[pct-l] pole bending

Wed Nov 10 15:32:48 CST 2010

Hey, Steel-Eye!

I just had that experience, a pole bending while negotiating a slippery side 
slope, last Sunday night! Usually they just collapse, because of the 
twist-locks, but this time I was using one of my beloved Black Diamonds with 
the cam-locks which don't slip, and the darn thing just bent like mad in the 
lower segment to a 45-degree angle and I went down for the 10th time in the 
3-mile approach to four lost hikers freezing in a snow storm on Echo Summit. 
I guess I should take Mags advice and just use ski poles (one piece) and not 
adjustables at all!

"Just remember, Be Careful out there!"

Ned Tibbits, Director
Mountain Education
1106A Ski Run Blvd
South Lake Tahoe, Ca. 96150
    P: 888-996-8333
    F: 530-541-1456
    C: 530-721-1551
    http://www.mountaineducation.org
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "CHUCK CHELIN" <steeleye at wildblue.net>
To: <Tortoise73 at charter.net>
Cc: "PCT List" <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2010 7:27 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] pole maintance

Good evening,

I’ll second Tortoise’s comments about the possibility of being hurt when a
pole buckles rather than just slipping a bit.  It happened to me.  I
mentioned earlier that I had had a pole fail on Fuller ridge.  I was
crossing a side-hill rock face that was coated with sand and fine particles
of decomposed rock when my up-grade foot slipped.  When I leaned heavily on
the up-grade pole it buckled to 45 degrees and my lower leg went to the rock
face where I gained a magnum-sized patch of road rash.  Fortunately I didn’t
break a leg bone or kneecap.

At the time I was hiking with Lime-Green Jellybean and she took a photo
showing the bent pole and the hide missing from the front of my lower leg,
but I don’t have a copy.

To add insult to injury, I soon had to descend that long hill to the Snow
Creek Water Fountain, a miserable piece of trail overhung with chaparral and
all manner of sticker-brush.  That didn’t feel so good on my bare, wounded
lower leg.

Steel-Eye

Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

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

http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09

On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 9:53 PM, Tortoise <Tortoise73 at charter.net> wrote:

> Worse yet, a collapsing pole turning a stumble into a serious fall.
>
> My old Leki titanium poles do slip a little but then I readjust and 
> tighten
> again. I also bent one lower section last year when I stumbled and fell
> climbing over and thru some blowdown. Straitened the section and it is 
> still
> going strong, though maybe not quite as strong as before I bent it.
>
> Tortoise
>
> <> Because truth matters! <>
>
>
> On 10/28/10 19:41, CHUCK CHELIN wrote:
>
>> Good evening, all,
>>
>>
>> I have a different view of pole section locks based upon the aggravation
>> of
>> twice having lower pole sections buckle badly, then break when I 
>> attempted
>> to straighten them.
>>
>>
>> Over the years I’ve often had twist-locks slip a bit when I have to lean
>> on
>> them heavily over rough ground.  The slippage was usually only an inch or
>> two, and rarely as much as 6-8 inches.  It was no big deal; I just 
>> quickly
>> readjusted and continued on the trail.  There was never a structural
>> failure.
>>
>>
>>
>> A couple of years ago I bought a pair whose manufacturer claimed for them
>> an
>> enhanced twist-lock mechanism to resist any such slipping – and resist
>> slipping they certainly did.  I leaned heavily on one pole on Fuller 
>> Ridge
>> and indeed it did not slip – instead the lower section buckled to a 45
>> degree angle.  The same thing happened again north of Tehachapi Pass, but
>> this time it was complete breakage.
>>
>>
>>
>> I view the locks as a stress limiter; a safety valve, if you will.  I
>> would
>> much sooner readjust occasionally – seldom more often than once a week –
>> than have the lower section suffer a catastrophic column failure
>> necessitating replacement of the section or possible the entire pole, or
>> pair of poles.
>>
>> Steel-Eye
>>
>> Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965
>>
>> http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
>> http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09
>>
>> On Thu, Oct 28, 2010 at 6:56 PM, greg mushial<gmushial at gmdr.com>  wrote:
>>
>>  Message: 7
>>>> Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 18:10:22 -0700
>>>> From:<ned at mountaineducation.org>
>>>> Subject: Re: [pct-l] pole maintance
>>>> To: "Amanda L Silvestri"<aslive at sbcglobal.net>
>>>> Cc: PCT MailingList<pct-l at backcountry.net>
>>>> Message-ID:<BC790FDBB2974E49AE87BF6564D654BA at PacificCrestPC>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="utf-8";
>>>> reply-type=original
>>>>
>>>> The twist-lock poles we product-tested this spring failed miserably,
>>>>
>>> where
>>>
>>>> the cam-locks held every time we fell against them in time of need! You
>>>> should have seen the inventive ways other hikers used to keep their
>>>> twist-locks from compressing--even denting them because the duct tape
>>>> slipped.
>>>>
>>>>
>>> This was the only way I found to keep the twist-locked poles from
>>> collapsing - which they always did at the most inopportune time
>>>
>>> http://www.harborfreight.com/150-piece-hitch-clip-assortment-96243.html
>>>
>>> either a small hole through both poles, pinning the together, or a small
>>> hole through the lower half, with hitch pin as a stop, keeping the upper
>>> portion from descending past it. Both were suboptimal, but "worked" -
>>> pinning them together was somewhat stronger. (a scribed line aroiund the
>>> bottom half at the bottom of the top half helped in reinserting the pins
>>> if
>>> one had to collapse the poles for shipping - this is assuming pinning 
>>> the
>>> two halves together; with pins in the lower half as a stop this wasn't
>>> necessary.)
>>> TheDuck
>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Just remember, Be Careful out there!"
>>>>
>>>> Ned Tibbits, Director
>>>> Mountain Education
>>>> 1106A Ski Run Blvd
>>>> South Lake Tahoe, Ca. 96150
>>>>    P: 888-996-8333
>>>>    F: 530-541-1456
>>>>    C: 530-721-1551
>>>>
>>>
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