Iceline Trekking Poles

Sale price$169.00 USD

Handle Straps: No (Ships early June)
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Updated for 2025 to be even stronger, even lighter, more durable graphics, and a much requested new strap version. Both versions are currently sold out due to high interest but can be pre-ordered for poles shipping in late May or early June.

The Iceline poles use a more weight efficient design to craft a trekking pole that is lighter, stronger, and more reliable. They offer the compactness of a 3 piece pole, strength of a heavier pole, and the reliability of an external adjuster, while shaving unnecessary weight to make the world's lightest three piece adjustable pole. At just 134 g (4.7 oz) they are a delight to use.

EFFICIENT DESIGN

Three piece trekking poles are the norm because they can stow conveniently on the side of your backpack, but other 3 piece poles contain a shortcoming: dual adjusters. Having dual adjusters is unnecessary (because a single adjuster gives ample adjustment range) and actually a negative because the second adjuster adds weight, complexity, potential to slip, and more hassle to set your poles to a specific length.

The Iceline poles use a fundamentally better approach: replacing the lower adjuster with a quick connect mechanism. This gives an even shorter packed size (comparable to 4 section poles) while making the pole lighter, simpler, and more reliable. In regular use they operate like a 2 section pole, but the tips can disconnect for a compact packed size when needed.

Additionally, we've obsessed over the rest of the pole to save unnecessary weight including a tighter fitting grip that requires less glue and a lighter integrated tip design. Even the matte finish has been carefully considered to look beautiful while saving grams over a glossy lacquer finish. As a result of its' weight efficient design, the Iceline poles are able to invest more weight into areas that matter (stronger tubing, a more reliable external adjuster) while also providing a lighter pole that is nicer to use.

STRONG

The Iceline poles are quite durable for a lightweight trekking pole because they use premium high strength carbon and larger diameter tubing that is more weight efficient (both stronger and lighter).

In particular, the non-telescoping nature of the lower connection enables thicker 16 mm tubing for the tip section. Other poles with telescoping lower connections have to use narrower tubing for the tip section (typically 12 mm) but this makes those poles weaker right where they are most exposed to potential damage. The 16 mm tubing here substantially reduces the risk of breakage.

The Iceline poles are a sturdy pole that can hold more weight in a horizontal load test than comparable poles while having about half the flex. This low flex and high strength provide a more confident experience and lower risk of breakage.

Premium Carbon

The Iceline poles are custom built for Durston in Austria by Komperdell who have over a century of experience building high quality poles. These poles use their highest grade carbon to achieve greater performance at a lower weight.

External Adjuster

Unlike other poles near this weight, the Iceline poles have external adjustment which is easier to adjust, simpler to maintain, and less likely to slip compared to internal 'twist' adjusters. The external adjuster allows for ample adjustment range of 95 - 127 cm.

Quick Connect

In regular use the Iceline poles operate like a 2 piece pole with the upper external adjuster, but if you want them to pack short you can disconnect the tips with the quick connect mechanism. This mechanism enables a short pack size that is more compact than even other 3 piece poles, while being lighter, simpler, quicker to adjust the pole length, and with no risk of slippage.

Larger Diameter Tubing

The Iceline poles use larger diameter tubing to increase strength and reduce flex. In particular, the lowest section (which is the most common section to break in other poles) uses larger 16 mm tubing compared to 12 mm in other lightweight poles, making the Iceline poles stronger where you need it most.

Matte Finish

The Iceline poles have a matte finish that gives the poles a premium look, but more importantly, is the result of our focus on weight efficiency as it saves several grams in lacquer compared to a glossy finish.

QUALITY & RELIABILITY

The Iceline poles are custom built for Durston in Austria by Komperdell (a well respected maker of high end poles for over 100 years). Even the stuff sack is high quality, as it re-purposes otherwise scrap Dyneema® fabric from our Pro series tents to provide a superlight (5g) way to store the poles.

