Trekking Poles

Ryan, I won't go with out them anymore. When I started backpacking in the 1970s I tried one walking stick, then two. After many trips, stopped trying to get used to them or look cool, or what ever. I was in Boy Scouts and young and full of energy. I stopped backpacking in the 80s and just started again last year. My first hike was 9.4 miles in moderate terrain. Was very fun the first six miles. I got to mile four, ate lunch and wanted to get right back on the trail. Mile six came and I felt a very slight bit of pain in one knee. By the time we got back to the trail head three and a half painful miles later, I was suffering quite a bit. Would have been even worse if I hadn't borrowed my buddy's poles. I was still reluctant on my next hike and used them some and still didn't know if I truly wanted to give them a shot. Then I went to the REI used sale and bought a pair of REI Titinal trekking poles that were regular $100 for about $35. They have the twist locks that many say to stay away from. I can say that they have been nearly no trouble for me. I did six outings last year and had the lower portion slip maybe three or four times total. It never gave way all at once, but slowly and was never a problem except for stopping to adjust the offending pole. In contrast, the person I hike with had some Black Diamond carbon poles with the twist locks, and they continually slipped. He took them back. BTW, my poles have the shock absorbers. I think it just helps a bit to reduce, well, shock. Kinda like carbon poles are more comfortable.

You have had some good advice to buy cheap and try them out if your not sure. I know I'd never go back. They are a necessity now. I am 145 lb, fit, and 47 Y.O. I find they make it all much easier, less pain and more moving down the trail. Sometimes I feel a bit like I'm gliding when I'm in tune with my poles.

Finally, a friend mentioned PacerPoles to me. He spends a great deal of time in the wilderness, actuall lives there. The angled handles are supposed to be the trick. They aren't the most lightweight option, but maybe the most innovative. I think they are worth a look. I like the thought of really lightweight poles, but have good poles I'm quite satisfied with and so have never really done any research on the current state of trekking-pole technology. Good luck.

I ended up ordering the BD Ergo Cork poles (aluminum with flick locks, ok weight) on sale for a good price with an unlimited return policy if they break on me or I don't like them. I think I'll like having the lower foam grips for ascents, gives me some options. May get the LT4s in the future after using the BDs some. The PacerPoles look cool but don't think that steep of an angle would work for me or support a shelter well. Thanks for the input, it is much appreciated.

Got in a little late on this one, but I think your choice was a good one. Although I don't have experience with BD poles they should be plenty rugged for you to get some good experience using poles to see if you want to move on to something lighter.

Personally I went from Lekis to the LT4s. The Lekis were about bomb proof except for the twisting mechanism, which eventually failed all together on one pole thus rendering it useless. Going to LT4s was a bit "stressful" for me. I used to really ride my poles hard, and I had to change my style when I went to the LT4s for fear of breaking them. It turned out to be a good thing too because the hard use on the poles was beating my upper body up. I now just use my poles mainly for balance, and my upper body feels much better at the end of the day.

At any rate, I love the LT4s because of their lack of weight. You'd be surprised how fatigued ones arms can get after swinging heavy poles all day. As for durability, I probably have a cumulative 200 – 250 miles on mine so far, and there have been no issues. I have landed them hard when catching my balance in the middle of a fall, banged them against rocks, and actually fell on one. The one thing of note though as one other poster mentioned is that if you get the tip stuck and cantilever the pole against a rock or something it's probably going to break. I do not use wrist straps, and that has saved me a few times from snapping a pole (i.e. it was easy to let go of it in stride when that happened). I also use one pole for my shelter (DuoMid).

So anyway, there's my 2 cents on the LT4s if you ever consider going that route. I love 'em, and won't go back to heavier poles even if I break one. In the tradeoff between durability and weight, weight wins out on this one. Oh yeah, and for the record I am 6'-5" 200lbs, so I'm not a little dude.

>There are NO (as in ZERO) titanium trekking poles on the market.

Well, there are these now:

TiTo Ultra-light Adjustable Telescopic Titanium Alloy Alpenstocks Climbing Hiking Trekking Pole Walking Stick 3 Sections
http://s.aliexpress.com/AnUFn6Vf

Not that they make any sense at that price and weight, but there they are.

I have a pair of fairly old (almost 30 yr) Leki Makalu Ti that are all Ti and still perfectly serviceable. I used them a lot and they survived many awkward and stressful shock loading situations that would have almost certainly destroyed just about anything else. I had them out the other day while checking out some of my ‘loaner’ gear, and I extended them and rolled them over a table to see if they were bent at all — Nope!, still dead straight. The twist-cams were always hard to keep tight, but I wrapped some grippy stuff around the bottom of the pole sections so that I could really crank them down.

It is idiotic that the current Leki Ti poles have Ti uppers but the rest of the sections are Al — false advertising at its best!!

Those Chinese poles above are heavy if the 300g per pole number is correct. I am also a bit puzzled by the pole section diameters given as 16/14/12mm which makes no sense as it implies a wall thickness of 1mm, which is very thick for this application.

Oh well, maybe somebody will buy a set and test them.