Mountain King Trail Blaze trekking poles

I’ve recently purchased several new items of gear and so will have a few reviews to post over the coming weeks, but the first items to arrive and be tested were the Mountain King poles. My first generation, adjustable Leki poles are still going strong but as I reviewed the weight of my pack, they stood out as being heavy at 800g for the pair. The MK poles weigh in at 274g for the pair including baskets so already over half a kilo has been shaved from my pack weight. Like taking weight out of my boots, I am sure that the weight saving here is actually greater as I am dynamically swinging my poles for most of the day, rather than statically carrying them. I also liked the fact that they collapse down smaller than my current Leki poles and an awful lot smaller than the comparable carbon fibre poles (the MK’s are aluminium tube). At £65 they are also a lot cheaper than the equivalent weight carbon poles. They come in fixed lengths of 120 or 125cm and MK are keen to stress that they can repair any damaged sections, something which is harder to do with carbon fibre.

I’d seen good reviews of these poles on a number of UK blogs and they all commented positively on the robustness which was my main concern with poles this light. So far I’ve only done a day with them on the GR7 from Pampaniera to Lanjaron but they held up well. Initially it felt like they were flexing an alarming amount as I walked but they proved their strength on several occasions as I slipped and put my full weight onto one pole without any permanent consequences. I also managed to jam one between a couple of rocks and then push on it with considerable force without deforming it. They rattle a little when used angled back behind my feet but don’t seem to do so when placed forward in front of my feet, such as when going downhill – this didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. The wrist straps are very comfortable but not adjustable which is my main gripe as I like to tension the straps to support me when pounding up hills and instead have to hold the poles halfway down the grips to get the same support. The grips are comfortable but the tops are not rounded, so when descending with the top of the grip in the middle of the palm they are not quite as comfortable as they could be, but again this is not really a problem. Extending and stowing the poles is straight forward and they lock into position positively. I often make use of the adjustable feature of the Leki poles to reduce the length of the poles if going uphill and extend them when descending but the fixed length of the MK poles was actually very easy to adapt to and the relative length of the poles can be adjusted by varying the point at which you place the tip, in front or behind your gait, to create the same effect.

Overall I’m pleased with these poles – they are not designed for technical mountaineering but are a surprisingly tough set of trekking poles and are very good value relative to the competing poles of a similar weight. I bought mine at backpackinglight.co.uk and received excellent service as always.

I’ll post an update if I manage to break one!

	Author	Topic: Mountain King Trail Blaze trekking poles (Read 577 times)
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