Benefits of lighter trekking poles?

I also use Ti Goat APGs

I can not recite a physics formula, but the change to the APGs and lighter shoes (Terroc) made a significant psychological boost to help me cover more ground at a faster pace and take less breaks. You should try them. If they don't help I'm sure you can sell them fairly easily.

TG carbon poles are da bomb. Like above, I don't know the physics of it, but they really do make me 'feel' lighter than my old titanl poles, and help with aging/injured ankle and knees. The best thing of all about trekking poles in NZ is how much they help with tricky river crossings. Even if I didn't have aging joints, I would carry poles just for the river crossings. And of course, the double rain porch on our DR wouldn't be nearly as nice without two sets of poles to stake out both porches.

One question that I have: How strong/durable are the lighter carbon poles vs. the traditional poles?

I have been using a pair of hiking poles for the past 2 years and I can't imagine having been able to complete some of my trips without them. (Komperdell & Leki)

When I cross a small stream, I use them to help me pole vault over them or to help me save my knees when going down hill. They just make my life easier and less taxing on my body.

Basically, I have used them like crutches and I am often putting the full weight of my body on them quite a bit.

I like the idea of carbon poles, but I keep hearing that they have to be handled with care to avoid breaking them.

Carbon poles are not cheap and I would hate to buy some and just snap them out on my 1st trip.

Has anyone broken one and how much weight did it take to break them?

Can you repeatedly place all of your weight with a pack on them without fear of breaking them?

I am 140 lbs and carry a load around 30 lbs for a full week without resupply.

-Tony

You should have no problem with the strength or durability of most CF poles at your weights.

The only major concern is also a problem for aluminum poles – sticking the pole tip in a hole and loading it.

Eh…whatever trips your trigger. All I know is I never used trekking poles in the eighties or nineties and I don't need poles now. I think trekking poles might serve a usage for older folks with knee/ankle problems and I agree that singular hiking staffs have been around forever.

That being said, just keep in mind that the sports medicine "experts" who claim trekking poles do this and do that can be paid to say anything by companies that want to sell trekking poles. Conflicts of interest abound in medicine…from pharmaceuticals, to yes, trekking poles.

I liked the comment by the guy who said trekking poles just add weight you have to lift repetitively all day long. Sounds about right to me.

Another argument against trekking poles is that chronic use of poles decreases levels of balance and proprioception that would be built up over time by backpacking without poles. Theoretically, using poles might be making you MORE injury prone.

And finally, always remember that just because REI sells them and "everybody uses them now" doesn't mean you have to or that its the correct way.

To each his own.

Eric

Eric, you are basically hijacking OP's thread with your anti-trekking pole talk. Your point has been made.

I disagree that using poles decreases a persons balance or proprioception. It would seem impossible to prove, but nice try.

Yes. Let's stay on topic. There are plenty of older thread about poles vs. no poles. It's one of those somewhat annoying "religious wars" that crops up from time to time :)

I have used carbon fibre poles and aluminium and have to admit that I have not noticed much difference. The CF poles where made by AlpKit and I have stopped using them. I found the build quality initially ok but over a year of hard use I found that they suffered more abrasion damage on the lower part and the baskets would just fall off. This along with having to re-attach the grips that came loose just annoyed to the point I got some replacements and have gone back to aluminium poles. One thing I liked was the lack of corrosion if I left them in the garage for while, but apart from that I don’t see anything different from the Black Diamond poles I have now got in use.

Those who claim no advantage of poles in hiking should learn to use them correctly follow this link for a bit of education

http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/poles.htm

One of the cons often claimed is the rather stupid claim that poles make it awkward to use a map or a camera. To gain an accurate bearing I find you need to stop and use the map in conjunction with the compass making sure to take the correct bearing. Walking at pace tends to make this awkward so I stop and don’t find it hard to slip my hands out of the pole grips and if you had PacerPoles this would be even faster than all of two seconds. On camera use again walking at pace tends to produce poor results so stopping again helps.

Other claimed cons are just lame except the need to use your hands on steep rocky sections that need scrambling up. Not a con is it just common sense to hold on or fall. There are no cons to trekking poles. Sure get the lightest poles you can afford but some like PacerPoles weigh more than some CF poles but have fantastic reviews of how good they are so the lightest may not be the best.

Safe hiking