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Imported.
Item 743066
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| Adjustable pole(s) |
REVIEW SNAPSHOT®
by PowerReviewsPros
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Reviewed by 7 customers
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Displaying reviews 1-7
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Comments about Alpina ASC Backcountry Ski Poles - Pair:
These poles are excellent. The rist straps work really well.
Pros
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Alpina ASC Backcountry Ski Poles - Pair:
The wrist straps are very comfortable and work well once your hands are strapped in. However it is almost impossible to strap your hands in while wearing heavy gloves or mittens. Consequently it is a real pain every time you need to stop to add or remove a layer, grab a drink of water etc. When it is cold slipping one's hands out of the gloves and leaving them in the straps is not an acceptable alternative.
A simple design change would make these usable. In the meantime I have to replace these wrist straps with simpler ones that I will scavenge from an old set of poles.
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Comments about Alpina ASC Backcountry Ski Poles - Pair:
I have a pair of 10th mountain skis that I was using this winter on moderately steep and usually ungroomed/untracked cross country trails in Colorado. Originally I was using an old pair of touring poles but the small basket and short (1 inch) spike under the basket didn't get adequate grip in powder or semi-packed powder. These backcountry poles with a big basket and a 3 inch spike worked much better.
About the wrist straps: Once on, they are very comfortable, and I found them big enough to fit all my gloves; but getting in and out of them is a time consuming operation. For me, it's just too much trouble to go through every time I need to get something out of a pocket. I plan to replace them with conventional straps.
Pros
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Comments about Alpina ASC Backcountry Ski Poles - Pair:
Agree with other reviewers - whoever designed strap oddly didn't think users would be wearing gloves?! After a few difficult attempts, I figured out a way - rather than trying to push the strap through the loop, place the end near the loop, then push the loop over the end. A bigger plastic slot would have helped. I'm going to see if I can rig a permanent attachment strap to allow easily pulling the end through the loop. Bottom line, when you're at the store, try the poles WEARING GLOVES ! ...and the factory should recall these and put a larger plastic ring on the strap. Also, I'm wondering if having the strap hold the pole this way could contribute to wrist damage when falling (I'm new at this; no permanent damage!)
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Cons
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Comments about Alpina ASC Backcountry Ski Poles - Pair:
One trip in very sticky snow conditions ruined these poles. What ruined them was lifting my metal edge skis and using the poles repeatedly to bang the side of the ski to knock the sticky snow off. Granted, this is probably considered "abuse." But I've got an older pair of aluminum shaft poles that I've had for over 20 years and this has never been a problem for them, other than putting some scratches on the shaft. With these poles, the ski's metal edges gouged out grooves on the shaft. The aluminum of these poles is much softer than that on my old poles. Probably lighter in weight, sure. As I said, this is probably abuse, but it never hurt my old ones, and what else are you going to do when you are in conditions where you have snow sticking to your skis with virtually every step? Take them off? In a driving wet snow storm? I don't know what the answer is, maybe some kind of removable protective sleeve over the pole shaft? In any case, these poles were ruined on that one trip to the top of Nason Ridge last year and I returned them.
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Comments about Alpina ASC Backcountry Ski Poles - Pair:
I bought these stricktly for x-country. The poles are average, but the grips cradle your hand and make it so much more comfy than the typical strap. You can buy similar straps from SWIX or Leiki, but they cost more than this pole/strap combo does. Really can't beat the price!
Pros
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Alpina ASC Backcountry Ski Poles - Pair:
The straps are impossible to get on or off with cold weather gloves or mitts, and too small to fit over bulkier mitt cuffs. They must be replaced for the poles to be useful for sub-freezing use, which is most of the time - fortunately this is easy. [...]
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