Have you got a pair of those nifty but expensive telescopic ski sticks for use in backcountry alpine touring skiing so you can adjust between downhill, touring or traversing modes? The ones you unscrew a bit and then adjust the length then twist again to lock? Do they sometimes swivel loosely when you are trying to adjust them but refuse to change length? Do they freeze up and refuse to budge when you twist? Have you been forced to ask a companion to grab one end whilst you twist the other with both hands to get them unstuck? Or put them under your armpit in the blizzard to thaw them because you can't get enough of a grip on the smooth tubular pipes to twist them and you think that water has gotten in and frozen?
I have, all of the above. And so has my hike-buddy Gordon on the same trip recently. So we have two fixes for these problems. The first is for the inability to get a grip, the second is actually a repair because something has come loose inside the stick.
Getting to grips with the problem
The fact is that these things have not been well designed to enable you to grip the lower part to twist and loosen them. Especially with gloves on, when they are slick with water or ice. The top section has a nice handle but the lower section is just a smooth skinny pipe that I at least can't get much grip on. The snow basket rotates so it doesn't help grip. So, Gordon and I came up with some solutions and I like his best so here it is.
Get the barrel of an old biro or similar small, stiff, light, tube or rod and place it along the stick at the base of the lower ski-pole tube just above the snow basket, then wrap duct tape around it to make a handy sticky-outy bit to grip when twisting. Do it down low so it doesn't stop you collapsing the stick short for transport too much.
You could even apply this fix out in the snow with a small bit of straight tree branch and some sports tape. Or a bit of cord. Asymmetry (from the biro) is useful to aid grip though just some cord wrapped around the pole would be better than nothing.
For reference, my other solution involved Sugru, a moldable rubber compound that stuck nicely to the aluminium pole, to make a similar grippy bit, but I find the biro and tape method cheaper, easier, lighter and readily field-applied with a bit of sports tape.
Coming unstuck
The second fix is for when you can freely twist the stick but it isn't unlocking the mechanism that allows you to adjust the length. What has happened is that the lower tube has come loose from the locking mechanism. It still stays connected (though it might actually fall apart which would be a disaster) but it rotates freely instead of screwing the lock tighter or looser.
To get the lock unscrewed in the first place when you notice this issue, persevere with the twisting, but not pulling the tubes apart instead pushing them together to increase what friction on the lock remains and eventually the lock comes loose. (Make sure you are screwing in the right direction. Lefty loosey, righty tighty.... or something like that. Check the non-faulty pole for direction.) If you are still out in your blizzard rather than in the shed in your backyard and need to use the snow-pole, reverse the procedure after adjusting length, i.e twisting it tight whilst pushing slightly together, allowed it to lock again. This enabled me to finish the trip with proper length poles.
Then, after getting home to where I had access to some glue and tools, I pulled the two tubes completely apart. I found that the locking mechanism stays on the lower tube but just spins freely when it shouldn't, which is why it isn't expanding and holding, or allowing the lock to release. So I super-glued it back together again to stop the spinning (I might use two-part epoxy or locktite if the SG fails).
Gordon went further and did a proper job on it by locating the pin that should have stopped the locking mechanism from rotating on the lower part of the ski-pole but which had come loose and he used a hammer and a center-punch to fix it again.
Here's a photo of Gordon going paleolithic on his ski-stick in a heroic but fruitless attempt to fix it in the field. Note the finely crafted stone hammer and old nail for a punch on the table near the gas cylinder. The blue bit near Gordon's hand is the expanding locking mechanism which in itself was OK but which wouldn't expand when the ski-pile was twisted because the connection between the tube of the pole and the screw in the lock had come loose.
BTW, if your little plastic twist-lock thing actually breaks or wears out, apparently you can get replacements from Fizan that also fit the Swix poles.
Alternative Black Diamond Flicklocks
The opinion I get from others is that "Friends don't let friends use twist-lock poles". I think that is a bit harsh. I kinda like my Swix sticks, though that might be because at the time I bought them nearly thirty years ago I had to mortgage the house to do it. Hmm, that long? Maybe it's time to move on. Especially when thinking back on how I have felt in a serious blizzard trying to get my Swix sticks to unlock, even before this particular failure.
If I got the appropriate Black Diamond Flicklocks, I could also get the Whippet ice-arrest accessory to screw into it.
