Carbonlite

Carbon Fibre Technology

Our trekking poles are made entirely from carbon fibre reinforced resins giving the pole compression strength and rigidity.

Weight Saving

The carbon pole sections are up to 30% lighter than equivalent aluminium pole sections, however many of the fittings are very similar or exactly the same as found in most other trekking poles. The actual weight saving over high quality aluminium poles will be between 10%-20% but since the majority of the weight is in the handle, and this is in your hand during use, the kinetic energy produced when using the poles is much lower, making them feel much lighter to swing and move around.

How strong are they?

This is a question we get asked a lot, unfortunately there is no stock answer. When using a set of poles they receive compression loads, torsional forces, bending loads, you name it they receive it. If you really really want to snap them you can. Jim subjected them to an Alpkit test rig to give you some idea of how they resist bending but needs to find a bigger rig. We tried this same test with a £25 Leki Makalu brought from Decathlon. It didn't break either but the deflection was almost twice the amount of our Carbon poles.

One fact about Carbon is it doesn't bend, it breaks! People have asked us "what happens if I am descending a steep slope, put all my weight on the pole and it snaps". Rarely would anybody put all their weight on to a pole unless they have poor coordination, have a serious limb disability or are in the early stages of recovery after hospitalisation. If this is the case you should not be using modern style sectional poles.

If you were to load the majority of aluminium poles on the market with your full weight, the pole would almost certainly bend to much to be of use in supporting you. However you may be able to carry out a field repair to it more easily than a carbon pole.

As with all things life is a compromise, using Carbon poles you will save a considerable amount of weight, but they aren't as tough as high quality metal poles.

Other Benefits

As well as being lighter than most other materials carbon poles have some other characteristics that make them appealing. Your hands won't freeze to them if you accidentally grab them with out any gloves on at -10C. If you forget to disassemble your poles to let them dry out after use Carbon poles are completely inert. This means the insides of the tubes won't oxidise making them hard to adjust. This isn't to say you shouldn't look after your Carbon poles with the same loving attention you would have given a set of aluminum poles.