How to connect trekking poles?

The standard length of a trekking pole is 140 centimeters. When using poles for their intended purpose (for walking), this is more than enough. But when you set up an awning or a tent (teepee) on trekking poles, sometimes you want more space, more height. How to easily connect two trekking poles into one long pole? Of course, you can tie them with a cord, but this is inconvenient. We managed to find several more elegant solutions to this problem.

Tube

If you have trekking poles with an eccentric locking mechanism (for example FlickLock from BlackDiamond), then you can remove the lower sections from both poles and connect the remaining sections with a tube or pin of the appropriate diameter. When I needed such a connector, I made one from an old trekking pole. More precisely from its lower section.

A couple of years ago I severely bent a pole when I slipped in the snow during a hike in Norway. Once deformed, a track stick is almost impossible to return to its previous ideal shape. It stops folding normally and will most likely break completely under the next heavy load. In my stick, after the “break” and subsequent alignment, such a clear longitudinal crack appeared on the knee that it was time to throw it away right away. But just in case, I kept the broken stick, and now its time has come.

A couple of movements with a grinder, then lightly trim the edges with a file and the connector for trekking poles is ready. Actually, from the existing piece of tube it was possible to safely make two connectors. After all, for greater rigidity, I still try to join the poles end to end, and for this a piece of pipe about 10 cm long is enough.

As a result of connecting two sticks, we have a rod about 2 meters long, at both ends of which there are relatively safe (for thin awning fabric) handles. Of course, the rigidity of the structure is far from ideal. After all, even without an extension, poles extended to the limit (140 cm) behave “uncertainly”. But I don't plan to use the resulting rod in stormy conditions or under prolonged load. This is a solution for setting up the awning high when dining in the rain. But this thing should withstand an hour or two, and even under supervision.

By the way, if you are afraid that you won’t keep track and your precious sticks will bend, then you can deliberately create a weak link - a kind of brittle fuse. Just don't push the sticks together, leave a piece of the connector open. It is thinner than other sections and in case of extreme loads it will break, but the poles will remain intact.

Fabric pocket

But what to do if you need to connect two sticks with a collet locking mechanism? A number with a connecting tube will not work here. It will not be fixed by anything and at any moment it will simply slip inside, collapsing the entire structure.

In this case, you can use special fabric connectors for trekking poles. On the Internet for 10 euros you can buy a nice connector from the German company TheTheoryWorks. Or you can spend the evening at the sewing machine and make it yourself. Theoretically, such a “soft” design may turn out to be even stiffer than the tube version.

Fabric tube

And if you find a tubular sling and double-sided Velcro (ski fastener, sold in sports stores), then you can connect the trekking poles without sewing. It is enough to carefully insert the ends of the track sticks into the fabric tube, fold them in a Z-shape and secure with Velcro.