How to Clean and Maintain Your Nordic Walking Pole Tips
Pole tips are the most exposed components of your equipment. They rub on asphalt, sink into mud, scrape against rocks. Yet we rarely think about maintaining them — until the day they slip on tarmac or no longer grip in the earth. Here is everything you need to know to keep your tips in perfect condition.
The two types of tips and their uses
Most Nordic walking poles come with two types of ends:
- Tungsten carbide tips: an extremely hard metal, designed for natural surfaces (earth, grass, gravel, snow). This is the reference tip for Nordic walking in nature. Bevelled versions penetrate soft ground better.
- Rubber pads: for use on hard surfaces — asphalt, concrete, paving. They protect your tungsten tips from rapid wear on these abrasive surfaces, and avoid the unpleasant clacking noise in urban settings.
Why your tips wear (and how to slow it down)
Tungsten carbide is one of the hardest materials there is — it resists wear remarkably well on natural trails. But asphalt and concrete eat it up fast. A tungsten tip used without a pad on asphalt loses its efficiency in just a few outings. The golden rule: think of fitting your pads before hitting the road, even if you only cross a few hundred metres of tarmac.
Cleaning your tips: simple habits, lasting results
Tungsten tips need no complex maintenance, but regular cleaning after muddy or sandy outings significantly extends their efficiency:
- After every outing on heavy ground, rinse the tips in clean water to remove dried mud residues
- Use a hard brush or an old toothbrush to clean out the crevices of the bevel
- Dry the poles before storing them — stagnant moisture around the tips can encourage corrosion of the metal fixing parts
- Regularly inspect the tip's attachment to the shaft: a fitting that loosens mid-outing can cause a fall
Maintaining the rubber pads
Rubber pads wear faster than tungsten tips. Check their condition before every urban outing: a pierced or split pad loses all its non-slip efficiency and can scratch the asphalt. Replacement is simple and inexpensive. Always keep a spare set in your pole bag.
When should you change your tips?
Tungsten tips are changed when the bevel is blunted — when the tip no longer "bites" into the ground and you lose grip on climbs or wet surfaces. In practice, depending on intensity and the surfaces used, replacement comes every 6 to 24 months.
Storage: the right reflexes
- Store your poles in their bag to protect the tips from accidental contact with other objects
- If you transport your poles by car, check that the tips cannot pierce the bag
- Never leave your poles planted upright in damp ground for a long time
The MØNARC® Arcs de Marche come with Gabel tungsten carbide tips, and the rubber pads are bought separately. Spare tips are available from our shop.