REI Co-op  Traverse Trekking Poles - Pair

I just finished a five day backpacking and scrambling trip in the Canadian Rockies and these poles worked great! Adjusting with the lever locks was easy and they were very secure and never slipped, despite putting a lot of weight on them while ascending and descending steep mountain scrambling slopes. The wrist straps are easy to adjust and very comfortable. The extended thin foam grip below the cork handle was very nice when alternating grip positions on switchbacks. The poles are very compact when stowed. They seem to be very durable, but also slightly lighter than my old poles.

The goods - these are very adjustable and you can fine tune your fit for uphill, downhill, the flats... The bads - For aluminum poles, they are surprisingly weak. After a pair were used for 2x winter hikes supporting my sister and I hiking through deep snow, 3 of the 4 poles are bent. Two of those are heavily bent, the other one was able to be manhandled straight-enough to allow the pole to collapse to carrying length. I'm 150, so with my winter pack these bent under ~180lbs load When brought to the local REI, this was defined as 'normal wear and tear' and neither returnable nor warrantied as a REI product. The manager (name and store withheld) stated that while REI makes good equipment, they would not trust the REI poles and strongly recommend Black Diamond or Leki poles instead.

These are a heavy pair of poles, which may be good for some people, but for an older woman using them for balance and light hiking, they feel a bit cumbersome. But the main problem for me was the long grip. Since they are unisex, the nice cork grip was too large for my (medium size) hand. I ended up exchanging these for the light weight Black Diamond poles in the small/medium size which fit just like my old Lekis and, even better, has a soft, lightly padded inner wrist strap.

If you are a warrior I am sure there are better poles for 5X the price. But I am just a normal person hiking when I get the chance. I got these during the fall sale, so 30% off. The main reason that I chose these over less expensive models like the Trailmade came down to the locking mechanism. Cheaper models have plastic levers these poles levers are metal. Call me old fashioned, but for something that important and that is regularly put under stress I trust metal. Second, the locks have a knob to adjust how tightly they secure. The cheaper models that I saw have rivets. If they get loose your poles are not going to be secure. With these a couple of turns of the knob and you are in business. When you include the cork handles and rubber tips I think these are hard to beat at this price.

Love these poles! I needed to replace an old pair I had for years that were the screw/unscrew type and they eventually wore out after too many stream crossings. These are relatively lightweight, easy to clip/unclip and adjust on the go, and the cork is comfortable to grip. No complaints.

I got these for my hike of Isle Royale National Park. After mile 1, hiking was revolutionized with trekking poles. These poles were very sturdy through the 45 miles of up and down rocky terrain. I liked the metal clamps for adjustments. I’m 6’6” and I had the poles extended not to the max heights and they worked excellently and comfortably The wrist pads/straps were great and had no hand issues. The lower hand grips were great to move your hand to. The cork above combined nicely for variable terrains Awesome poles

I purchased these poles in May and was told they’d be received May 29th. Well, it didn’t happen. Contacted REI and was told, “they most likely fell out of the shipping box. We’re going to resend them and you’ll receive them by June 29.” Well, unfortunately it’s now past that date and they still haven’t been shipped. I can apparently repurchase them and receive them by the 11th. At this point the frustration with the run around is becoming a little unbearable and complaining publicly seems to be my only recourse. We’ve been members for nearly 2 decades and have come to expect better.

We needed trekking poles, that would fit inside our small suitcases for a trip to Peru. These are a perfect size, have cork handles, which I prefer. and are easily adjustable.

These REI Traverse trekking poles are very well made. The locking mechanism makes them easy to adjust and the cork handles are very comfortable.

I had been using 30+ year old EMS trekking poles, which had seen a lot of backpacking miles but were beginning to show their age. I did a lot of reading on various manufacturers and materials, analyzing the weight-to-cost benefit and had been closely considering the REI Traverse poles even though they were slightly heavier than the nearest competition. i tested many of the poles in the REI store but kept coming back to the Traverse as the best bang-for-the-buck. What closed the deal was a pair on the return rack for 50% off, missing the rubber tips and baskets, but I had a set at home for my old EMS poles which fit perfectly on these REI poles. Finally got to use these over the 2026 summer and they have been fantastic! Feel great in the hands, very comfortable, extremely adjustable (both in length and wrist straps) and never seem heavy. Been hiking the very rocky and steep trails in eastern Pennsylvania and they have been great. Highly recommended!