A hand grip system for a skiing, hiking or trekking pole. The pole grip system includes a primary grip with a conical shape designed to fit the natural anatomical shape of a human hand grasping the grip. An optional secondary ascent grip, also conical in shape and located just below the primary grip, may be used for climbing steep terrain without adjusting pole length. The conical shape of the primary grip and the ascent grip provides a mechanism for axial force to be transferred from the user's hand to the pole without requiring a tight grasp. A grip top located above the primary grip prevents the user's hand from sliding upward, and serves as a gripping surface for alternate grasps such as a palm grip. A break-away wrist strap attached at the lower end of the primary grip is usable with either the primary grip or the ascent grip.

A break-away wrist strap for a ski pole or the like. The wrist strap is comprised of a strap or cord material with a clip for attaching to the pole and a buckle for adjustment. The buckle allows adjustment of the size of a loop portion into which the user's hand is placed, and also allows adjustment of an extension portion which extends from the loop portion to the clip. The clip is configured to attach to a standard size pole below the main hand grip, and is designed to detach from the pole when a tensile force above a threshold amount is applied. The break-away feature improves safety of the wrist strap, allows the wrist strap to be used with existing poles, and allows the wrist strap to be removed when not needed. A storage clip for stowing the wrist strap against the pole is also provided.

The invention relates to a hand-retaining device (70) for securing to a pole handle (1), comprising an insert opening (71) for the hand, a first exit opening (72) for the back of the hand, and a second exit opening (73) for the thumb. The hand-retaining device according to the invention further has a first elastic strip (74) which is led between the thumb and the other fingers and on which a coupling element (79) is provided that can be secured in or on the pole handle in a removable mechanism in a self-latching manner. The invention further relates to a pole handle to which the handle loop according to the invention can be optimally secured.

A pole grip for walking sticks, trekking poles, alpine ski, cross-country ski, or Nordic walking poles, and an associated hand-retaining device, or a set of said elements. The pole grip has a grip body and a hook-like device for fastening the hand-retaining device. Movable or rotatable locking elements are arranged in the area of the hook-like device in such a way that a loop-shaped device provided on the hand-retaining device and inserted into the hook-like device substantially from above is fastened in the hook-like device in a self-locking manner. The design is characterized in that elements that prevent rotation of a loop-shaped device fastened to the hook-like device about the longitudinal axis of the hook-like device by elements of form closure are provided on the hook-like device, and that corresponding complementary elements are provided on the hand-retaining device.

A variety of ski and hiking poles are described. In one aspect, magnets are provided on the pole handles and baskets to facilitate magnetic coupling a pair of poles together in a state suitable for carrying. In some embodiments, a pair of magnets are provided on each side of the handle. In some embodiments, a basket alignment piece is attached to the pole shaft. The alignment piece helps facilitate attachment of the basket to the pole shaft in an orientation that aligns the basket magnets relative to the handle magnets. In another aspect novel wrist straps are described.

An adapter comprises a main body having an insertion portion configured to be disposed in a hollow end of a hockey stick, a collar disposed adjacent the insertion portion and configured to abut a portion of the hockey stick, and a ski pole tip disposed opposite the insertion portion.

A ski pole strap for transfer of power from a skier's hand to a ski pole when a pole stroke is performed in cross-country skiing, the ski pole strap comprising an attachment portion configured to attach the ski pole strap to the ski pole; and a hand support portion for supporting the hand of the skier, the hand support portion comprising at least 0.03 g/cm.sup.2 of a thermoplastic material arranged at least in a region of the hand support portion configured to surround an ulnar border of the skier's hand, when the ski pole strap is in use, the thermoplastic material being plastically shapeable at a temperature below 100 C. and having a flexural modulus of at least 50 MPa at 20 C.

A pole handle having a central receiving area that receives a loop fastening element with a hand loop, which is secured to the loop fastening element and has an adjustable size. The loop fastening element and the hand loop is secured to the loop fastening element to form a modular unit which is formed separately from a core of the pole handle and which is secured to the core of the pole handle in a reversibly tiltable manner about a rotational axis in the pole handle. The loop fastening element can be tilted from a rest position, in which the loop fastening element is integrated into the surface contour of the handle head and in which the size of the hand loop cannot be adjusted, upwards about the rotational axis into an adjustment position, in which the size of the hand loop can be adjusted.