I was most certainly skeptical of poles at first, I always thought they looked sort of goofy, and would be a pain to carry, but when you hit big inclines or declines, they're worth their weight in gold, at least my found sticks were, and my initial testing of these indicated the same.

I wish I had done a little more documenting of the assembly process, it really couldn't have been simpler though. Everything is basically interference fit...pressed together with a little bit of elbow grease.

I'm a tinkerer, and get a good deal of fulfillment from using stuff I've made myself, and it's been awhile since I've made something useful. I was long overdue!
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Light, Cheap, Durable...
pick two