I’m hardly a hard-core backcountry skier. In fact, my tours barely qualify as backcountry lite, but the el-cheapo adjustable poles I was using for such outings turned out to be even wussier than I am.

Looking to equip outdoor adventurers with a few survival-oriented tricks up their sleeves, Canadian startup Toporo has taken to Kickstarter with a trekking pole that does just that. From the outside ...