1. Biographical Information:
Name: Michael Jay Lissner
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Height: 201 cm (6 ft 7 in)
Weight: 88 kg (195 lb)
Email Address: yourmothership at hotmail dot com
City of Residence: Berkeley, California, USA
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2. Backpacking Background:
I have been backpacking for the greater part of my life. I started with traditional backpacking while a Boy Scout, but my current style is a highly minimalist one relying more on skill and discomfort and less on creature comforts and toys. Although my backpacking style is an evolving thing, at this point I usually clock in 27.4 km (17 mile) days with a base weight (without food or water) of about 4.1 kg (9 lb), including my tarp, frameless pack and down quilt. My usual stomping grounds are any of the terrain within three hours from here including Desolation Wilderness, Emigrant Wilderness, Point Reyes National Park, Yosemite and others.
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3. Product Information:
Manufacturer: Gossamer Gear
Manufacturer's URL: http://www.GossamerGear.com
Product Name: Lightrek Poles
Size Tested: 130 cm (51 in)
Measured Size (from end to tip): 133 cm (52.3 in)
Year of Manufacture: 2004
Suggested Retail Price: 95.95 USD
Advertised Weight: 60 g (2.1 oz) each (115 cm [45.3 in] size)
Measured Weight: 74 g (2.6 oz) each*
*Weight was measured on a Sunbeam digital scale that claims accuracy to 1 g or .1 oz.
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4. Product Description:
These are ultralight non-collapsible carbon fiber trekking poles with zero frills. For a much more complete description, see my initial report by clicking here.
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5. Conditions of Long Term Testing:
Since writing the Field Report, I have used these poles on just a few actual backpacking trips. I have a nasty habit of holing up during the cold winter months, and my protests against this habit were powerless as ever this year. Nonetheless, I did go on two brief backpacking trips, as well as a couple of day hikes with these poles. The first of the trips was to Montaña de Oro State Park, where temperatures were mild, warm and sunny and the elevation was around 10 m (30 ft) the entire time. I didn't log a whole lot of miles during this trip, but I did get a chance to use the poles during a couple of short (8 km (5 mile)) day hikes. The second trip was to Ventana Wilderness in Northern California. The temperatures during this trip were warm as well, and again the elevation was low (around 15-900 m (50-3,000 ft)). During this trip, I logged about 56 km (35 miles) over the course of two days.

The day hikes I took with these poles were in Tilden Park in Berkeley, California, and they went very well. I did both of them during rain storms as a method of testing my gear in the rain. It was a cold rain, but temperatures probably did not dip below about 10 C (50 F). The elevation at Tilden Park is about 300 m (1,000 ft), nothing to write home about. During these trips, I covered about 11 km (7 miles) each time, stopping midway to set up my tarp using the poles.
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6. Results of Long Term Testing
Sadly, I have to admit that my fears came true. In my Initial Report, I wrote, " I am already getting a feeling that I am going to break these poles. It is not a good feeling." Well, in some ways, my premonition did come true, and in others, it did not. I did not break both of the poles - I merely broke one of them. I do have to admit though, it didn't happen quite like I thought it would, and I don't know if a traditional pole would have put up much of a fight given the circumstances. I expected the break to occur by means of too much weight put on one end of the pole, breaking it in the middle. Instead, it all went down when I was trying - vainly, futilely - to cross a river on a fallen (and wet) log. I actually made it across the river, but when I got to the far side of the log, I had to step off through some brush onto what looked like a wet rock. Given my few choices (turn back home or perilously step down) I went for the step down. At first, the rock held. Then it shifted and I slid. I didn't slide into the river, but I did put out both of my hands and a knee to catch my weight. Under one of my hands, and over a couple of rocks was (emphasis on 'was') a Lightrek Pole. It was actually kind of strange. Because of the way I landed, the pole shattered into three pieces: a small middle piece that was beneath my hand, an upper piece that sprung off into the river, and a bottom piece that went somewhere to my left. The result was what appeared at first to be a disappearing pole. A quick scan of the area though revealed that the pole was here, there and everywhere. The results of the crash are pictured below. If you look closely, you can kind of see that the middle piece didn't just break at the ends, but actually was squished by my weight. I was interested to learn just how similar carbon fiber is to fiberglass. When it shattered, it left a splintered end that resembled fiberglass much more than I would have imagined.

Broken Pole

After gathering up the pieces of the pole, I continued on the trip holding the remaining pole in my right hand, and the pieces in my pack. I was a little nervous that the ragged ends of the pieces of pole might tear into my pack, but after about 40 km (25 miles) of hiking, they didn't so much as scratch the silnylon. As fate should have it, the breaking of this pole was a lucky break (if you will). Within about half an hour of breaking it, I decided that I preferred hiking with just one anyway. While I still had two poles, I was continually appreciative that these poles were very easy to switch around from hand to hand (because they didn't have the wrist straps), but once I only had one pole to think about, I became more agile, and seemed to have better balance.

