OT: Trekking Poles

I wouldn't be against trying some. I appreciate the voices of peace now entered. There really is no reason, as I said much earlier, for this Desert Loon to create too much of a stir in the minds of forumites happily treking along with high tech sticks.

When my son Carter was very young, perhaps one and half years old, I carried a red wagon across a 'raging' stream. I had my son strapped in a carseat on the ground, and he wasn't going anywhere. Still, as I crossed the stream again to fetch him, I felt a little guilty for risking him in the slight way. The stream was not too deep or fast for me to fish him out if for some reason he did fall out of the chair, and I would not let go of him. I knew some people would consider what I was doing crazy.

Anyway, on the other side I reassembled the child with seat onto the wagon, a Radio Flyer, strapping the two together. So I set out upon the wilderness trail in the Big Horns, the 41 Ruger Bisely strapped to my hip, and my friends Marine Panama campaign hat on my head, pulling the wagon behind me.

I made a couple miles, it was just an afternoon walk after all. There were roots and rocks and obtructions in the way, and the wagon made an awful racket. It was densely forested, in some places a tunnel. I had to lift boy and wagon many times. A pair of high tech hikers met us coming down the trail as we were coming up. I'll never forget their faces. Initially friendly upon seeing a person on the trail, they entered into a kind of shock as they took in the hogleg, babyboy, and red wagon.

How did this man and his child get here? What was going on?

Taking baby with me was the only way I could get out of the house and see the sights. If a couple treking poles enable a forumite to get going to the high country, and it works for him, it works for me.


munk
 
My "Walking Stick" is more than just something to help me walk with.
It being an extremely unusual piece of River Cane with exceptional length between its joint's I was also able to make an ndn Flute out of it too.
So in addition too the Physical Support it gives me it also provides Spiritual Support and comfort to me, as well as to others, or at least so they say; the ones that have heard it anyway.:) ;)

In spite of Hollow's nice comments about me being well preserved for my age, and thankfully I am I suppose,:D I still have a lot of physical issues.:rolleyes:
Lots of people don't think neither Barb or myself are nearly as old as we are.:cool:
In the pix that were taken at Gin's I was mostly fairly taxed out even if it isn't readily apparent.:grumpy:
I don't take the heat real well and when it's only mildly hot for others I am burning up.
But anyway one of my physical issues is that I have degenerative bone disease along with the -Systemic- adult onset of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and I have had the three carpal bones in my right wrist removed.
They were just flat ass worn out from 40 years of hard labor.
My walking stick does put a certain amount of strain on my wrist but it gets a whole lot more fatigued when I use a regualr cane. I'm sorta anal when it comes to how much work I subject my wrist's too as I really don't want to have my left one operated on and I damned sure don't want my right one fused solid.
Could be very detriminal in such mundane things as wiping one's self.:rolleyes: ;)
But with all that said the poles sound really interesting and now I'm wondering just how much stress they would subject my wrist's too?
I'm also always looking for different ways to help me regain/maintain my strength and I'm wondering if these might be beneficial for me.
What do y'all think?

When I'm walking far enough to use my rollator I generally find myself leaning on its handlebar's with my elbows to take the strain off my wrist's and arm's.
I can really get to moving with my rollator and can even run short distances with it; Barb says it -looks- funny though....
A disabled person running with their walking device.
Hell I bet I could go further if I were to jog with it rather than just walking.:D ;)
 
Arghh! More Polish Jokes, and i thought y'all were nice folks....;)

Anywho, if yer afraid of mountain lions, bears, trolls, etc., why not do the satori approach and get a nice 6-7 ft. spear. the originals tended to have a nice spike on the end, so a nice pointy carbide tip would not be amiss. makes a nice walking stick as well as an anti-badthing device. cover end with a nice camouflageing sheath when animal rightists, pro criminal, liberal nanny-staters & other 'oooh - you could poke somebodies eye out with that thing' ers are about. worked for leonidas, and also works for the masai....
 
Kampfjaeger's post influenced me, Yvsa. If I didn't have boys and a need of a free hand, and when and if my own back disks get worse, I might try a pair of these sticks too.

If the sticks could do for you what they did for Kampfjaeger, then beauty is as beauty does.



munk
 
I use poles when hiking in the mountains - for the descent. I do not like them on the ascent as they tend to get in the way. I use Leki telescope poles that are lightweight and short enough to be packed onto the rucksack. I had some problems with the left heel - and solved it by using the poles. Guns or dangerous animals are not a topic over here, so I use the poles with straps if I want to go fast - and without on my way down the mountain ( I use the end-plate of the pole in the palm sometimes too).
I came to use them as I enjoy cross-country skiing very much and wanted to try the concept in the alps. It works and yes, you can gain more speed from them if you are in a hurry

We have some "Nordic Walkers" in this country that also want to use their lightweight sticks as trecking poles in the mountains. The cheaper ones tend to break under higher pressure or lateral stress - resulting in awful wounds when the tourist impales himself on the broken pole. I have a good friend who works with a mountain rescue unit and he had some accidents of this kind this spring already.

Andreas
 
for you pole users:

Do you hike cross country?
What happens to your poles in thick timber or brush?
What about the ledges, berms, and other frequent physical features off trail where you need a hand or both?
What happens to your poles in mud or deep sand?

thanks,

munk
 
munk said:
for you pole users:

1. Do you hike cross country?
2. What happens to your poles in thick timber or brush?
3. What about the ledges, berms, and other frequent physical features off trail where you need a hand or both?
4. What happens to your poles in mud or deep sand?

munk
Click to expand...

ad 1: If cross country is without ways or paths - no, the trails (if there are any) are too narrow. As I said I use mine mainly in the alps where you are supposed to stay on the routes
ad 2: they would get in the way - so they are strapped on the backpack (or if it has to be the fast way, I push the segments together and stick the poles between the rucksack and my back - the ruck has a ventilated back that leaves space for this)
ad 3: see ad 2
ad 4. They get dirty :D but they work great in sand or mud because they stabilize you to the side, take pressure from your feet and have a plate 2 inches over the tip that prevents them from sinking into the mud or sand. I used them for "Nordic Running" (about 15 kilometers) one time on the shores of the North Sea (surrounded the Spiekeroog Island - beautiful) - worked well, gives speed and is quite a workout as the arms and breast muscles get involved during running...

