Not long ago I decided that at Facewest we would only sell metal shovels, not polycarbonate. Plastic shovels are OK but now there is no weight or cost penalty to having an aluminium one, plus they are better for digging with. The Mammut Raptor was allowed to continue as it has a metal digging edge on a plastic blade. I have toughened up my stance and the Raptor will now be dropped from our line up. The last few are on sale now at 25% off.
After further consideration I have decided that twist lock telescopic poles are to go the same way. I have recently being using some BD poles with flick locks for long distance hill running and then switched back to my Leki carbon ones to go ski touring. I noticed how much longer it took to adjust the twist locks and how much harder it was with big gloves on. The twist locks never failed it was just that I was put off adjusting them because it was a hassle. So I have decided that we will only sell flick lock poles because they are better. This week at ISPO I saw that the Leki Haute Route pole that we sell changes next year to a flick lock design so it’s not just us who think like this. Our current Leki Poles are on sale at 20%.