By Mike Hardaker, Creator & Publisher, Mountain Weekly News
The ski and snowboard industry is finally starting to design gear for splitboarding including poles. Mountain Weekly News thoroughly tested several brands of splitboard poles on tours in the Tetons, in British Columbia, and in Tahoe. We wanted to find out how these poles held up in various temperatures, snowpacks, and other variability including the length of the tour.
Our top choice: the Backcountry Access Scepter 4S PolesWhen the most trusted name in backcountry safety makes a set of backcountry-specific splitboard poles you really should take note. Thebest splitboard poles can actually pack down small enough to toss inside your backpack or can easily be attached to the outside of your pack for the ride down hill. BCAsski touring poles pack down to a compact 17 /45.7cm in length. This means to you can stuff these poles inside your backpack if you have room for them. Otherwise they can easily be latched down to the outside of your pack.
If you're familiar with tossing an avalanche probe out you will dig the feel of the Backcountry Access Scepter 4S pole. To engage the pole once it's broken down simply pull the top section of pole out while tossing the rest of the pole away from you, and voila, the splitboard pole is ready to go. This is one of the simpler designs we have used.
The BCA Scraper Grip on the Scepter pole is handy for unclipping binding and scraping snow off your ski tops, to keep you from dragging extra weight as you ascend.
At times I tend to put the flat of my palm on the top of my split board poles grip. It seems to really help to drive power into each stroke. Having more places to grip is never a bad thing. BCA adds padding down the shaft of the pole, and the upper shaft features sprayed-on grip texture for lightest choke up grip possible.
These ski poles are fool-proof and have become my daily drivers. Thanks, BCA the Scepter poles are amazing, and they can also be used for 4 seasons hence the 4S name.
$119.95 for a set of Backcountry Access Scepter 4S ski poles. Buy here.