Greetings Adventurers!
Gossamer Gear has introduced a new trekking pole, called the “LT5”, which is a three piece carbon fiber pole.
Many years ago I tried (and had no success) in making a three piece GG trekking pole (they sent me a bunch of hardware and poles and extra parts and such) and they had tried for a few years prior to that, so it is really nice to see that Gossamer Gear has worked out the manufacturing process to make a 3-piece trekking pole.
The nice thing about a three piece pole is that it can compact down to a smaller/shorter size, making it easier to air travel with, not having it stick up above your backpack, and making it useful for being a support pole on shelters that use/require a very short support pole.
Trekking Pole Specs:
Based on their website the LT5 has a shortened length of 60 cm (23.5 inches)
When fully extended (for hiking) they are spec’ed at 130 cm (51″ inches)
Now compare that to the LT4 poles at 88 cm (34.6 inches) min and 140 cm (55 inches) max.
So the new LT5 poles are a full 28 cm (11.02 inches) shorter than the LT4’s when stored in your backpack side pocket!!
The weight specs for the LT5, as of the time of this being published is:
Pole with strap and basket – 5.3 oz / 150 g
Pole – 4.6 oz / 130 g
Strap and screw .- 4 oz / 12 g
Basket – .3 oz / 8 g
External Twist Lock!
But perhaps the biggest news in all of this is the fact that Gossamer Gear has finally made the switch (at least for these LT5’s) to an external locking system!
This is super great news. Soooo many hikers (myself included) that I know stopped using the LT4 trekking poles due to frustration from the locking system on the LT4 poles.
While maybe not the uber awesomeness of a Flip-lock locking system, at least by going to an external twist locking system, Gossamer Gear is hopefully going to have a bazillion times better locking system than the internal twist locking system that has been using for the last decade or two.
Take a look at this zoomed in / cropped photo:
Where To Buy:
The price for a pair of them (not sold individually at this time) is: $195.00
Directly from the Gossamer Gear LT5 website page.
https://gossamergear.com/lt5.html
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