Trekking poles for snowshoeing, and the part most of them leave out

The basket is the whole product

A trekking pole has a small plastic disc near the tip called a basket. On a summer trail it stops the tip sinking into mud and wedging between rocks, and it is about 35 mm across. In snow it is the only thing stopping the pole disappearing to the grip every time you plant it.

A snow basket is the wide version - roughly 90 to 100 mm across - and the difference it makes is not subtle. With a trekking basket in fresh snow the pole sinks past the handle, gives you nothing to push against and has to be yanked back out on every stride. With a snow basket it stops at the surface and does the job you bought it for.

So the first question about any pole sold for winter is not the weight, the shaft material or the grip. It is: does a snow basket come in the box? Two of the three poles here publish that it does. The third publishes nothing at all, which is why it carries the skip note.

Do you need poles for snowshoeing at all?

Honestly, not always, and the site’s position has not changed: the poles guide walks through when they earn their place. The short version:

• Flat, packed trail: no. Snowshoeing on a groomed winter path is walking. Poles are a nuisance to carry and do little.
• Any gradient: yes. Climbing, poles give you two extra points of push. Descending, they are brakes and balance, and descending is where people fall.
• Deep or variable snow: yes. Poles turn a post-hole into a stumble rather than a fall, and they probe the surface ahead of your foot.
• Carrying a child or a pack: yes. Anything that shifts your center of gravity makes a third and fourth contact point worth having.
• Bad knees, either direction: yes. This is the most common reason people buy them and it is a good one.

What this page ranks on

• 1. Published snow baskets in the box. Pass or fail, and it decides the order on this page.
• 2. Published usable length range. A pole that does not reach your length is not your pole. Sizing rule below.
• 3. Lock type. Lever locks (FlickLock, DynaLock) work with gloves on and do not slip when the shaft is wet. Twist locks are cheaper and are the commonest winter failure.
• 4. Published weight for the pair. You lift these thousands of times an outing, and the spread here is nearly 100 g.
• 5. Published collapsed length. Only matters if the poles spend part of the day on a pack, but when it matters it matters a lot.
• Not carbon against aluminum. Carbon is lighter and fails suddenly; aluminum bends and keeps working. For winter use with a pack and a sideways fall, aluminum is the sensible default, and all three poles here are aluminum.

The three, compared

Read the first row and then the last. The two poles that publish their basket contents also publish everything else; the one that publishes nothing is the cheap one. That is the trade on this page, and it is a legitimate trade as long as you know you are making it.

The picks

MSR DynaLock Trail Backcountry Poles

The pick, because MSR built this pole for the job and says so in its own words: two section aluminum construction for snowshoers, winter hikers and skiers. It publishes winter and summer baskets included, which is the pass mark this page is built around.

The rest is published plainly too: a usable length of 100-140 cm (39.5 to 55 in) collapsing to 80 cm, 0.59 kg the pair, 6061 aluminum shafts and the DynaLock aluminum lever, which MSR describes as the durable part. A lever is what you want in winter: it adjusts with gloves on, and it does not creep down the shaft when the pole is wet and loaded, which is the failure that makes people give up on cheap poles.

Two sections rather than three also means fewer joints to ice up and one fewer thing to check at the top of a climb.

Honest cons. It collapses to a published 80 cm, which is long - these strap to the outside of a pack rather than disappearing into it. Two sections is what causes that. No warranty term is published. And it costs meaningfully more than a budget pair that will also accept a snow basket if you buy one separately.

Black Diamond Trail Cork Trekking Poles

The one to buy if the poles spend part of the day on your back. Black Diamond publishes 494 g for the pair and a collapsed length of 64.8 cm - nearly 100 g lighter and 15 cm shorter packed than the MSR - with the same 100-140 cm usable range.

It also publishes four-season flex tips with both trekking and snow baskets included, so it clears this page’s pass mark, and dual FlickLock levers, which are the lever locks Black Diamond is known for. The shafts are published as 7075 aluminum with 30 percent pre-consumer recycled content, UL Validated, and a minimum of 14 percent recycled content across the finished pole.

The grip is 100 percent natural cork with an EVA foam extension below it. Cork is the grip that does not turn slimy on a long sweaty climb, and the extension is there so you can choke down on a steep traverse without re-adjusting the length.

Honest cons. It is the dearest pole here, and the cork grip - its signature feature - is a bare-handed comfort upgrade you will spend most of the winter wearing gloves over. A thin liner glove is what your hand actually touches. No warranty term is published. And three sections with two locks is two more things to check before you point downhill.

TrailBuddy 7075 Aluminum Poles, and why they carry the skip

The budget pair, and the honest report is short because the published information is short. The listing states 7075 aluminum - the stronger of the two aluminum grades used in poles - and that is the end of the verifiable specification. TrailBuddy has no reachable product page, so there is no published length range, no lock type, no weight and no statement about what is in the box.

At roughly a third of the MSR that is a real option for a first pair on packed winter trails, or a spare set for visitors who snowshoe once a year and will not buy their own.

It carries the skip because of what this page ranks on. Snow baskets are not published as included, so budget for a set on top - which closes a good part of the price gap - and accept that the lock type, the length range and the weight are unknowns you are buying on trust. For packed trails, fine. For deep snow, buy the MSR.

Getting the length right, and changing it on the hill

Pole length for snowshoeing is not one number, which is the reason adjustability matters more here than it does on a summer trail.

• On the flat: stand with the pole tip on the snow beside your foot. Your elbow should sit at about 90 degrees. For most adults that lands somewhere in the 110 to 125 cm range - inside the published 100-140 cm of both documented poles here.
• Going up: shorten by 5 to 10 cm. A shorter pole lets you plant ahead and push, instead of fighting your own shoulder.
• Going down: lengthen by 5 to 10 cm, so you can plant downhill of yourself and brake rather than tip forward.
• Traversing a slope: uphill pole short, downhill pole long. This is the case where two independent locks earn their keep.
• Check the locks before a descent. A pole that collapses mid-plant on a steep section is how people fall. Levers close with gloves on; test them.

Straps are worth a sentence too: put your hand up through the loop and then down onto the grip, so the strap takes the load across your palm. Done the other way round the strap does nothing, and your forearm does all the work.

What these go with

• Snowshoes sized to your loaded weight, not your height - the snowshoe sizing guide covers the published load ranges, and the snowshoes roundup ranks the field on them.
• Boots that keep snow out, because poles do not help a wet foot - the winter boots guide.
• Traction for the icy stretches where snowshoes come off and the trail turns to boilerplate - ice cleats, ranked.
• A smaller pair for a child, which is usually not worth buying: snowshoeing with kids explains why children generally do better without poles until they are big enough for adult-length ones.
• Gloves you can work a lever lock in. Anything with a stiff gauntlet and no dexterity makes adjustment a stop-and-strip job.

Keeping them working

• Take them apart and dry them after wet days. Water inside a shaft freezes, and a frozen section will not adjust. This is the single most common reason a pole stops working in winter.
• Do not over-tighten a lever. If it slips, adjust the tension screw rather than forcing the lever shut - both makers here publish adjustable lever tension.
• Keep the snow baskets on until spring, then swap back. That is what the two basket sets are for.
• Replace tips when they go blunt, which on rock and ice happens faster than people expect.
• Store them extended and dry rather than collapsed and damp - the end-of-season storage routine applies to poles as much as to anything else.