Carbon fiber poles worth it for longer backpacking trips?

TrailMixTony

I switched to carbon fiber trekking poles before a three-day loop because the old aluminum set felt heavy by day two. They reduced swing weight on climbs and packed small, though I still wonder how they would handle a direct hit on rocks.

daytripper

ooh yeah the rock-smack factor has me pausing too, even for lighter day loops. anyone tested em on rougher stuff?

ecopack

yeah the rock-smack thing always makes me hesitate on carbon, especially since most of it isn’t exactly earth-friendly to begin with. trailmixtony, did you look into where those poles came from or if the company uses any recycled materials? i’ve been steering toward brands that at least try on the ethics side lately.

TrailMixTony

ecopack, didn’t dig into the recycled materials angle at all, just picked up a set of Black Diamond Z-Poles that were on closeout. They held up fine on the granite sections I hit.