Treking Pole Length advice

[Christopher May]

I have never used treking poles and am going to purchase some for the first time. I am going to go with the lighttrek fixed poles from Gossamer gear. When I measure from the floor to just above the top of my hand with elbow by my side and forearm parallel to the floor I get 110cm poles. The ideal pole length for use with the new tent I will be getting is 115cm. This is about 2″ longer.
Some say to get poles a little longer and angle them as you climb upward. Is the extra two inches going to work ok or should I stick with the 110cm length and use a rock to make up the difference in the pole length needed for the tent?

[EndoftheTrail]

So the length from floor to just above the top of your hand with your elbow parallel to the floor is 110 cm. Then the pole itself should be “a tad” longer to account for the top part of the pole handle that protrudes from your hand, correct? Accounting for that, then I think a mere 2.5cm (1″) or so difference is close enough for it to serve as your tent pole as well.

I think it’s more important that the pole length tailors to you rather than to your tent. In any case, you can always find something to place under the pole if need be for tent setup.

Obviously, you should discuss this with Gossamer before ordering — just to be sure.

[Mark]

Christopher: For your reference, I ordered 120cm poles from GG. Mine are actually a total length of 48 3/4in or 123.8cm. So I got about 1.5in of “bonus” length from the handles and tips, and you probably will too. I suspect your poles will work out just fine, but I’m not sure what updates have been made to recent models. I agree you may want to still talk it over with Glen; he’s a huge help.

Also, if you let us know what tent you’ll be using the poles with, another poster might be able to offer you some good suggestions to adapt for camping.
-Mark

[Jean-Philippe Cyr]

Did you ever look/think at the Komperdell Duolock Carbon for Men’s (145 cm) or Women’s (shorter 115 cm)?

It is the lightest (only 175g men’s version – 166g women
s version | the pair), more compact, more durable trekking poles I ever use.

If you are looking for an even lighter version (but lest compact) look for the Komperdell Carbon Tour Duolock – 145g.

[EndoftheTrail]

What’s with all these metric measurements???

Anyway, the Gossamer Lightrek poles that Christopher referred to above are much lighter — just 4.2 oz or 119 grams a pair.

But Christopher, since this will be your first pair of trekking poles, be mindful that if you ever plan to travel by air to hike different parts of the country, these fixed length / fragile poles are a pain to travel with! Just a little unsolicited food for thought.

[Richard Nelridge]

Ben,

That is true about travel, but Gossamer Gear has the cardboard tube available so that you can ship them on an airplane. Of course, there is some concern about baggage handlers mishandling the tube and loosing the package.

Rich

[EndoftheTrail]

Yes, one can put the poles in a long cardboard tube and check it in for the flight. But once you’ve arrived, it’s impractical to carry the tube with you on your hikes… and if you throw the tube away, then you’ll have to get another one for the return flight!

Not a huge problem, but still a hassle to deal with.

[Author]

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