A key goal with the Iceline poles was to improve reliability and ease of use, because other lightweight poles commonly use internal 'twist' adjusters that are prone to slippage, or when they use external adjusters they use plastic parts. Either way, having dual adjusters doubles their risk of issues. With the Iceline poles the single adjuster reduces risk and is a more reliable external style with premium aluminum parts. The lower quick connector is also highly reliable with aluminum parts and no potential for slippage.

High-Water Mark

The most durable ultralight trekking pole we’ve tested. If you’re after the best ultralight poles, the Iceline are, in our opinion, the new high-water mark.

Road Trail Run

Brilliant

Durston set out to simplify the trekking pole to its essence while focusing on durability, reliability and the lightest possible weight. They succeeded.

Overall, the efficient and patent pending design of the Iceline poles sets a new standard for ultralight trekking poles. At 134 g they are the world's lightest trekking poles that can pack short and have length adjustment, while being sturdier and more reliable than other poles near this weight. This makes them a joy to use for everything from a Rim-to-Rim day hike of the Grand Canyon to a multi-week traverse of Alaska's Brooks Range.

Specifications

SPECIFICATIONS

WEIGHT

Strapless Version

134 g (4.7 oz) per pole.

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Strap Version

145 g (5.1 oz) per pole.

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Dyneema Stuff Sack

5 g (0.2 oz)

LENGTH

Collapsed

49 cm (19.5")

Features

FAQ

Customer Reviews

Based on 181 reviews
83%
(151)
10%
(19)
1%
(2)
2%
(4)
3%
(5)
M
Marvin
Best Poles Ever?

I own a Durston pack and a Durston Tent and now, Durston Trekking Poles. Why - the engineering - I have a passion for elegant designs and Dan’s products are beautifully designed. Is Dan the Steve Jobs of UL??

The poles are exactly as described. Light and robust. Minimalist and easy to use. The compactness of a 3 section pole and the simplicity of a single adjustor. The quick release is honestly brilliant. And they are just visually beautiful.

I am a no-strap guy and being able to order them without is much appreciated. It remains to be seen if I will miss the extended grip of my current poles but for a 2.5oz savings, I’ll figure it out.

Finally, I love the fact that these poles are made in Austria and not China.

K
Ken Williams
Innovation at its best

It takes someone special to finally ask why has it always been done this way and why don’t we try something new? This is exactly what Dan Durston has done with these new Iceline trekking poles. I mean even the name is cool. The straps are a really light material and feel great on my wrists. I really like the locking mechanism for popping in the bottom half of the pole. It feels very solid. And to remove it pushing the release button is also solid so it looks and works great. I had other ultra light poles but they have two places that you have to twist and un-twist. This has one section that you can quickly lock and unlock. Setting up a tent I can set my preferred height and if it needs a little tweaking because of uneven ground I can quickly adjust that with the lock. Taking it down I can set it to my preferred length for trekking without having to fiddle with two twists. The grips feel fine in my hands. These collapse down into a smaller length than any other poles I’ve tried. On a scale of one to ten I would give these a ten although that’s what I give all the Durston Gear I have. Another innovative and outstanding product design from Durston Gear.

D
David Smith
A marvel of Form and Function

These are such a great example of Durston engineering.
Not a copy but a re invention of what works well.
So glad I got a pair before the first run sold out.
For those waiting to get their's, Like other Durston products. It will be worth the wait!

Thanks for the kind words David. Glad you're liking the poles :)
- Dan

B
Bob E
Nice poles but not for through-hikes

We bought two sets of the Iceline poles for our PCT NOBO through-hike. They were new at mile 0. By mile 160 the button lock would not engage the lower section on one of my wife’s poles. We had only removed the lower for air travel and two hitches to and from Julian, CA. We tried to clean out the button mechanism with hot soapy water, but it still doesn’t latch on. So she’s wrapped the joint with Leukotape to hold her pole together and make do until we can get a repair middle section from Durston in Canada. Then a couple days later I noticed the carbide tip was loose in one of my poles. Yesterday it fell out so I’m backpacking on a carbon stub until I can get a repair part via Durston in Canada. We’ve been in contact with Durston support by email but on trail we don’t have connectivity to email every day. They’ve offered to ship repair parts. The soonest they can get to us is at least seven days up trail. Needless to say we are disappointed that the poles have these problems at less than 200 miles. We have other poles and I am familiar with what other options exist. I’ve never have a tip come out. Through-hikers will need to decide whether they want the lightest poles or choose a more proven option, especially one with more readily available repair parts where they plan to use them.

