[pct-l] Hiking Pole Grips

[CHUCK CHELIN]

Good afternoon,

Over the years I’ve used three basic types of hiking pole grips:  Dense
foam, hard plastic, and composite cork.  I well realize that all three are
– mostly – some form of polymer, i.e. “plastic”, but the nature of plastic
varies.

The dense foam grips were among the most comfortable that I’ve used.  They
had good cushioning, they had a surface that didn’t require a choke-hold
for the hand to stay in place, they didn’t encourage a sweaty hand to slip
around, and they didn’t show any noticeable wear.  The shortcoming of this
material began to be apparent soon into the Sierra.  After about a week the
adhesive that held the foam in place on the pole disengaged and the whole
grip began to slip up and down and around making them unusable for me .  I
believe the culprit was DEET:  It didn’t seem to degrade the actual foam,
but I believe the DEET did migrate through the foam to attack the glue.  I’m
not certain of that, but it seems more than a coincidence that the problem
began only a few days after I began using DEET at Death Creek.

The hard, molded, black plastic grips were on a moderately low-priced pair
of poles.  They weren’t the really cheap, slick plastic; and they had
molded-in texture that felt quite good.  Again, the problem began with the
use of DEET; it directly degraded the plastic surface and my hands were
always black with residue wherever I touched the grip.  It was pretty awful.

The composite cork is – I believe – made with some kind of moldable plastic
mixed with ground-up cork or ersatz cork.  The plastic base was a tan color
to more-or-less match the color of cork.  These have performed the best for
me.  If there has been any degradation from DEET I haven’t noticed it.  They
do seem to become darker in color over time – probably from ground-in hand
grime – but what isn’t grimy on a long-distance hiker?

I don’t think there’s any way a purchaser can be sure about the effect of
DEET without actually giving them a try, so I’m going to try to limit
myself to using name-brands with composite grips.

Steel-Eye

-Hiking the Pct since before it was the PCT – 1965

http://www.trailjournals.com/steel-eye
http://www.trailjournals.com/SteelEye09/