How many poles?

[Rodbelan]

Hé Roelant, you read a bit of french? I do not know if you noticed, but they translated «Polish sausage» into «Polishing the sausage» in french... That image has many layers of funniness...

One could argue that anyone who uses Åsnes ski-poles must be a sausage-polisher.

(Running for cover for the second time in this thread).

[mca80]

Lol @Jurassien.

Anyone have any experience with swix mountain explorer adjustable poles? Looks like the locking mechanism a twist type insteas of a lever. Not sure how good that would be.

[CwmRaider]

ok, this has gone far enough !! Asnes ski poles? really?

How many Asnes devotees does it take to change a light bulb?

I have or have owned ski poles by Åsnes, Swix, Scott, Black Diamond, Leki. I said I like Åsnes Amundsen poles. I didn't say anything about the other poles by Åsnes, i had a pair of aluminium Åsnes Fram i didn't like (fragile) and i have no data on the rest. I didn't say the other brands are bad, i have varied experiences with them. What data do you have to suggest that my opinion is biased?

Åsnes Spitsbergen and Amundsen are excellent poles for xc(d) touring. I'm heavy and break stuff. I didn't break these poles despite abuse.

@Rodbelan oui le français est ma deuxième langue. Jai vecu 28 ans en Suisse Romande.

@Jurassien ne soyez pas trop enthousiastes de saisir la perche que je vous tend, elle est bien polie

[wabene]

This year is my first with adjustable poles, Black Diamond Traverse Pro, and the adjustable factor has been fun to play with for different skiing. They do flex more than my fixed Alpina aluminum poles, but have worked for me.

The thing I really like are the grips. It's easy to adjust the straps even with choppers on. The feature made me get them are the safety releasable straps. I separated my shoulder once when my powder basket caught a protruding limb stub on a log next to the trail on a downhill. That worry is now gone. I would put these grips on my fixed poles if I could.

[Jurassien]

@Jurassien ne soyez pas trop enthousiastes de saisir la perche que je vous tend, elle est bien polie

J'accepte la perche............. mais pas le saucisson !

[fgd135]

Anyone have any experience with swix mountain explorer adjustable poles? Looks like the locking mechanism a twist type insteas of a lever. Not sure how good that would be.

Although I don't have direct experience with that particular pole, I've used plenty of twist-lock poles over the years, including Leki and older BD, and others, including the ones from Alpine Research, where I worked for several years.
We even did some testing in cooperation with the USMC to measure forces needed to collapse the poles, (not breaking laterally), and found out, this several years ago nowadays, that most of the poles were all pretty good. The lever-lock poles were stronger in that regard, and of course poles with push-button adjustments were even stronger. But really not enough of a difference to matter, for most skiing at least.
One point that came out of the testing was to not lubricate the twist lock mechanisms in any way, but its a good idea to remove the lower section and wipe off the plastic/rubber/etc. expansion plug with a dry rag, if it seemed to be slipping from time to time.
Thing about twistlocks, the pole adjustments can be difficult at times, esp. if your gloves are not able to grip and hold the shafts in very cold weather. A short wrap of cloth tape on the upper shaft can help, or some light application of xc grip wax.

[grizz_bait]

@mca80

I have the adjustable Swix poles and like them. The locking mechanism did fail on my first outing with them, the plastic sheath inside the screw adjustment detached and got stuck in the pole. I was eventually able to get the pole apart and put it back together, but the connection between the sheath and the tightener was not solid and continued to come off. I had the pole replaced through warranty with Swix and haven’t had an issue since. I will admit I’m fairly careful when adjusting the pole now because I’m afraid the same thing will happen. Otherwise the poles are great. Stiff enough fully extended for fast track skiing, leather baskets are holding up fine after many kms of skiing, straps work well. I did just order some Åsnes Combat poles because, well…GAS. I’ve broken poles before so my justification is having a back up

[randoskier]

ok, this has gone far enough !! Asnes ski poles? really?

How many Asnes devotees does it take to change a light bulb?

Three- one to hold the bulb, one to turn the ladder around and one to read the directions in Norwegian

[fgd135]

Did you ever write Paul Ramer and tell him that story? Good stuff. He would've put that anecdote in the catalog, I think.

I did actually write to them once and got a reply from his wife. I can't remember the subject matter of the letter, but it certainly wasn't a complaint - I liked the Ramer stuff.

I
The Ramer binding was the first truly lightweight touring binding and held that position till the Dynafit system hit the market. People scoffed at the heel-lifters (his invention), but they're not laughing now. It would be hard to imagine a modern touring binding without them.

The nordic-touring world needs a Paul Ramer to barge onto the scene and shake the foundations of the Rottefella monopoly.

Paul was brilliant, no doubt about it.
Here's an early Ramer binding in my collection, the first model, with aluminum tension bars. Later versions used spring steel, and were lighter with more reliable release. Of course, this is an AT binding, not a tele binding. Btw, installed on a pair of 207cm Lange "White Rockets", made right here in Boulder CO.

First Ramer Bindings circa 1975

[Chisana]

By the way, those poles in the photo...what are those wild grips for?

Self arrest, using the grips.