One More Reason I Don’t Like Trekking Poles :)

/me goes to dig through the gear bin for those snow baskets

lol.

The one pole (adjustable staff) I carry always has a rubber boot.

I suppose if this guy had been using the straps this may not have happened. Dunno. But as much as I dislike using two poles (except snowshoeing/skiing) I dislike using straps even more :)

Regardless, it’s pretty impressive he kept his wits and walked out over 10 miles.

Freaky!

The warden for the West Coast Trail claimed that many of the medical evacuations there are for dislocated shoulders when people fall with heavy packs while wearing pole straps.

That could have been fatal. The guy has guts to walk 10 miles impaled through and through with a hiking pole.

As a former XC ski patroller and racer I always use two hiking poles WITH properly set up straps. So far so very good in 25 years of using them.

No straps on hiking poles is silly gram counting v.s. truly using the poles to their best advantages going up as well as down. But you need to know how to properly set the straps up and properly utilize them.

And then of course there is the fact I use both my poles to set up my Tarptent NOTCH Li. solo tent, handles up in Henry Shires’ clever handle pockets.

Having done the WCT 9 times and most recently this May, the biggest reason isn’t using trekking poles.  It’s that at least 50% of hikers pack much MUCH too heavy for this trail, underestimate the conditions and terrain, and have never hiked before.  I was stunned at even the physical condition of a lot of hikers this year and I am almost 60.

That looks painful Brad!

I actually cut the straps off my trekking poles for fear of a potential wrist issue…efficiency be darned.

David, same on LaCloche.  I saw a guy chopper lifted off with what looked like a 60 or 70 lb pack.  He was big dude but out of shape and new to it and the combo got him injured

It’s the combination of excess pack weight, inexperience and then the straps (probably used incorrectly) leading to those particular injuries

Congrats on wct 9 times, not an easy route to get onto

I don’t use straps except for hanging my backpack off in my trekking pole tent vestibule.  Keeps it out of the ground water or worse of the rain splashback and makes it less of an easy quick hit for mice

Hi David U, back around 1976 I started experimenting backpacking with ski poles. There was no such thing as “trekking poles” then (the odd looks on trail were pretty funny). To my mind it just seemed like they might be a good idea. I used them for about a year and ended up deciding I didn’t like the experience of having something in each hand so went back to a single staff or cane.

I own a variety of trekking poles, but still genuinely dislike (despise more like lol) them except for XC-Skiing, snowshoeing and packing out obscenely heavy loads of dead elk. I don’t think I’m alone in my distaste for trekking poles. But they are de rigueur and there’s likely no point trying to talk people out of what most perceive as a benefit.

OTOH, my wife loves them, and obviously she is not alone. I think it’s nuts to hike without a minimum of a “3rd point of contact” so I’d always advocate for trekking poles over nothing at all.

When I do use poles I don’t use straps. Not because of some gram weenie aversion, but rather because I can’t stand the restriction. Skiing yes, everything else no.

I am tempted to go down to one pole for occasional use but I have been using dual trekking poles tents for so long.  Admittedly, the poles sometimes stay attached to my pack straps😂.

I cannot fathom how this could have possibly happened. I just don’t know what he was doing! If you fall forward, how could you be impaled by the tips which are behind you? I have managed to trip over a pole, but only once. I guess they do take a little practice.

I cannot fathom how this could have possibly happened.

It was a million to one shot doc. (From the “Assman” Seinfeld episode.)

I have a pair of 16yr old Black Diamond Ultra Long Distance poles that combined are 246 grams. I used them for my visit to the English Lake District National Park and Helvellyn and I was comfortable with them. Any heavier and I don’t bother. I just don’t like hanging on to something if it has any weight to it (strong hands so that’s not the issue).

@David U. I totally agree on how poorly conditioned many backpackers are.
I even saw a senior backpacker (EVERY bit of his gear was brand new) get air lifted out of a backcountry Yosemite trail in a Stokes litter at the end of a 50 foot cable. Heart attack. He looked just like Col. Morton and likely DID have a few too many KFC baskets in the years prior to this backpack.