Tech Tip #28

You see more and more carbon fibre walking poles these days. They’re light. Impressively light. And that’s the sell.

The problem with carbon is simple: it doesn’t like being abused. It’s stiff and very strong—right up to the exact moment it snaps. And when it goes, it goes. No warning. No bend. Just done.

Alloy is heavier because it needs a thicker wall and wider diameter to achieve strength. But alloy bends. It dents. It survives. Anyone who’s owned a pair of old ski poles knows this. They look ruined but keep working.

Mountaineering is not a polite environment. You’re jamming poles into hard snow, levering on them, knocking ice off crampons, dropping them, strapping them to packs. It’s abusive. Carbon doesn’t thrive there.

“But what about carbon mountain bikes?”

Pros get them for free. And plenty of amateurs buy what the pros ride, assuming lighter automatically means better. It often just means lighter.

I’ve owned several pairs of carbon poles. They’re brilliant for rocky approaches and descents. They pack small. They feel fast. But every pair eventually broke under heavy use—usually at the basket when knocking snow off crampons.

The ideal pole would probably be alloy on the lower section (where the abuse happens) and carbon above. I’ve yet to see that as a mainstream option. Carbon is marketed as premium. Alloy as entry-level. The truth is less glamorous.

A cheap pair of alloy poles will do the job perfectly well—and might still be doing it ten years from now.