[pct-l] New Hiking Poles Arrived

[Tortoise]

I just did a little looking at the trekking poles on REI's site.

I have a couple of objections:

*  grips are in-line / straight with the shaft. Which means one's wrist 
bends and flexes much more than a slanted ergometric grip like the 
Lekis. I've found this important as I have carpal-tunnel syndrome and/or 
arthritis in my wrists which leads to pain with straight grips.

*  I used to have a pair of poles with the shock-absorbing feature. 
Found it to be a hindrance rather than a help. When I plant a pole, I 
like the solid feeling of a non shock-absorbing pole and no give when I 
need to put a lot of weight on it to maintain balance.  Usually as I 
walk, I alternately swing each pole forward and let the tip drop onto 
the ground with one pole swing to two steps. This provides balance 
without any shock.

* IMHO, normally one shouldn't be using the hands and poles to carry 
one's weight. Our legs are stronger in both muscle and bone and adapted 
to carrying our weight; not so our arms. I only transfer weight on 
difficult or rugged uphill or downhill when I need the assist for balance.

My grips also have a safety break-away strap attachment in case a pole 
gets caught when I fall. Never needed the break-away. However, this 
attachment makes it very easy for me to disconnect the straps from the 
poles when I stop for a quick drink or whatever. I can't tell from 
Leki's site if this feature is on their new poles.

HYOH! ; but hike!

Tortoise

<> He who finishes last, wins! <>

I switched to Mac OSX rather than fight Windows
Using Mozilla Thunderbird  http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/



Hiker97 at aol.com wrote:
> I got my new REI carbon Light Shock hiking poles ($149 pair) and made my  
> normal modifications.  The poles look very nice and should work well on the  
> trail.  Modifications are:
>  
> 1.  Reflective tape on the shaft about 3 inches below the grips.   Then I put 
> some clear tape over it for protection.
> 2.  Gorilla Tape on the bottom to help keep the small basket on  better.  And 
> some around the lower part of the shaft to protect it from  rocks, etc.  
> Plus, I put a little around the lower lock to help keep it on  better.  The upper 
> lock has to slide, so no tape there.
>  
> Each pole weighs in at 7.3 ounces after modifications.  Not bad at all  for a 
> robust hiking pole.  Remember, you can get 2-3 ounce balancing  poles if you 
> do not need the extra leg/knee support.  See  GossamerGear.com.
>  
> One thing that really disappointed me was the lack of instructions from REI  
> with the poles.  You and I know how to fit and use hiking poles properly,  but 
> I really doubt most customers know these things.  Here are some  examples:
>  
> 1.  The pole length should be adjusted, so that your fore arms are  parallel 
> to the floor.
> 2.  The all important hand grip strap should be adjusted, so that it  is snug 
> across the palm/side of the hand.  You properly use the strap by  sliding 
> your hand up the pole shaft through the strap and gripping the hand  grip.  As 
> you use the pole, you should feel the weight on the straps and  not on the hand 
> grip.
>  
> Anyway, may be it is just me that is upset by the lack of customer  
> instructions or they forgot to ship them.  I think REI could do so much  more in the 
> gear education and presentation area, but they are a big retail  sales, sales, 
> sales giant now and not the good old COOP of years past.  My  hiking pal, 
> Rattlesnake the Macaroni, and I use to go to their store almost 40  years ago.  I 
> have been a member for that long and even have a catalog from  1973.  Enough.
>  
> Your pal, Switchback the Pole
>
>
>
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