Lightweight Aluminum Trekking Poles

Fifty dollars gets you cork grips with an extended lower section for sidehilling, external quick-lock levers, and a full kit of tips and baskets, which is a feature set that usually appears at two or three times the price. For someone unsure they even want poles, or who snaps one every season on rocky ground, this is the rational purchase. They are aluminum and they behave like it. At 540 grams a pair they run 150 to 200 grams heavier than carbon, and you feel that across thousands of arm swings on a long day. The quick-lock levers need periodic re-tightening with the adjustment screw or they slip under load on a steep descent, so check them before a trip rather than during one. Aluminum shafts bend permanently instead of snapping, which is survivable but leaves you with a crooked pole. The cork wears smooth, and the unpadded webbing straps chafe bare wrists.