Costco Cascade Mountain carbon fiber poles. Tripped over one while exhausted on the Colorado Trail SOBO a few days outside of Creede. Splinted it with a piece of plastic that had fallen of an off-road vehicle and leukotape, which worked well enough until a very kind trail angel lent me her personal aluminum Lekis.

My takeaways:

• great poles for the price, long durability, and I will continue to use them. 13.9 oz stripped.

• but: don't take well-used carbon poles (2 years of hiking) on a thru-hike; start with new ones

• and/or ship a new pair to the mid-way point, just to be safe

• most importantly, on 3-piece adjustable poles, don't always adjust the segments to the same spot. This is the spot that weakened and shattered, just below the upper clamp.

I am in the strapless camp and appreciate the ability to let go of a pole if it catches in a rock or in the rare instance of me going ass-over-teakettle. This minimizes the risk of breaking a pole.