One note about the tips on the Iceline poles is that they are quite slim compared to plastic tips from Leki, Fizan, BD. So they do tend to poke in deeper, easier. This also means that if you use a trekking pole tent with a pole jack, check that the pole jack fits the Iceline tip. I had to make one that fit the Iceline pole.

Thanks for sharing your experience and feedback Bob. As you mention, we are working to get some spare parts to you. We can normally do that in 2-4 business days but we recommend allowing 5 business days when mailing to a trail location to be safe.

For the issues, one thing you mentioned in your email that wasn't noted here is that the quick connect stopped working on your wife's poles after it 'got stuck on something'. I'm not sure specifically what happened there, but it may have been damaged by that incident and perhaps that incident caused more leverage on the pole than it may have felt like.

Your carbide tip falling out is certainly unfortunate. That does happen on trekking poles sometimes (mine fell out on the PCT on another brand of poles) and we have seen it on our poles, but generally the tips are working well and we have seen people complete the PCT with them now. We do take any issues seriously though, so we are looking at ways we can improve this. As you mention, we provide free replacement sections because we do passionately stand behind our gear.

Also in the case of an urgent need, any aftermarket tips will slide onto the poles. More specifically, the tips are the same shape as other poles if you were to remove the plastic housing from the other poles. So they are essentially ready to recieve a replacement tip more easily. If someone wanted extra precaution for a thruhike they could add some beefy tips before the hike, but we are largely seeing good results with these.

Good luck on your hike,
Dan

E
Evan S
Elegant Design, Unusable After 300 Miles

I’m disappointed to be writing a negative review of the Iceline trekking poles, but after using them for 300 miles on the Hayduke, I feel I need to warn other thru hikers of their lack of durability in desert conditions.

The major problem with these poles is that the tips up until the carbide inserts are carbon fiber. After 300 miles of desert use, the carbon fiber was so worn down that the inserts easily broke through the thinned walls, rendering the poles useless.

While the carbon fiber is thin throughout, and the poles are definitely more breakable than others I’ve used, they are super light and stiff, and an absolute pleasure to walk with. Dan very generously replaced a section of one of the poles that I broke early in my hike. The grips are well shaped, and the single adjustment point is really nice. I found the straps to be uncomfortable compared to other trekking poles I’ve used with dedicated left and right straps, but the poles are so light it doesn’t really matter.

Dan, if you redesign the tips so that they last 1000 miles, I’d definitely consider buying these again because they get so much right, but I am disappointed that mine are unusable after just a few weeks, especially at this price point.

Thanks for sharing your experience Evan. Regarding the tip design, as you mention we are using a lighter integrated tip design where the carbide tip is inserted directly into the carbon instead of into a plastic housing that slides over top. The carbon is fairly thick and we don't see many reports of it getting damaged, but I can see how 300 miles on the Hayduke with a lot of off-trail, rocks etc would be pretty hard on the tip area of the poles and lead to this wear/damage in the tip area.

If you do want more durable tips, you can simply just add normal tips. The carbon tubing here is a standard size where it would be easy to add traditional plastic tips. We opt for the lighter design, but it is easy to pick up aftermarket tips and slide them right on over top. Reports of damage to the tip area is uncommon, so for most people I think it is a good tradeoff to save weight (especially swing weight) but for rocky offtrail conditions it probably is wise to add more tip protection. In your case, your tips are obviously quite worn/damaged where we are happy to replace the tip sections, but just adding some regular tips over top might be a better solution as it gives you the extra protection you're looking for.

For the straps, I like these thinner ones with the mesh that breathes, but if you do prefer another type it is fairly simple to swap on straps from a different pole model.

Hope that helps and good luck on the rest of the Hayduke,
Dan Durston