Carbon Poles vs. Alum?
 

Is carbon too fragile for backcountry skiing (ie; they break instead of
bend like aluminum)

Carbon Poles vs. Alum?
 

On Tue, 23 Nov 2010 22:10:58 -0500, gr
wrote:

Is carbon too fragile for backcountry skiing (ie; they break instead of
bend like aluminum)

No. Decent ones don't break.

Carbon Poles vs. Alum?
 

In article m,
gr writes:
Is carbon too fragile for backcountry skiing (ie; they break instead of
bend like aluminum)

You can break aluminum. At least if you are klutzy enough like I am.
(Fortunately, it wasn't very far from the car.)

--
These are my opinions, not necessarily my employer's. I hate spam.

Carbon Poles vs. Alum?
 

[ gr ]

Is carbon too fragile for backcountry skiing (ie; they break instead of
bend like aluminum)

I've broken aluminium poles (in two places at the same time, even -- I
hit a tree). I've now had Black Diamond's Pure Carbon poles for a
couple seasons, they're still fine, but I haven't really had any
accidents where they could have broken.

Carbon XC ski poles do break, you see pieces along the ski tracks
sometimes, but I suspect aluminium also would have broken in those
instances, or at least bent to unusability.


Martin
--
"An ideal world is left as an exercise to the reader."
-Paul Graham, On Lisp

Carbon Poles vs. Alum?
 

On Tue 23 Nov '10 at 19:10 gr wrote:

Is carbon too fragile for backcountry skiing (ie; they break instead
of bend like aluminum)

I had a friend who whilst just standing for a chair managed to push his
ski edge over the top of the basket and fracture his carbon pole.

I'm guessing alum would have taken that.

Conversely my alu poles have a few dents in and a slight odd corkscrew
curve to them (hey, 7 years old!), I'm guessing carbon would have simply
flexed and would still be straight...


Anyway, surely you're taking telescopic * 3 ?



A.

--
Alun Evans

Carbon Poles vs. Alum?
 

gr wrote:
Is carbon too fragile for backcountry skiing (ie; they break instead of
bend like aluminum)

I would guess that all else being equal a carbon pole would be slightly
less dependable, but where do you want to draw your lines? If the most
dependable pole was a "no brainer" then pretty much nobody would use
telescopic poles, but probably the majority do...

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Carbon Poles vs. Alum?
 

In article ,
Peter Clinch wrote:

gr wrote:
Is carbon too fragile for backcountry skiing (ie; they break instead of
bend like aluminum)

I would guess that all else being equal a carbon pole would be slightly
less dependable, but where do you want to draw your lines? If the most
dependable pole was a "no brainer" then pretty much nobody would use
telescopic poles, but probably the majority do...


If you whack your boots with your poles (whack the sides of the soles)
to knock snow off the bottom of the boot, my experience is that carbon
poles will rapidly fail, aluminum won't.

Carbon Poles vs. Alum?
 

On 11/25/2010 10:27 AM, AES wrote:
In ,
Peter wrote:

gr wrote:
Is carbon too fragile for backcountry skiing (ie; they break instead of
bend like aluminum)

I would guess that all else being equal a carbon pole would be slightly
less dependable, but where do you want to draw your lines? If the most
dependable pole was a "no brainer" then pretty much nobody would use
telescopic poles, but probably the majority do...


If you whack your boots with your poles (whack the sides of the soles)
to knock snow off the bottom of the boot, my experience is that carbon
poles will rapidly fail, aluminum won't.
Hmmmmmmm....... that sounds pretty unreliable. Was this a while ago
(maybe material improvements have been made)?

And.... no, I don't use the adjustable poles (haven't seen ones that get
long enough for me for one thing, and am not doing any real steeps
anyway, more ski touring for me, not mountain stuff).
gr

Carbon Poles vs. Alum?
 

[ gr ]

On 11/25/2010 10:27 AM, AES wrote:
If you whack your boots with your poles (whack the sides of the soles)
to knock snow off the bottom of the boot, my experience is that carbon
poles will rapidly fail, aluminum won't.
Hmmmmmmm....... that sounds pretty unreliable. Was this a while ago
(maybe material improvements have been made)?

You lose some things with carbon -- most prominently they don't stand
up to sharp edges as well as aluminium. What you gain is a significant
reduction of weight, and a pole that doesn't bend permanently. For day
trips where the loss of a pole would be a nuisance, but not critical,
I'd take carbon in a heartbeat. For multiday adventures you might want
to consider it more thoroughly.

To give carbon poles a slightly better chance against ski edges, you
can wrap the lower part with duck tape.


Martin
--
"An ideal world is left as an exercise to the reader."
-Paul Graham, On Lisp

Carbon Poles vs. Alum?
 

gr wrote:

And.... no, I don't use the adjustable poles

I typically use one-piece Swix Mountains, which are pretty bombproof...
but it's at /least/ as much to do with the grip, basket and spike as
the bit in between.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/