[pct-l] Trekking Poles

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good evening, Travis,

Some of my general thoughts on poles can be found at:
http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=263972

I’ve used several different brands through the years.  I stick with the
leading names by suppliers I trust.  Almost any pole from a reputable
supplier will probably work well.

I’ve used anti-shock poles, but I got rid of them.  The feature “sells”
well but in actual practice I find it’s of little use except to add weight
and cause rattles.  The story is they will help absorb energy on a long
downhill, and they should be locked to remove the squishy feel at other
times.  Poles do help greatly on a downhill, but the practice is to reach
ahead, engage the trail, then use the pole to help absorb energy rather
than relying upon a hard foot strike and leg muscles.  The problem, is the
little anti-shock springs only travel about one-half  inch, while to get
any real attenuation of the force I use my arms and shoulders to the absorb
the energy over 12”-18”.

Some of the poles I’ve used were made of titanium/aluminum alloy, and
others have been carbon fiber.  Anything labeled “titanium” is bound to be
a titanium/aluminum alloy.  Poles labeled “aircraft aluminum” they are a
strong,  medium-level, aluminum alloy that they probably does not include
titanium.  Some of the bargain-basement aluminum poles are of a lower
quality material and as a result they are heavier to provide strength.  The
titanium and the carbon fiber poles weigh very close to the same – mine
around 15 oz. per pair -- and I can’t tell much difference in any
functional respect.  The metal poles are a bit nosier when they clip a rock.

I prefer cork grips – either regular cork or the cork-like material which I
believe is made with cork particles molded in a polymer substructure.  I
once used a pair with foam rubber grips but they gave me problems after
about a thousand miles.  The foam didn’t degrade, but the bond between the
foam and the pole failed and I couldn’t keep them in place.  I believe the
DEET used in the Sierra caused the bond failure.  I’ve used (cheap) poles
with hard plastic grips, but in addition to the unfriendly feel, the DEET
slowly dissolved the surface and made my hands perpetually black.  I’ve
never noted any such degradation of the cork or faux cork.

I don’t use the angled grips – it’s just a personal preference.  I neither
seek out nor disqualify poles of that type.

Poles all seem to come with wrist straps.  I quit using those years ago so
now I remove them first-thing.  There are two basic ways to use wrist
straps:  One way is to poke the hand down through the loop and grasp the
pole grip.  The other way is to reach the hand up through the loop and
grasp the two sides of the strap along with the pole grip.

The two methods create a different hinge feel between the pole and the
wrist.  Each would be good to try, but the up-and-through method requires
longer loops.

The real advantage I see to the up-and-through method is unrelated to
actual hiking pole use.  Commonly while hiking I need to use a hand for
something – grab the hanky, tug a strap, take a bite of something, use the
camera, move a branch out of the way, etc.    With the down-and–through
method, when I simply open my hand the try to drop the pole the straps keep
the pole grip my palm; always in a position to obstruct whatever I want to
do with that hand.  Using the up-and-through method, when I open my hand
for some task the pole grip immediately drops about 4-5 inches, then
dangles around my wrist out of the way.

Nowadays, without the straps, I simply and quickly transfer a pole to the
other hand.  Once my pole slipped sideways off a slick trail and I nearly
did a face-plant.  My hand dropped the pole to stop my fall, and I watched
it skitter down the canyon.  That was one unfortunate instance out of
thousands of miles without straps.  On steep snowpack I often carry a pair
of very light bungee tethers to restrain a pole if I have to drop it.

I’m not obsessed with security or tightness of the pole telescoping latches
or collets.  I keep mine adjusted to a tightness that will allow the joint
to slip slightly when I must lean on it hard– a relatively frequent
occurrence given my age and agility.  I’ve badly bent lower pole sections
when I had to lean hard to catch a miss-step.  One incident bent the
section to a 45 deg. angle which I somehow (almost) straightened.  Later,
the next incident with that same pole totally collapsed and broke the
section.  I much prefer to readjust a pole once or twice a day to avoid a
complete failure.

About half the time I keep the small-diameter scree-baskets on the pole
tips.  The reason is they help keep the tips from slipping into rock
cracks.  If the tip goes into a crack while I hike along, it's very
difficult to stop and even more difficult to drop the pole before bending
the tip.  The little baskets help somewhat in that regard.

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/


On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 1:57 PM, Travis Bell <mudpoet at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I'm looking at trekking poles and trying to decide what is best for the
> PCT.  I've got a bit of a trick knee, so I want to make sure I get the best
> for such a long hike.  For this particular piece of equipment, cost isn't a
> concern.
>
> So....
>
> 1) Brand?  I've heard a lot of good things about Black Diamond, and it
> seems to be really popular.  There's usually a reason.
> 2) Anti-shock vs Standard?  I'm thinking Anti-shock is the way to go, but
> I'd love to hear some opinions.
> 3) Aluminum or Carbon fiber?  Aluminum is lighter, so I'd imagine that's
> the way to go.  Is there a particular "type" of aluminum I should look for?
> 4) Cork or foam grip?
> 5) Anything I'm forgetting?
>
> Any advice is much appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Travis Bell
> 214-556-6683 (w)
> 214-683-7638 (m)
>