[pct-l] Hiking Pole Grips

[Jim & Jane Moody]

Speaking of grips ... I learned the hard way to wash them off at least once a day in a creek, preferably late in the afternoon.  Somewhere near Dicks Pass in 2011 I woke up to find my wrist straps gone and the grips chewed up.  A salt-craving critter or two had feasted during the night; one grip was ab out a foot from my head, holding up the Lunar Solo tent.  That's when I realized that I was a sound sleeper. 


Two days later I lost one pole in Miller Creek, when I went for an unplanned swim and had to let go of the pole to grab a passing branch.  Now I'm smarter than I was. 



Mango 
----- Original Message -----
From: "CHUCK CHELIN" <steeleye at wildblue.net> 
To: "PCT listserve" <pct-l at backcountry.net> 
Sent: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 4:12:17 PM 
Subject: [pct-l] Hiking Pole Grips 

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/ 
_______________________________________________ 
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/ 
All content is copyrighted by the respective authors. 
Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.