UKC

Do people use their trekking poles for skiing? Im thinking of getting a pair of telescopic trekking poles and am also on the lookout for some new skiing poles. Im after some leki lightweight carbon jobbies, would these be upto the task of skiing aswel? The main difference i can see is the baskets are smaller on trekking poles so would have to buy dome bigger baskets?!
Any help would be appreciated!
Cheers
Matt

In reply to Flat4matt:

Bigger baskets are pretty much essential. Will you be skiing on piste or touring? I ask as my mate broke the tip of a carbon pole switching his bindings from ski mode to walk mode.

In reply to Flat4matt:

Sure you can use your treking poles for skiing (leki after all make both). If you are on piste then the smaller baskets are fine. Just for off piste / ski touring you need the bigger baskets. (mine came with both when I brought them some years ago).

yours,

Neilnt

In reply to Flat4matt: I would advise getting a pair of poles with the flicklock system( Black diamond)..not cheap but much less likely to freeze up...
Worth it in the long run , i will never buy a pair of twist locks again.. so so annoying in winter!

In reply to Flat4matt: You can get a decent pair of ski poles for piste skiing (non-adjustable length) for about a third of the price of a good pair of trekking poles. So I bought some separate ski poles rather than risk trashing my nice flick-lock Black Diamond trekking poles.

In reply to Flat4matt:

Yes thanks for the replies, ill be mainly on piste so they should be well packed down so small baskets shouldnt be too much of a problem???! Goo point that mate, thanks! Ill take a look at the black diamond twist locks.
Cheers
Matt

In reply to Chris Beck: I've been using the same Leki twist lock poles for ski touring (and snow shoeing/staggering in to ice climbs/etc.) for the best part of two decades. They've never failed. I have though had flick lock poles ice up to the point where I needed a swiss army knife to chip away the ice to allow me to get them to work! Cheap twist locks can be utterly rubbish, but so can cheap flick locks. Twist locks by Leki or flick locks by BD both seem to work well though.

Flatt4matt: how's your skiing? I'm an ambitious telemark ski mountaineer of a dubious skill level and still using 15 year old low, soft T2 boots. This basically means I'm rough on my poles. I've snapped a pole by sort of landing on it whilst trying to jump turn in crappy snow and bash them about quite a lot. I therefore favour meaty poles for winter, and my old 2 part Lekis do that well. I want three part for summer or walking in to winter or summer climbs where I'll put the poles in my pack whilst climbing, so have different trekking poles. Nevertheless, my current BD 3 piece poles came with both summer and snow baskets and have worked fine for snow shoeing and some piste skiing this last winter, so if you are a good skier don't see why one pair wouldn't work fine.

In reply to Flat4matt:
I use a pair of 3 piece BD flicklock trekking poles for skiing both on and off piste, have stood up fantastically to the last 3 seasons of hard use (2-3 days/week for at least 6 months of the year). Just replaced the baskets with BD's 3/4 baskets (not sure they still make these, but the powder baskets will do even better). Was also using them as summer poles until last year when I got a pair of super lightweight BD trail running poles, which are so amazing I can't put them down! I wouldn't fancy them for skiing though, they're carbon and non-adjustable, don't think they'd stand up to ski abuse.
I'd second the flicklock over twistlock, my old Leki's with twistlock seemed to collapse fairly regularly, and froze in the winter.

In reply to TobyA: Sounds like we're well matched Toby, should you find yourself in the South Island of NZ give me a shout!

To the OP: with my dodgy teles I use either a pair of old alloy 2 piece BD flicklocks or on occasions my nice 3 piece carbon fibre BD flicklocks - common theme there - I found twistlocks tended to slip more and be harder to adjust, especially if stored damp for a week or two - I gather the alloy starts to oxidise and the powdery stuff then makes them slip.

I always find on piste the primary use is keeping semicontrolled boarders at a safe distance....

In reply to Flat4matt: I've been using the same Leki 2 piece for about 30 years they've never let me down. Last winter I get some cheep 3 piece ones from Tiso, thinking they'd be easier to carry as they were shorter. There hopeless, collapse every five minutes. The Leki ones came with snow baskets which they still have, I use them for skiing and walking and I've always found them fine.

In reply to Flat4matt: Should have said both poles are twist-lock.

In reply to Flat4matt: Broke a leki carbon 4 twist lock skiing this spring. Would go for a stronger metal fixed length collapsible pole unless weight was a serious issue and there was going to be more climbing carrying gear than going downhill.

In reply to Flat4matt:
I too ski and tour with a pair of leki (makalu) collapsable twist lock poles with big baskets for soft snow.
They have served me fantastically well for the last 10-12 years and I've never had a problem. I am very hard on them but they haven't failed me yet.
If they ever do die I'll get another set exactly the same to replace.

ps:Sorry for the late reply but I've just read this.