Grivel Condor Pole Review

Last week at the Outdoor Retailer show we had the opportunity to check out some new and old gear from all sorts of companies across the outdoor industry. This place could be called an amusement park for adults, or at least those with the same interests as us. It’s hard to go wrong with an almost endless amount of booths displaying some of the best products around, topped off with free beer..

After walking around for hours and hours, we were psyched to see so many great new products. However, the product we were most impressed by was the Grivel Condor Pole.

Grivel products were brought to the OR show with Liberty Mountain, a distribution company out of Utah. Among the Grivel stand, there were several products that stood out including some ski backpacks I regret not getting, lightweight carabineers, nifty ice screws, and the condor ski pole.

This was the first time I had seen the Condor, although I hear it has been around for several years throughout Europe. After messing around and inspecting the display model at the stand, we were more than curious about how they would hold up in the mountains and jumped on the opportunity to try them out.

Justin making his way up Tanners Gulch

The next morning we were headed up Tanners Gulch; Grivel Condor in one hand and BD Whippet in the other for each of us. After Plan A of ascending some sketchy couloir and skiing the Southeast Face of Sunrise Peak failed, Plan B was a go. This consisted of spending the next hour until the snow got to optimal condition testing out the Condor in steep uphill travel and its self-arrest capabilities. Here is what impressed us throughout the day:

Retractable Blade: One of the greatest advantages of the Grivel Condor is that the blade has the ability to retract into the handle. By unscrewing a knob, the pick will loosen and can be moved inside the device. This can come in handy if the pick is only needed for uphill travel and self-arrest capabilities aren’t necessary for the downhill. No sense in skiing with a metal blade in front of you when you don’t have to.

Hand guard: We were pretty amazed how nice it was having a hand guard for travelling on all fours through steep uphill terrain. Having the hand guard prevents your gloved hands from taking a dive into the snow with every step. We thought it created a much more fluent process for travelling up the steeps, as well as keeping the hands a bit warmer. The larger handle with a hand guard also gives people the option to use it as a cane for more mountaineering-style traversing.

Rotating Basket: This was another aspect that both of us were greatly impressed from. The Condor has a rotating basket that tilts in each direction. This proved to be very helpful when moving through firmer conditions. It was much easier to get solid contact in the snow with the rotating basket, especially when traversing and going up steeper terrain.

Twist Lock vs Flip Lock: The Grivel Condor comes with a twist lock style for adjusting the pole length, while the Whippet comes with a flip lock system. There have been some past issues with a twist lock system and the flip lock was supposed to address this. However, it seems like the lock system in the Condor is pretty solid, and we’re yet to notice any issue with it. We’ll keep you posted!

Blade: Upon first inspection, it looks like the Condor blade is quite a bit smaller than the Whippet, but after measuring, we found that the blade is only about a quarter of an inch shorter. The one thing the Condor blade does lack is the fin section on top of the Whippet. This can be useful in catching more snow when self-arresting in softer snow. However, when we spend some time comparing the self-arrest capabilities of both poles, we noticed very little difference in the two, as both poles were effective in hard and softer snow.

In conclusion, we’re very excited about acquiring the Grivel Condor and getting to use it more and more throughout the rest of the season. The pole makes uphill travel a lot smoother with the addition of a hand guard and rotating basket. Having the option to retract the pick also makes it a lot easier to opt for the pole when you’re not sure whether you’ll end up needing the blade. Although we hear it can be quite difficult acquiring these poles within the states, maybe we’ll start seeing more of them throughout these next few years.

GH & JT