Winter is just around the corner and here are some useful tips to help you choose your bamboo hiking poles that are extremely durable and environmentally friendly than any other poles on the market.
Soul Poles
Soul Poles is a Park City, Utah, based pole and accessory company with a dedicated focus on sustainability. Their poles are built with bamboo that offers a claimed durability twice that of aluminum, and is backed by a two-year shaft replacement warranty. Stylish, sustainable and simple – characteristics sought by many of today’s discerning skiers.
Former US Ski Team members Erik Schlopy and Bryon Friedman founded Soul Poles. After going through hundreds of poles during their racing careers, they envisioned bringing back the bamboo as a “moral imperative.” The duo researched bamboo from around the world (there are over 2,000 different species of bamboo) and found some of the strongest in rural China – sturdy enough to stand up to the rigors of skiing.
Soul Poles makes their product in-house in Park City. In their words, they produce “climate change icon products driven by a shared passion to raise awareness around the challenges caused by reduced average snow packs, water supplies, and increased storm strength and infrequency in our mountain communities.” Soul Poles is an active participant in Protect Our Winters (POW) and 1% For the Planet.
Have a broken pile of poles at home? I do, and for this reason I was keen to get my hands on a pair of Soul Poles and put them to the test. Soul Poles come in an impressive collection of styles and colour options, as well as a full customizable program that allows you to have your name (or what-have-you) engraved on the pole. Their “art” series by R. Nelson Parrish are pretty fly too. There is even an option to go to the factory and hand-build the poles your self, or participate in their “travelling workshop” that visits major ski town across North America.
Soul Poles baskets and grips are made from recycled plastic and are available in a standard and a powder size (our option). The pole tips are made from machined aluminum with a steel tip for maximum grip on hard surfaces. The leashes are woven from recycled PET plastic yarn.
The bamboo is inspected to meet strict size, quality and aesthetics, then cut to length and kiln-hardened to perform best in cold climates, and finished off with penetrating oils to give a luster and protect the bamboo. From there, the poles are machined to fit the tips and grips, painted (or not) and are assembled for the finished product.
Grass Sticks
The Steamboat Springs–based company makes custom ski poles out of bamboo, and you get to pick everything from grip to basket color to whether you want them adjustable or fixed. Since the brand builds each set by hand, it can accommodate any length, so you’re not stuck skiing with poles that are just a little too long or short.
Each Stick is hand sanded and finished with a UV/Moisture/Cold proof clear coat. Grips are made with a soft rubber that stays put in your hand with or without our 100% recycled polyester straps. At the bottom you'll find a premium no-slip carbide tip and an interchangeable basket size and color of your choice.
Grass Sticks fully understands that along with high quality equipment, lookin' good also makes you a better skier... Therefore, each pole is custom made based on YOUR style! Countless colorful combinations of baskets and grips on beautifully finished high strength bamboo will be sure to improve your chairlift social life!
Bamboo is Better and More Durable
Bamboo is an amazing material with the tensile strength of steel and a compressive strength greater than concrete. When cut to the length of a ski pole, the species of bamboo that we use at Grass Sticks provides the perfect combination of rigidity and flexibility so it won’t snap or kink like aluminum.
Traditional carbon fiber and aluminum ski poles are mined from the earth, industrially manufactured and mass produced- using an incredible amount of energy and placing a burden on our environment. Per acre harvested, bamboo produces three times as much lumber as trees, absorbs more CO2 and produces more oxygen than any other plant. It's time to make the switch to a more sustainable, higher quality bamboo ski pole.
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