[pct-l] To shocks or not to shocks.....

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon, all,

I don’t use poles with the shock absorber springs: They add weight, they
rattle, and they really don’t live up to the shock absorbing claim that they
advertise.  One thing they actually do is to lighten your wallet.  Retailers
find the feature to be an easy up-sell.



When going uphill with the shock absorbers engaged they provide a squishy
feel that I don’t like:  My opinion.  A major advantage claimed is that of
absorbing energy when walking down relatively steep hills.  Energy is in
terms of force applied over a distance, as in foot-pounds.  Downhill, energy
can be absorbed by applying a large force over a short distance or by
applying a small force over a long distance.  The springs in the poles have
a short travel – maybe ½” – so a great force would be necessary if one
walked stiff-armed and relied upon the springs.  Fortunately, that’s not how
we walk.  We move our arm and shoulder structures to absorb energy over a
much longer distance; maybe 10 or as many as 20 inches, reducing the
resulting force greatly.  That is a very easy and natural thing to do.
 Compared
to that, the ½” of shock travel provided by the pole is hardly significant.



I find the average twist-locks perfectly good, and I don’t make them overly
tight.  Very aggressive locks do not allow the pole to collapse a few inches
when an unusually high force is applied, and there is a distinct risk of the
pole buckling and breaking rather than just slipping.  I’ve ruined two poles
that way when I could have easily readjusted a harmless collapse.



I remove the wrist straps from the poles and just use the bare grip.  The
advantage of doing so – other than reducing their weight a few ounces – is I
can easily and quickly transfer a pole to the other hand for some task, or I
can even just drop it if I need the hand quickly.  Over extensive snowpack I
carry small, light leashes made of the smallest diameter shock cord to
loosely retain the pole and keep it from sliding 300 yards down a hill if I
should open my hand.



I vacillate a bit relative to baskets at the pole tips.  They are useful for
keeping the pole from plunging deeply into snowpack, but over bare ground I
find a different purpose:  They help to keep the tips from going too deeply
into rock cracks. With the tip in a crack it’s difficult to stop walking in
time to avoid bending/breaking the tip, particularly if the grip strap is
around the wrist.  If I use baskets they are the small, standard size rather
than the large-diameter powder baskets.



Another occasionally-helpful use of a pole is to keep one’s foot from
slipping on a side-hill.  If I see a potentially slick step ahead of me I
poke the downhill-side pole tip a few inches into the ice/snowpack, I then
step ahead placing the side of my shoe against – and uphill of – the tip.  All
the while I maintain balance with the other pole somewhere uphill.



Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


On Wed, Dec 29, 2010 at 12:54 PM, Steven dvsteven <dvsteven at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> I have to agree with Shroomer,
>
> The only down side is the noise (well maybe the weight as others have
> said).  In my pre-thru hikes the noise is annoying to say the least (in the
> city, on hills and sidewalks).  I use BD Spires with shocks and they are
> noisy (but really nice poles).
>
> For the last few years I've always hiked with poles, they add push up and
> stability down, and the motion is great for me.  I used really cheap poles
> on the AT in '06 and inded up putting screws in them to complete the trail,
> so I'd advise getting locking poles not twist locks.
>
> Just my opinion,
>
> HYOH
>
> Flying Tortoise
>
>
>
> From: baidarker at gmail.com
> CC: pct-l at backcountry.net
> To: paulrobisonhome at yahoo.com
> Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2010 23:15:55 -0800
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] To shocks or not to shocks, that is the question...
>
>
> I first started by using poles with shocks years ago, but have changed over
> to non shocked, as I just don't like the constant noise of poles with
> shocks, and never noticed any difference in performance.
>
> As for hiking only one week without poles, it's perfectly doable, as we all
> used to hike without them with no problem. Now that I'm used to using them
> however I wouldn't consider hiking one day without them if I didn't have
> to.
> It's all a matter of what you're used to. They provide great stability
> over rocky terrain, increased my speed,and are a godsend in the muddy,
> slippery trails I'm hiking on now in Northern CA.
> I think they are a wonderful tool, and worth getting used to, but that's
> just my opinion, others I met on trail, who were great hikers, didn't use
> them. The vast majority of hikers did however.
>
> Shroomer
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
>