We’re all about “green” here (our name probably should be the “The Extreme Sustainability Underground”), so when somebody comes up with a harebrained use for bamboo (which grows really, really fast), we’re duty bound to report it.

That’s why these bamboo tent poles caught our eye – especially since they’re being aimed at the ultralight backpacking crowd, who – believe me – make fly fishermen look like dilettantes when it comes to gear.

From the Gear Junkie:

The plan is to bank on a bamboo variety called Tonkin cane, which is sometimes dubbed “steel bamboo” for its dense fibers and long sections between nodes. Working with an Alaskan fly rod maker, NEMO’s prototype poles — which I handled and flexed at a recent press meeting — click together like any typical tent pole and whisk into nylon sleeves to support a shelter that might be put to endure hurricane-force winds.

But initial tests at NEMO (www.nemoequipment.com) give bamboo a green light for its strength and performance under pressure. “The benefits of bamboo are that it is lightweight, flexible and highly elastic,” wrote Kate Ketschek, the company’s director of marketing, in an email interview. “Fishermen have been using bamboo for its strength and flexibility for over 100 years and NEMO believes that these benefits will correlate with the essential properties of tent poles.”

Note the use of Tonkin Cane in the tent poles – the same bamboo used to make bamboo fly rods.

Note also the fact that the bamboo pieces are hollowbuilt, though I don’t know if they’ve got dams in them or are hollow from tip to butt.

See you setting up the tent, Tom Chandler