A quick question re walking poles.

WheresThePath.com said:

My question is, is it worth splashing out on a pair of shiny Leki or
similar poles or just getting some inexpensive poles

At the end of the day they're just sticks. Lekis score in that they'll
probably last longer and the strap interface will probably be more
comfortable, which does mean more comfort though not necessarily to the
degree where you'll be bothered much. Cheap ones are certainly quite
adequate for the job.

Quoted message said:

and what are
peoples feeling re anti-shock systems, etc?

IMHO not worth it. It's a carry over from Serious alpine skiing where
you have to get your whole weight off your skis *Right Now!* at a
several of miles an hour, where it's not unreasonable to bang your stick
down rather hard to avoid being an integral part of a tree. But there
isn't any need for that sort of rush in walking, and I've yet to see an
orthopedic walking stick with a shock absorber which I think is a hint
that if people needing sticks to walk, often because of bad joints,
including in their arms, don't bother with them then you probably don't
need to either.

Similarly. cork grips and "positive angle" grips are fairly moot, since
if you're using the poles through the straps then it doesn't make any
real difference at all. An exception to this for the Pacer Pole which
has a far more shaped grip designed specifically for walking, rather
than just fiddling about with a stick. But they're not cheap, and in
/most/ cases not necessary.

Quoted message said:

Any walking pole related advise would be appreciated.

For some technique pointers try
http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/poles.htm

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

I was initially against buying poles but now I wouldn't do without
them. They have various advantages in addition to taking some of the
pressure off you legs.
Checking the depth of the bog.
Assist in river crossings etc.
I also use them to propel myself uphill faster.

I had antishock Lekis but one broke so I went for a chepaer Leki pole
so I now walk with one of each. I don't notice any difference. One
has a cork handle but again I don't notice any difference.

A couple of disadvantages are that:
you can't walk holding your map
your hands get colder being stuck out in front.

I would ensure that you get a set of poles that collapse as small as
possible. When walking ridges and storing your poles on your sack you
don't want them sticking up away above your sack and colliding with
rocks. This is a problem on underhangs and similar.

Lindsay
www.caledoniahilltreks.com

WheresThePath.com schrieb:

Quoted message said:

on the 2nd
day I cut myself a hazel staff to take some of the load (and to prod
things with)

Cut another one. Cheaper. It's not worth the money to by some poles.

Walter
--
Warum es gut ist, ein Mann zu sein:
In der Werkstatt gehört dir alles.

WheresThePath.com wrote:
[snip]

Quoted message said:

However on a recent 5 day trip to the South West Coast Path on the 2nd
day I cut myself a hazel staff to take some of the load (and to prod
things with) and found that my left knee survived much better than on
previous trips despite this being one of the more strenuous sections.
Therefore by deduction two walking poles should relieve some of the
stress on both knees.

My question is, is it worth splashing out on a pair of shiny Leki or
similar poles or just getting some inexpensive poles, and what are
peoples feeling re anti-shock systems, etc?

Any walking pole related advise would be appreciated.

[snip]

A good stick is about as good as anything. The fancier
ones have other benefits, mostly being things like being able
to pack them, sticking them in the pack during road walks,
that kind of thing. I don't find the shock absorption systems
to be worth it. Poles have their greatest usage on uneven ground,
or in and around water and wet. A bit of a confidence builder on
steep ascents or descents as well. Only once have I really wanted
2 of them. Generally, one serves most purposes.

Quoted message said:

Generally, one serves most purposes.

Though rather tellingly /not/ the purpose of taking the strain off
*both* your knees at each step.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

WheresThePath.com wrote:
[snip]

Quoted message said:

However on a recent 5 day trip to the South West Coast Path on the 2nd
day I cut myself a hazel staff to take some of the load (and to prod
things with) and found that my left knee survived much better than on
previous trips despite this being one of the more strenuous sections.
Therefore by deduction two walking poles should relieve some of the
stress on both knees.

My question is, is it worth splashing out on a pair of shiny Leki or
similar poles or just getting some inexpensive poles, and what are
peoples feeling re anti-shock systems, etc?

Any walking pole related advise would be appreciated.

[snip]

A good stick is about as good as anything. The fancier
ones have other benefits, mostly being things like being able
to pack them, sticking them in the pack during road walks,
that kind of thing. I don't find the shock absorption systems
to be worth it. Poles have their greatest usage on uneven ground,
or in and around water and wet. A bit of a confidence builder on
steep ascents or descents as well. Only once have I really wanted
2 of them. Generally, one serves most purposes.

Actually, one little known use of collapsible walking sticks is as
projectiles. Collapse a walking stick and without tightening it up swing it
VERY rapidly towards your walking companion, you will find that a section of
the stick will quit accurately lodge itself in said companions head. You and
your companion can both tjen sue the stick manufacturer for not having
placed a written warning about the hazard...

Peter Clinch said:

Quoted message said:

Generally, one serves most purposes.

Though rather tellingly /not/ the purpose of taking the strain off
*both* your knees at each step.

Exactly. Only using one is a lop sided way of providing support. Two poles
are much greater than the sum of their parts. Constant support, good
rhythm. Always used to suffer with knee problems. One walking stick
helped, then one pole, but only when I started using two did my knee
problems disappear completely.

Paul

Walter Janné said:

Quoted message said:

I cut myself a hazel staff

Cut another one. Cheaper.

But much heavier and they don't pack down well.

Quoted message said:

It's not worth the money to by some poles.

£6.99 for a pair from Lidl. You need to keep an eye out for these offers.

Paul

Another use which I didn't mention is that I see they can be used as
tent poles as well cutting down on the weight of your pack when
backpacking. Not sure how good they are for this purpose though.

