[pct-l] Costco Trekking Poles

[Marcus]

The Costco poles, in case anybody is wondering, are the Cascade Mountain
Tech Quick Lock Carbon Fiber poles.  A few years ago, Costco used to
sell the Twist Lock version, instead.  The twist lock version has
anti-shock, the flick lock doesn't.  The manufacturer (Cascade Mountain
Tech) sells the poles from their site for $48 for flick lock, and $40
for twist lock.  If I recall, they're a bit under $30 at Costco.

I used the old twist lock version for a JMT thru-hike, and they did
fine.  After about 150 miles, I heard a snap inside one of them, and can
now hear a bit of plastic slide around if I turn it upside down.  But,
they still seem to work fine.

That said, I'll probably be taking a pair of Black Diamond Distance
Carbon Z poles on my PCT hike this year, and leaving the Costco poles at
home.  They were $60 at an REI garage sale, and are about 7 or 8oz
lighter per pair than the Costco poles.  I miss the anti-shock, but I'm
expecting the weight to be worth it.

 -=Marcus

On 04/13/2016 01:37 PM, Scott Williams wrote:
> CF can certainly break, and catastrophically when it does.  I've trained
> with the Costco poles now for 3 years and they do fine, but I still do my
> long hikes with Lekis.  However, when I got a Leki tip caught in some scree
> jumble on a steep section of the Collegiate Peaks on the CDT, the bottom
> section snapped in half just as quick as I'd expect one of the Costco poles
> to do.  I use poles hard, and have broken several now over the years.
> You're just lucky if you can effect a quick fix to get you to town for a
> proper fix or a new pole, no matter which ones you use.  A good friend of
> mine used the Costco poles for the whole AT and still uses them 2 years
> later.  So they are definitely a good buy for the price.
> 
> Shroomer
> 
> On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at 11:03 AM, Luce Cruz <lucecruz13 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Wed, Apr 13, 2016 at 12:46 PM, Hikingsolo a.k.a. Allen Swanson <
>> allen.swanson at cox.net> wrote:
>>
>>> My Costco CF trekking poles self destructed at mile 152ish after a slight
>>> bend and then a soft hit on a rock.
>>
>>
>> Sorry that happened to you.
>>
>> CF tubes don't bend. I would have expected them to break after that, same
>> as the Leki's if they were also bent at some point. There's a reason the
>> Costco CF poles are as cheap as they are, but they are still a good
>> bargain.
>>
>> I'm not a fanboy, I just know what kind of abuse CF can take, and sometimes
>> I know a pretty good deal when I sees it. I have a three year old pair of
>> Costco CF poles, and a back up pair ready to be sent to me if needed. I
>> haven't needed the spare pair *yet* (knocking on my vinyl covered fake
>> granite print topped cheap plywood breakfast table).
>>