Im after a single walking pole. Only want the one. For hill walking and bivvy tarp rigging. Needs to be long enough for a 6’4″ yeti but collapse down nice and small for putting on the backpack.

Carbon generally seems a bit too pricey – but can anyone recommend a decent aluminium brand/model as I have no idea.
Budget ideally <£20 as it’s a birthday present to me from my folks.

whats wrong with using a stick?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTNw7xh-egs[/video]

I thought you meant routes for Polish ramblers.

Go walking with a visually-impaired person and use their symbol cane.

how do you think you’d feel if your folks gave you a stick for your birthday, eh?

exactly.

Got your red socks?

I’ve got a couple of Trespass ones which get strapped to my pack on occasion.

They’ve taken a fair bit of abuse over the years (i don’t weigh a lot, but they take the strain of me + heavy pack without problem).

They didn’t cost any more than £20

match my bobble hat

how do you think you’d feel if your folks gave you a stick for your birthday, eh?

when I were a lad we were grateful if we got a small twig. Aye, I could only ever dream of getting a whole stick for my birthday.

etc etc.

match my bobble hat

Euphemism?

😉

Cheaper sticks weigh more, expensive ones are poncy. I saw a single pole in Robert Dyas of all places for around £7.99. It’s probably gone now to make way for the x**s tat.

I bought some pacer poles http://www.pacerpole.com/ this year, but as I haven’t yet used them and they cost a lot more than £20, this is of no help to you 😀

that boy has an unfeasibly large member but a very odd shaped helmet.

And it’s still not a telescopic hiking pole.

And it’s still not a telescopic hiking pole

No, but it’s much faster.

bloody hell Ian! £76 for a “stick”?!??

They always seem to have them in TK Maxx. Trekmates,I think. Look decent enough

No, but it’s much faster.

and there’s more opportunity to slap your bum and go ‘giddyup!’ without feeling like an idiot.

Strictly speaking 2 sticks made of 3 sticks each giving a grand total of 6 sticks, so that’s only 12 quid a stick. 🙂

Why not ask for a tent pole and a family sized pack of Sugru and you could make your own custom one?

Why not ask for a tent pole

SCHWING!

fat lot of good you chumps are!
I think I’ll plump for a basic one from a brand I recognise, a Leki Makalu Trail. Seems OK for £25ish.

Recycle a tent pole.

The most comfortable and useful poles I’ve used are the Leki wanderfruend poles.

The handle shape allows a variety of hand positions and can also be used as a bivi pole quite easily.
here you go….

cheers bigG, but they’re a touch over budget.

I might have an older version skulking around the house spare, how much are you willing to pay?

I’ve got some black diamond ones which have done me well, they have a compression clip to lock in place after adjustment rather than the usual screw expansion plugs that tend to give up on cheaper ones, plus they’re also ‘rated’ so to speak for skiing. Very light too, not sure on price though as I got them when in the business.

Trekmates.

Perfectly serviceable for under a tenner, and they’re four sections not three so they telescope down shorter than most.

The Leki Makalus are fine as well though…

Poles for walking, tsk…

Do you lot have stabilisers on yer bikes?

I bought the cheapest two I could find when I had to go walking with 25kg of baby grips plus 5kg of lunch and spare clothes etc on my back. They were absolutely fine.

Didn’t seem to help much with the load though, just helped me climb hills faster, to the point where I ended up outpacing Mrs Grips despite the extra weight!

All the adjustable ones break regardless of price IME so buy some cheap ones from Lidl, Aldi etc.. The tungstone points drop out, the plastic bits snap, they slip, they jam; they’re all rubbish. On the other hand I’ve got some basic Scott ski sticks I’ve been abusing for over 20 years and are still fine.

I’ve tried loads over the years – Brasher are by far the best compromise.

Everyone recommends Leki – avoid.
They break, jam and aren’t strong enough.

Brasher, if they still do ’em – indestructable.

I use a pair of Black Diamond poles with flicklocks. Vast improvement over screw types. However, just one is likely to cost over £30.

Let me have a look in the garage – I have a pair of Leki poles I got years ago but haven’t used them for a bit. Well strong enough for me, work fine, don’t jam, long enough – you can have the pair for the price you’ll pay for one.

alpkit carbon?

I had a pair of older Makalu Ultralites that I’ve used on and off for about 10 years, but I recently lost one 🙁 never had an issue with them, other than the friction mechanism had this weird habit of getting loose if they were stored in the car for any length of time. I presume it was vibration related.

cheers guys for all the pointers. Big Graeme has kindly offered one of his spares up for a donation.

Alpkit ones are out of stock. They were my first choice as I got a pair for my mum a few years ago, but not sure alpkit are planning on making them again.

This one was quite good but may be difficult to get a pair…

gold medal winner