Why We Chose The Leki Micro Vario Carbon Walking Poles: Lightweight, packable, versatile.
Once you give trekking poles a go for the first time, you’ll soon realise the difference they make. They’re ideal for helping you manage heavier loads, whilst also offering stability and balance over some of the more technical sections of a walk.
Many veteran hill-users won’t be seen without their poles. After a lifetime of knee abuse from ascending and descending countless mountain paths, they become a valuable bit of equipment, particularly on those paths that have consistently large drops between each step.
“If you’re planning on taking these poles over a long distance, you’ll certainly appreciate that lower gram count.”
One of the biggest gripes that climbers, backpackers or general walkers may have with trekking poles is the heavy weight and lack of packability sometimes. Fixed-length poles have their obvious issues in terms of portability when not being used, and many ‘telescopic’ poles also remain quite long when packed up as well.
That’s why many people will favour z-style poles, like these ones by Leki, which break down into four short sections that all bundle together alongside each other into one very compact package.
The total packed length of this 2019 version of the Leki Micro Vario Carbon is in fact just 40cm. To give you a bit of perspective, Alpkit’s telescopic Shox Comfort measure 55cm packed, and elsewhere in Leki’s range, their Khumbu poles are 72cm – also telescopic. So you won’t get much shorter than this new offering by Leki here.
As for its weight, Leki tick another box here. The Micro Vario weighs just 234g (per pole) thanks to a sleek carbon upper and lower. Compare that to the weight of aluminium poles, which usually come in at around 300g per pole and higher.
Whilst this weight may not seem like a big difference on paper, if you’re planning on taking these poles over a long distance, you’ll certainly appreciate that lower gram count.
