Black Diamond Distance Carbon FLZ Trekking Poles

Who it's for

This is the pole for people who resent carrying poles. It folds like a tent pole rather than collapsing like a telescope, so it goes from deployed to stowed in about three seconds and disappears inside a daypack instead of strapping to the outside and snagging on scrub. If you walk long days on mixed ground, do a lot of alpine approaches, or run trails where the poles spend half the time on your back, this is the design that stops being an inconvenience.

Weight against durability

At 154 g a pole in the 110 cm size, this is featherweight territory, and the honest trade is real: carbon is stiffer and lighter than aluminium but it fails differently. Aluminium bends and you keep walking on a bent pole. Carbon takes an enormous amount of straight-line load and then goes all at once, usually when it is wedged in rock and levered sideways. If you routinely jam poles into boulder fields and haul on them, aluminium is the more forgiving choice. If you want the lightest thing that will carry you through a fortnight of walking, this is it.

Locking and adjustment

The FLZ is the adjustable version of the Distance range - the fixed-length Z-poles are lighter still, but you are stuck with one length. FlickLock+ is an external lever clamp: you can see whether it is done up, you can tighten it with a screwdriver when it eventually wears in, and it does not slip under load the way twist-locks do once grit gets into the threads. Being able to drop 15 cm for a steep climb and add it back for the descent is the whole reason to buy the FLZ over the fixed version.

Packed length

Folded, the three sizes come down to 34, 37 and 40 cm. That fits inside most 40-litre packs rather than on them, and it fits in carry-on luggage, which matters more than it sounds - poles strapped to the outside of a pack are the single most common thing to lose on a scrambly section.

Grips and baskets

EVA Lite foam grips, which stay usable in the wet where cork gets slick and rubber gets sweaty, with polyester and nylon strapping. The shaft is carbon through all three sections.