I am looking into buying komperdell featherlites from STP.com for $52. Needless to say its a great price, the only caveat being the poles are only available 135cm. Can these poles be cut down from the top? My idea is to remove the grips and cut the carbon down ~10cm.

You need to track down Doug Johnson or the guy who wrote the myog trekking pole page. I bet you can do it though I have no experience with it.

i have a pair in 120 cm if that will work for you i will sell then for $70.00(never used)2008 model

Hi there!

Good idea. I know it CAN be done but I've never done it myself. I'm looking at my Featherlites here and the grips are glued on. I think you may need to cut them off. If you do, you'll need new grips.

In another post they're discussing how to make poles and creating grips out of Flowbee or something like that. Might be worth looking at. I know you can get replacement grips from Leki and you may be able to get them from Gossamer Gear and Komperdell. But the expense will likely jack the price up...

If 120cm fits you, I'd go for that and eliminate the hassle. :-)

Doug

Now that i think about it, do i even need to cut down the poles? I am 6' tall and figured that the correct pole length for my height was about 125cm. However, i have not been able to find any resource that recommends specific heights. Would 135 cm poles be appropriate for someone 6' tall?

I'm 5'8" and like mine adjusted to 125cm.

The classic length is the where your forearms are parallel to the ground (ie: measure elbow to floor, and add the height of your hand plus an inch for the grip top).

However, I like them better a about 4" taller. It makes them much easier to use to take weight off my knees going downhill (since my forearm is now actually horizontal), and makes it easier to get a better "push" when going uphill (since the pole tip plants slightly behind where it would if the poles were the "classic" length). On really big downhills I palm the grip-top and let my elbow straighten so my forearm is a few degrees below horizontal - which is about how it would be on little downhill slopes if I used the poles at the classic length.

Walmart sells some heavy ones for $15-20 a pair if you want to experiment with length.

Hi Jon,

I'm 6'1" and my standard length is 125cm. I like mine a little long because I use a "nordic walking" technique to push off (as mentioned by John above). For this I prefer about 130-132.

So it depends. I'd guess 135 would be too long for you unless you are a nordic skier or tend to use a very strong nordic walking technique.

As mentioned above, you might want to borrow a pair of adjustable poles to find your correct length. I'd guess your's is about 120-125 or 125-130 for a nordic tecnique, but as shown above, it depends on your approach to poles.

d

I am 6'4" and now use 135 poles for everything. This was determined by numerous trips with adjustable poles that I used anywhere from 120 to 140. The 120 worked for going straight uphill when off-trail. The 140 works best for fast downhill jogs on steep loose trails. I could get by with 130 for everything, but 135 is faster for when nordic-style walking as Doug mentioned, and also superior for me when downhill braking. I suspect that it would be too long for someone 6'0".

I will qualify my answer by saying that this is for ultralight carbon poles that swing effortlessly. It would be more work to swing heavier aluminum poles, so I would probably drop 5 and figure on a shorter stride.

Of course this is for someone with normally proportional arm length. If your knuckles drag on the ground when you walk, YMMV.

Edited by jbrinkmanboi on 03/24/2008 22:28:29 MDT.