[pct-l] Trekking poles

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good morning, all,


The “proper” use and adjustment of pole wrist straps is debatable, and
entirely a matter of personal preference.  One camp inserts the hand down
through the loop to grasp the pole grip.  The center of the loop is then
under the wrist.  This method uses a relatively short loop length.


The other camp – of which I’m a member -- inserts the hand up through the
loop to grasp both the pole grip and the two sides of the strap at the same
time.  In this usage the center of the loop is over the top of the wrist,
and the hand is supported by the two sides of the loop along the sides of
the hand.  This method uses a somewhat longer loop length.  You can
recognize these hikers because they will have a white, non-suntanned, stripe
across the tops of their wrists.


If I use straps, this is the method I use.  I find them easier to put on my
wrists and I prefer the supportive feel, but I find another distinct
advantage:  If I want to quickly let go of the pole to use my hand for
something else, all I have to do is open my grip and the pole will instantly
drop and hang by the strap below my wrist to make my entire hand immediately
available.  If I had been using the other method, when opening my hand the
pole straps would still be between my thumb and index finger and the pole
grip would be hanging at my palm to obstruct use of the hand.  It is then
necessary to shake the pole grip to out of the hand – an aggravating extra
step if the hand is needed quickly.


Currently I don’t use the straps, and have removed them entirely.  Instead I
have a very light pair of tethers which will keep the pole from being lost
after a tumble on a snowpack side-hill or while fording.  I list them with
the “maybe” Sierra gear.


I have never experienced wrist pain from not using the straps, but that may
be just me -- the result of a life-time of using tools and lifting weights.


Enjoy your planning,

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

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

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09


<http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09>


On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 8:01 AM, Thomas Jamrog <balrog at midcoast.com> wrote:

> This is correct, and the strap loop also should be adjusted to fit the
> person's hands to take full advantage of the poles' design features.
> Uncle Tom
>
>
> On Jan 15, 2010, at 10:51 AM, AsABat wrote:
>
> > There's also a hazard in NOT using straps, being sprains and repetitive
> > stress wrist problems. The proper use of a strap is to have the wrist
> bone
> > resting on the bottom of the strap loop, so that your hands don't have to
> > hold the grip much at all, putting weight on your arm bones rather than
> > having your wrist take all the weight and stress.
> >
> > AsABat
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