Sergemaster
03-27-2011, 05:07 PM
Well yesterday I decided to give my gf's hiking poles a try so I thought I would post my experience for anyone who may be sitting on the fence about acquiring a pair for themselves since these seems to be all the rage by the amount seen being used on the trail.
Well the hike I undertook was a gigantic loop that goes 500 feet down to the Hudson river and travels along it's shore for several miles then goes back up and continues along some of the most jagged cliffs you could imagine but the views are spectacular.
The pair of sticks I was using were made by Leki, and one thing I noticed off hand was just how cumbersome it was to get the rhythm down of placing one stick down as one foot hits the ground and so on. Unless you're a skier and familiar with the use of poles, one can easily find themselves in one of those rubbing your belly and rubbing the top of your head scenarios at the same time, which when your trying to make good time on the trail can become quite annoying quickly.
Also when I ran into rocky terrain, I found the sticks were pretty much useless since they would slide or bounce off any hard surface they would encounter. That alone slowed my usual time since I had to visually check each footstep a little more closer than usual.
Another issue I ran into was that I noticed that my hiking sticks soon took the place of a trash pole, since as it would penetrate leaves or any other material it would remain stuck to the stick so that was slightly annoying.
Lastly as I used the sticks, I found that they would vibrate audibly with each strike and although I had set them for my height and locked them tight, on more than one occasion I found that they would unlock and collapse themselves leaving me with sticks of different sizes, not a good thing.
On a positive note, I will say that they did make my ascent much easier than usual, but then again, my Hickory staff did the job just as well.
In conclusion, I would say that at least for me, I will remain with a wooden staff than to upgrade and switch to hiking poles.
Cheers,
Serge
Well the hike I undertook was a gigantic loop that goes 500 feet down to the Hudson river and travels along it's shore for several miles then goes back up and continues along some of the most jagged cliffs you could imagine but the views are spectacular.
The pair of sticks I was using were made by Leki, and one thing I noticed off hand was just how cumbersome it was to get the rhythm down of placing one stick down as one foot hits the ground and so on. Unless you're a skier and familiar with the use of poles, one can easily find themselves in one of those rubbing your belly and rubbing the top of your head scenarios at the same time, which when your trying to make good time on the trail can become quite annoying quickly.
Also when I ran into rocky terrain, I found the sticks were pretty much useless since they would slide or bounce off any hard surface they would encounter. That alone slowed my usual time since I had to visually check each footstep a little more closer than usual.
Another issue I ran into was that I noticed that my hiking sticks soon took the place of a trash pole, since as it would penetrate leaves or any other material it would remain stuck to the stick so that was slightly annoying.
Lastly as I used the sticks, I found that they would vibrate audibly with each strike and although I had set them for my height and locked them tight, on more than one occasion I found that they would unlock and collapse themselves leaving me with sticks of different sizes, not a good thing.
On a positive note, I will say that they did make my ascent much easier than usual, but then again, my Hickory staff did the job just as well.
In conclusion, I would say that at least for me, I will remain with a wooden staff than to upgrade and switch to hiking poles.
Cheers,
Serge