prone to breaking. I broke both of them on seperate occasions (one while skinning the other while descending).

I'd steer clear of carbon fiber ones as well, they tend to break when the stress point is reached where the aluminum will bend. Have not had any issues with the expedition poles, except that they float.

i use the bd poles with flick locks but they are only two sections and dont collapse down as much as id like them to so three section would be better no doubt.

i guess flick locks are the way to go my only gripe with them are that when it is really really cold and reall really stormy i have had problems with them working due to 1 - frozen hands - my thumbs/fingers dont work well when cold and you kinda need em to flick the locks and 2 - i have had them get coated in ice/snow and be very difficult to flick open. i guess this would be an issue with any such device in the super cold stormy tho.

^^^ Yeah, twist lock poles are much worse.

I didn't know they had modified the trekking line. That is good to know. I think I would still go with the Expedition Poles just because they are ski rated. I have done plenty of poling along in ski and snowboard mode. I did it one day with a crappy pair of snowshoe trekking poles and now they are all bent. Still work, but I won't use them. So I lend them out to friends instead.

I thought it was hi time this post be revived. It's been two years since this post was active and I'd like to see what people have to say about the newer products out there. I know that the BD expedition is the gold standard, but I've had issues with the bottom section bending on me. Has anyone tried the LEKI's 3 section carbon fiber poles? Anyway lets hear about the pole your holding.

I've been using the BD Alpine Carbon Cork trekking poles (with 3/4 snow baskets). I picked them up mid season last year after returning the crap Voile poles to REI. 1/2 a season plus 7 days trekking in Peru and they've been great. They're 5oz lighter than the expeditions but more expensive (I got 'em on sale). I like the cork grips because I often skin with no gloves, and they've got the extended grip which is nice for sidehilling. They pack down to 25", shorter if you trim them - they're short enough to go inside my BD Outlaw Avalung pack for the ride down.

You can go to wallmart and buy the chinese rip off of the black diamond poles. (made by outdoor products) They are almost identical with the flint locks and only cost 20 bucks. screw black diamond and thier 90 dollar ski poles.

I got those same BD Alpine Carbon Cork poles that Zak mentioned. One of those 3-section carbon poles weighs in at 9.0 oz on my scale, compared with 10.4 oz for one of my 3-section BD Expedition aluminum poles. They do feel a bit lighter.

One thing to watch out for, the cork grips are fragile. I tore a decent piece chunk of cork off the handle, lifting my heel risers, on my 1st time out with them.

The lower foam grip is excellent.

I use BD Contour Ellipticals. These are three section, with an oval profile, Flicklocks, and an anatomic angle at the wrist. I battle wrist issues, and the angled grip has really helped. The only problem I've had is with the Flicklock mechs occasionally coming unglued-I remedied this by carefully re-gluing all of them with really good super glue. At the time I also cleaned up some burrs/sharp edges on the shafts that were causing the poles to bind a little.
The Flicklock mechs are the best, but they do need occasional adjustment and TLC.
The Contour Ellipticals come in two lengths, I am 6'1" and can just get away with the shorter length, which saves a little weight; they still get long enough for poling hard on the flats and slight downhills.