Lindsay
www.caledoniahilltreks.com

WheresThePath.com said:

My question is, is it worth splashing out on a pair of shiny Leki or
similar poles or just getting some inexpensive poles,

No, cheap ones are fine.

Quoted message said:

and what are
peoples feeling re anti-shock systems, etc?

Complete waste of time. I try to keep mine turned off, but they keep
switching back on.

Quoted message said:

Any walking pole related advise would be appreciated.

I favour the ones with cork handles, for two reasons.

1. Although it can be argued that they make no difference when using them
properly, i.e. using the wrist straps, the rounded cork handles are more
versatile. Sometimes I like to use them short and lean down on the handles,
if you see what I mean. When going downhill, leaning on the handles gives
them extra reach. Good for contouring too, using one normally with the
wrist strap and the other using the other technique for extra reach.
Basically it means that I don't have to keep adjusting the length for
different slope conditions.

2. They screw off and provide a screw thread for a camera, thus turning
them into useful monopods. I once shot a scene with three cameras, one
around my neck and the two others on the pole-pods, jammed into the ground,
making it easy to switch between the three.

Paul

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 15:10:33 -0000, "Paul Saunders"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

| Walter Janné wrote:
|
| >> I cut myself a hazel staff
| >
| > Cut another one. Cheaper.
|
| But much heavier and they don't pack down well.
|
| > It's not worth the money to by some poles.
|
| £6.99 for a pair from Lidl. You need to keep an eye out for these offers.

Actually both Junes Lidl poles and my oak thumbsticks weigh about
12oz/350g each. Titanium ones weigh about half that. Agreed that
my thumsticks do not pack well/at all, but they are *much* stronger,
they will take my whole weight. They were also hardly free if I take
into account the time taken to make them.
--
Dave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk> Sick of Premium SMS scams,
SMS marketing, Direct marketing phone calls, Silent phone calls?
Register with http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/
IME they work :-)

Lindsay said:

Another use which I didn't mention is that I see they can be used as
tent poles as well cutting down on the weight of your pack when
backpacking. Not sure how good they are for this purpose though.

In conjunction with a basha, some guylines and a few pegs, they can be
extremely versatile in helping to construct different types of shelters in
different situations, far more so than a tent.

Having said that though, it needs to be a pretty light basha. Lightweight
tents can be extremely light these days.

Paul

Dave Fawthrop said:

Actually both Junes Lidl poles and my oak thumbsticks weigh about
12oz/350g each.

Clearly the sticks I've cut in the past have been somewhat larger than
yours!

Quoted message said:

Titanium ones weigh about half that. Agreed that
my thumsticks do not pack well/at all, but they are *much* stronger,
they will take my whole weight.

So will my poles, I've never had any problems leaning my full weight onto
them, including backpack.

Quoted message said:

They were also hardly free if I take
into account the time taken to make them.

Good fun making them though, especially around a wild campfire.

Paul

Paul Saunders said:

I favour the ones with cork handles, for two reasons.

1. Although it can be argued that they make no difference when using them
properly, i.e. using the wrist straps, the rounded cork handles are more
versatile. Sometimes I like to use them short and lean down on the handles,
if you see what I mean.

There's nothing about cork intrinsic to being able to do that though. I
do it using the plastic handles on my BDs and the leather grips on my
Swix touring poles. It's easier with the BDs as the top is flatter.

Quoted message said:

2. They screw off and provide a screw thread for a camera

Again, there's nothing intrinsic to a cork handle about having a monopod
thread, so if you want to take steady pictures look for "camera adapter"
or similar, rather than "cork handles".

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 15:32:35 -0000, "Paul Saunders"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

| Dave Fawthrop wrote:
|
| > Actually both Junes Lidl poles and my oak thumbsticks weigh about
| > 12oz/350g each.
|
| Clearly the sticks I've cut in the past have been somewhat larger than
| yours!

I used a surform tool to reduce the diameter and weight.
--
Dave Fawthrop <dave hyphenologist co uk> Sick of Premium SMS scams,
SMS marketing, Direct marketing phone calls, Silent phone calls?
Register with http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/
IME they work :-)

Peter Clinch said:

There's nothing about cork intrinsic to being able to do that though.
I do it using the plastic handles on my BDs and the leather grips on
my Swix touring poles. It's easier with the BDs as the top is
flatter.

I still prefer the round shape of the cork handles for that though.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

2. They screw off and provide a screw thread for a camera

Again, there's nothing intrinsic to a cork handle about having a
monopod thread, so if you want to take steady pictures look for
"camera adapter" or similar, rather than "cork handles".

Didn't know that, only ones I've seen were cork.

Paul

WheresThePath.com said:

Any walking pole related advise would be appreciated.

One of my local shops lent me an old pair of poles just to try them
out. I went over Catstye Cam, Helvellyn, Stybarrow Dodd and Sheffield
Pike. I was very impressed with the help I got from them up the NW
ridge of Catstye Cam and the confidence they gave me to descend from
Sheffield Pike. I bought a pair of Flick-Locks the following day. Now
I don't go out without them and only put them away for flat sections,
slight downhill slopes and scrambles.

John D.
--
John Dawson at home in Kendal, Cumbria.
Lake District Walks Web Pages http://www.lakedistrictwalks.com/
Kilimanjaro trip at http://www.lakedistrictwalks.com/kilimanjaro/
Egypt trip at http://www.lakedistrictwalks.com/egypt/

Paul Saunders said:

I still prefer the round shape of the cork handles for that though.

Again, a particular design shape specific thing and not a cork specific
thing. Swix make poles with quite angular cork grips, for example.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Paul Saunders said:

I still prefer the round shape of the cork handles for that though.

Again, a particular design shape specific thing and not a cork specific
thing. Swix make poles with quite angular cork grips, for example.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/