I'm not sure what can be said about either besides weight. Although I am leaning more towards aluminum because it will bend rather than break. I had a pair of Black Diamond Alpine Cork poles this last summer and although a tip broke off around a month in they held up well until about 90 days on the trail where I looked down and found that the whole pole had broken off near the bottom. I don't even know when it happened. It was a strange enough twist that the same day it broke I happened to lose it in a tricky ford.
This year I have an aluminum set of poles I am going to try. Hopefully they will hold up.