The real surprise came when I realized that I was actually able to catch a fall better with one pole than with two. With two poles, I tried to catch my weight on the poles alone, causing them to bend at their middles. They never were very good at catching falls because they just weren't strong enough to hold a lot of weight. With one pole, I would use it to catch some of my weight, but with my free hand, there always seemed to be a tree or rock to grab during a fall, and that made saves more effective on the whole. I definitely plan on continuing hiking with just the one pole held in my right hand.

As I mentioned before, I also did some hiking during this period with both poles. During these hikes, my opinion of the poles firmed up quite a bit. Something that I learned I really liked about these poles is that the top of them is really good for wiping your nose. It's a little gross, but when it's cold and rainy, and you're wearing all of your rain gear, it's actually soft enough that it doesn't hurt to use it on your nose. It did a surprisingly good job for me too - absorbent, yet smooth. Something else I learned during the day hikes in the rain was that these poles don't do much for helping get up hills. I tried to climb a couple of muddy slopes with these poles in my hands, and I found myself sliding around a good deal, again unable to really catch my weight with the poles.

Setting up my tarp with these poles has proven to be an easy task. With my tarp, these poles work very well, rain or shine, and for me, this is a big reason to carry them. They don't collapse, so that took some time to adjust to, but it's no big deal really.

The wear and tear was something that I had initially worried about these poles, but they seem to be holding up quite well. The carbon fiber has proven to be very resistant to scratches and everything else is holding up pretty well. The abuse these poles have been through shouldn't be understated. The couple of times that I took them to Big Sur, I ended up doing some rather rough trail blazing. During each of these trips, they got beat up, caught on brush, bent and literally thrown around much more than I would have liked. The only part of them that has shown any damage are the handles, that have small chunks and scratches taken out of them. In my Field Report, I promised that I would show pictures of the damage, but unfortunately I cannot get the damage to show up very well in any pictures. Suffice to say that they grips have scratches taken out of them, but that they remain entirely usable; no worse for the wear.
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7. Autopsy Report:
Because I had a broken pole at my disposal, I had the chance to see how it was put together in the best way I know how - by taking it apart. To do this, I began by taking my knife, and cutting off the handle. I cut along the pole from the base of the grip to the top, effectively bisecting it down its length. This allowed me to see how strong the glue was that held it on as well as see how much glue there was. The handle itself measures about 14 cm (5 ½") in length, and upon opening it up, I discovered that the lower 8 cm (3") had been glued, with the top 6.3 cm (2 ½") press fitted. After making this initial cut, I tried prying off the half of the grip that remained on the pole. It was rather challenging to do even after it had been cut in half. Any worries I had about it slipping off on its own were effectively dismissed by the degree of difficulty I encountered here.

Upon removing the grip in its entirety, I was able to see how the Spectra loop was affixed to the pole. I had wondered if it was tied up in there, or if it was just glued, and as it should turn out, about 2 cm (3/4") of it is simply glued to the pole under the handle. Once the handle is removed, the cord does pull off fairly easily. However, since I had no problems with it during the actual testing of the pole, I'm not particularly worried about it actually coming off during actual use.

The third attempt I made to dismantle the pole was made on the tip. The tip came off VERY easily - too easily in all likelihood. I gripped the basket, in one hand and what remained of the pole in the other, and gave a twist. Before I even applied any strength to it, the tip popped right off. I wouldn't have been able to remove the basket without the tip coming off. This is something that worries me about these poles, but there are other factors involved here that don't make it the most accurate test. In this case, the carbon fiber of the pole has been through a lot, and the glued joint might not be as strong as it once was. This is a very definite worry though. So much so that I inspected the other pole to see if it would come apart as easily. In fact, it did. It appears that the glue used to hold on the tips is not doing the job it was intended to do. That, or it was intended that these tips come off easily so that they could be replaced, should they wear out. My plan for the future is to put the tip back on the good pole, and save the other tip as a replacement. It does seem that the press fit of the tip will be enough to keep it together during normal use, so it's possible that this isn't necessarily a big worry. This seems to be something that could use improvement though.
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8. Final Conclusions:
Strangely enough, I am happy with these poles. One of them broke into a number of pieces, and the other one just pulled apart in my hand minutes ago, but they have performed as they were meant to without fault in that area. The one pole that broke did so when it fell into a unfortunate location during a fall, and I'm not sure any pole would have put up with a fall quite like that. As to the tips coming off, I'm not entirely sure that they aren't meant to do that. They haven't been a problem during normal use, so I think they are probably ok.

I will continue using the one remaining pole during my future trips, including my thru-hike of the PCT this coming summer. We shall see if it lasts through five months of on-trail abuse.

Thank you Gossamer Gear and BGT for the opportunity to partake in this test.
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Long Term Report

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