Black Diamond Pursuit Adjustable Trekking Poles
Aluminium, FlickLock, natural cork grip, ~540 g/pair
4.4 on Amazon
Aluminium bends where carbon shatters, and a bent pole still walks you down; you carry about 100 g more per pair than carbon for that insurance, and cork grips beat foam once your hands sweat.
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Do not buy this if: Gram-counters. Take carbon and accept that a fall on rock can end the pole.
Not every route needs it. These are the ones where our guides would put it on your list.
Everything else we recommend in trekking poles, including the ones we think suit a different trekker.
LightestBlack Diamond Distance Carbon Z
So light and packable you actually carry them on the days you were not sure you needed them — they are fixed-length, so you must buy the right size, and carbon fails suddenly rather than gradually.
Trekking poles, rented in Thamel
Some people find poles transform a descent and others find them an irritation to be carried; a dollar a day answers that question before you spend a hundred on your own.
Rental shops in Kathmandu and Pokhara carry this — about usd 1 per day per pair. We take nothing from that.
