Trekking Poles: Care and Use
We know from experience that folks who take good care of their gear like to know how to take care of their gear. If you’re one of those people, this blog is for you! Read on for tips for how to clean, store, and use your Diorite trekking poles to ensure their longevity and long term functionality.
Cleaning:
While it’s not a requirement to wash your poles, there may be circumstances where you want to. To clean, separate your poles into their three sections. Rinse off any caked on mud and debris. Gently scrub grips and straps with a cloth and an unscented mild soap, making sure to rinse off any soap residue. Oil pins and bolts to increase their longevity. Let all three sections completely dry before putting them back together or into storage.
Storage:
Your trekking poles should be stored fully collapsed with all three sections together. We recommend storing them hanging, to ensure that weight is not resting on the poles long term - although that may not be needed depending on how organized your gear closet is.
Use:
To ensure the longevity of your poles, make sure you are using them for their intended purpose - we know trekking pole sword fighting is fun, but it will do your poles no favors. Avoid putting horizontal pressure on the poles, as this can cause the carbon fiber to snap, or make your poles more susceptible to snapping over time.
Adjusting:
The poles should position your arm at a 90 degree angle when in use on flat ground. Make sure to set your pole height so that all telescopic sections are equally used - this will allow your carbon fiber shafts to overlap as much as possible, creating added durability. Adjust the straps by removing the plastic stopper and widening or tightening the loop by pulling on the non stoppered side of the strap. You can see a visual of this in our Trekking Pole Quick Look at 33 seconds.
Carbide Tip Care:
For tip longevity, use rubber tips in rocky terrain or on pavement, mud baskets in the mud, and snow baskets in the snow - all of our poles come with a pair of each, and we sell replacements on our site if yours get lost or broken.
And that’s all you need to know to get the most out of your poles! Got a repair that needs to be made? You can find our blog on trekking pole repair here.
Should you run into any issue with your poles, don’t hesitate to contact us at contact@dioritegear.com. You can find our full product FAQ here for any questions unrelated to care and maintenance.
Hi Samuel, we sell replacements for all parts and accessories on our site for as close to at cost as we can manage! You’ll be able to bulk order replacement rubber tips there.
My 88-year-old spouse uses your elegant CNOC trekking poles for stability on her daily walks mostly on concrete paths around our retirement community. The rubber tips have worn, and the exposed metal tips make the poles a bit slippery. I’ve adjusted the rubber caps down to the point where they won’t stay on. Can you provide new rubber caps? I’d like half a dozen in order to have replacements ready to hand.
Hey Chris, thanks for the feedback and the kind words! I’ve passed your feedback on to our fabrication and R&D team. I can tell you that modular poles with an array of interchangeable grips is a dream we’re working towards. Grips add weight and not everyone utilizes that lower section of grip, so a range of grip lengths and designs would help please everyone while simultaneously allowing folks to tailor their poles to their activity. It’s logistically complicated (and expensive!) but we’re working on it. Thanks again for the feedback! -Becky @ Diorite Gear
Tried my new poles first the first time last week. Temperature hovered around 0 Celsius and there was about 4 – 5 inches of snow. They are lovely and light in the hand. Overall they worked well though once the lever spontaneously opened and collapsed a section. Not sure how though I suspect brushing it against my pant leg may have been the issue. Note to self: rotate the lever position away from leg. One issue emerged. The second (lower) element of the handgrip is too small for my hand (and my hand is not specially wide). The lower edge of my hand ended up on the carbon shaft sometimes. With gloves that was more pronounced and once it actually gets cold here (southern Ontario, Canada) with my heavy gloves on part of my hand will on the carbon shaft all the time if I use the lower part of the grip. So, for your design people: please make the handle longer, particularly the lower tier. About another 2 inches would be great. I really like these so far so thanks for making such nice gear!🙂
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