Andreas
 
Thank you, Andreas. I thought the poles would be problematic in cross country without a trail.

My wife has bad knees, and she only really walks on trails and mining roads. I'm thinking of getting her a set of sticks. Do these sticks telescope to the users preferred length? She is 5'6". What sticks would be best for her?



munk
 
munk said:
Thank you, Andreas. I thought the poles would be problematic in cross country without a trail.

My wife has bad knees, and she only really walks on trails and mining roads. I'm thinking of getting her a set of sticks. Do these sticks telescope to the users preferred length? She is 5'6". What sticks would be best for her?
munk
Click to expand...

I use and recommend these:

Leki Makalu

or if you want them "antishock" (I do not like it, I seem to have less coordination with antishock-poles)

Leki Makalu Antishock

yes, they telescope to the preferred lengh. I use them as long as my shoulder is high or a bit less. (like cross-country-sticks/pole(?)) so the contact to the ground is prolonged and the movement comes out of the shoulder.
For paved roads Leki has rubber-somethings for the tips to prolong the contact to the road and stop the click-clacking...

Andreas
 
I've been looking all over the web. There are many models.

I think this is a good bet for my wife. I'd like to get her an anniversary gift. She can't go out with the boys and I because of her knees. These poles would be great. ( and I could sneak a try as long as Hollowdweller doesn't find out!)

I'm just afraid she'll go for shocks because in theory less impact to her body. IN practise, I'm afraid she might find them unstable. She's not a Mountain goat.

Can the shock effect be turned off?

munk
 
munk said:
Can the shock effect be turned off?

munk
Click to expand...
or dialed in for the user like in a good mountain bike shock?

That would make for a fine trekking pole on a variety of terrain I think. Might push the price up higher than its worth though, I do not know.
 
Good info here, I am going to be climbing Kilimajaro in early September with a mixed team of blind and sighted climbers and we will be using double poles. I hadn't heard much about this before and wasn't sure if it was primarily an adaption for the blind (myself being one of them) climbers or a more effective technique for everyone. I am looking forward to trying them out, we aen't carry expedition packs just daypacks but baed on the comments here it sounds like they will be a great bennifit to the steep up and down on trail hiking that we will do.
 
alright, the Makula shocks can be turned off. There's three settings of force, too.
There's only about 50 different makes and models out there.

When I type Treking Poles into the Yahoo search, the first two hits are very good. One is trekpoles.com and the other is a comparative price shopper.

Now I have to figure out if my wife will want the cork or the lighter rubber material.

munk

edit- there's not 3 resistance settings as I reported. The folks at trekpoles.com were helpful.
 
munk said:
Wow. Kilimajaro. Congratulations.
munk
Click to expand...


Congrats from here too, edgetrip - I have a friend who climbed this mountain which he called the mountain that used to be Germany´s highest one (until 1918, when the Kaiser´s colonies that had been defeated by the British earlier in the war were taken away from Germany - talk about early decolonization...)

Andreas
 
Thanks guys, it is gonna be an awesome trip and a good excuse to pick up some new blades and poles and various other cool stuff. Not to mention a fun place to put some knives to a good work out for review purposes. I don't think I am gonna bring a kukri on this one though;-)>
 
Hi Munk! Glad to hear that you'll give the TPoles a try. :) They've been a real boon to me on the trail. As for the kind of trail/off-trail experience I have with them... Mostly on-trail. I do my hiking up in the New England region - predominately the White Mountains. The terrain is ROCKY and STEEP. Though my hiking has been fairly restricted to the trails, they are still plenty challenging. There are fields of boulders (just large, not gargantuan) to hike across on loooong stretches of the trail. And to put the cherry on the sundae, they are spaced often far enough apart to make it so that you need to clamber up and over these individually. Either that or I am stretching to step from the top of one to the other. I have found that using my poles has helped me in navigating my way across these stretches. Also they have come in quite handy when fording rivers. "4 legs" are just steadier.

Enjoy the testing. I'll be interested to see what you think of them. Just one thing I would warn/advise. The carbide tips are great and really durable. However, I have noticed that many of the rocks on these trails are heavily scored by carbide tipped poles. If you happen to be hiking somewhere sensitive, you might consider either being very careful of where you plant your poles as you walk, or get some rubber tips to cover the carbide. They won't ding up the rocks. Eh... It all falls under the "take only photos and leave no trace" philosophy.
 
Kampf;

There are few to no hiking trails here in my area of Montana, and I will not see any scored rocks. I took the plunge today and got a pair for my wife. She has bad knees and can't go with us. I'm hoping now she can. When the family's together, we try to stay to easy stuff anyway. (though some perhaps would not call 'easy' the places we go.) There are some mining roads, which are very similar to a hiking trail, and the poles should work great.

Your post earlier turned me around- if my wife can go with us because of them, that would be fantastic.

As Andreas commented, I still don't see as much use cross country as just my own two feet and perhaps a single staff. You have to climb things, raise up, lower down, go through thickets, timber, etc. But I'll try them. I can tell Yvsa what I think then too. Maybe these poles will be a Godsend to him also.


thanks,
munk
 
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