Voile CamLock 2 Carbon Pole

Great balanced product overall but with one serious fault.

Fist off, I would like to say that I really like form factor of these poles. I had an old set of Komperdell poles with a similar construction: Alloy top with carbon lower and and extended foam grip. In my opinion, that is kinda the ultimate setup for a two piece touring ski pole. It make for a very pleasant balance/swing as well a providing multiple hand positions and allowing the pole to be adjusted for the mission/user. One piece/extended grip is great for it's simplicity, but if one wants to have a reasonable efficient kick and glide, it's my opinion that a strap is a must and often the one piece design precludes that. Also they are easier to pack.

Second I would like to say that I am blown away by how light AND robust these poles are, as well as how they handle. On the lightness and handling side of things: I have a buddy who races SkiMo. He has a few sets of poles and is a bit of a gear geek. I am not so much, so I was pleasantly surprised when these poles felt lighter in hand than all but his one piece race poles. They flick well with reasonable weight for a two piece pole, but not so heavy that it feels like one needs to pull back on the basket to keep it from overshooting the intended plant location. The pole had a stout feel with little flex, bu not so stout that it feels harsh; a great balance to strike. They are frankly the best feeling poles that I own.

That said, these poles are stout. They are pretty wide in diameter, and the carbon ends have a fair amount of reserve strength. There are a number of gauges in the last third of my pole where I had used them to support my ski during a technical transition on a steep, stiff slope over no fall terrain in the Alps. This put a few serious canyons in the pole. I just epoxied the gashes, to fill them in and have never looked back. I bought a replacement section in the expectation that they will break somewhere down the line. Total waste. They refused to break. I have continued to use these poles in all my winter pursuits, including hikes, climbs, snowshoeing, resort ski touring, and adventurous ski touring. Over the years I have chewed up the pole with rocks and to knock snow off of balling crampons and snowshoes. They show their age, but don't seem to be much worse for the wear.

Now onto the negative: I find that the accessory scraper often gets in the way and don't find myself using as often as one might expect. this is an obvious tradeoff that one makes grabbing this pole, but it is compounded by the pole's most serious issue. That is the straps. I don't know if I have ever used a set of poles with straps that I like less. They like to roll up under and around the hand becoming uncomfortable under thin gloves. The adjuster is in an uncomfortable spot. They are the hardest straps to get into of any pole of any type that I have owned, especially in heavy gloves, and they really don't like to be adjusted, either. They are as bad as the cheapest 25 dollar poles sold by the bucket in ski shops. For the 5x mark up, I would hope that they could include better straps. It ends up being so bad that I just don't use them as often as I would like. And I purchased adjustable poles so I could keep my hands in the straps more. Oh well, I guess this means that I am on the hunt for better replacement straps. XC skate style straps seem promising.

Overall, these polls are classic Voile: Simple, robust, dependable, and surprisingly refined in many ways but with rough edges that are at least easy to remedy. I recommend, especially if you don't care about the strap, much.