Challenge:

Trekking poles should be as light as possible but must be durable to prevent gear failure due to unavoidable impacts in the backcountry.

Methods:

• Complete design of ultralight carbon fiber trekking poles to compete with industry leaders

• Introduced an outer wrap of woven aramid fiber pre-preg to the lower section of trekking poles for improved impact resistance.

• Validated design improvement using compression after impact (CAI) testing with comparison to carbon only layup.

Results:

Aramid reinforced lower sections retained 4x as much strength after impact compared to carbon only design. Customer testimonials of repeated abuse signal success in real-world scenarios.