How many times have you seen hikers with poles and thought - kind of whimpy... I have. I am now a believer. I have changed my mind. But it didn't start that way.
Since I started to take hiking more seriously, I have thought about whether I wanted or needed poles. Knock on wood - I have never had any knee problems. The worst I have had was a sore IT Band from riding my road bike a bit hard early in the season. Nothing else. So I didn't think that I needed them for my knees. Even downhill has never been a problem. And I have managed to stay in good enough shape that I assumed that I didn't need them to help me to finish a hike.
All of this started to change during a recent trip to Sedona. I went to The Hike House to look at some new boots and to find a good trail. While trying on just about every pair of boots in the store, I chatted with the sales guy. He of course is a hiker, and maybe 25 years old. We were talking about my planned Rim-to-Rim hike. I asked him what he thought about poles. He said he use to think they were for whimps. But he no longer thinks that. He said they are a must for a hike like I was going to do. One guy's opinion.
After finding a pair of boots and socks and buying them (more on my boots in a future post), I headed across the walkway to their Energy Cafe, where they have maps, trail food and coffee:). I started talking to another guy about which hike I should take while in Sedona. He wanted to know how far I wanted to go. I was looking for a long and challenging hike, and he gave me one. To the highest point in Sedona, almost 19 miles and a couple thousand feet of elevation gain. But I digress. We started talking about the Rim-to-Rim hike. He has done it in a day - a number of times. He just smiled and said I would LOVE IT. I asked him what he thought about poles. He didn't hesitate. He said "you and your buddies have to use poles." He said we will need them. They will help on the downhill and we would be happy that we had them on the climb as well. Oh, and did I say he was in his mid to late 20's?!That pretty much clenched it. These guys were both young, fit and do a lot of hiking.
I asked for poles for my birthday and my son Nick got them for me. They are called Pacemaker Expedition. They are a pretty decent set. They are adjustable. They have an external lever locking mechanism. They are lightweight and have cork grips. And they do not have shock absorbers. If you are looking for more information on poles, REI has a good summary "Trekking Poles and Hiking Staffs: How to Choose." I have heard that poles are cheaper if you buy them at Sports Basement rather than REI, but I have not done the homework to know for sure.I have since used them a number of times to practice. I do think that they help on the downhill. I can feel my upper body taking on some of the load that my knees would otherwise. I am less convinced on the uphill. I feel like I get more tired. Kind of like doing the eliptical in the gym, where you work both your legs and arms. I read the article "Ten Reasons for Trekking Poles" where their comments support my experience.
The final clencher was my recent hike (Training #2 - Sanborn Skyline Park to Castle Rock State Park). They really helped Greg. He is in pretty good shape, but when his knees started to hurt, the poles helped him to make it down the hill.
I will not use my poles all of the time. But I will use them on long hikes, especially where there is a lot of elevation gain / loss - the Grand Canyon Rim-to-Rim for sure!
Good point - use them how they work best for you!
ReplyDeleteOK, a little behind here with a comment, but as Dale understated my knee were killing me going downhill on this . I've never really had any knee problems so I was really surprised that they bothered me so much. I ran a marathon last summer and had no knee issues at all (I had other, more troubling issues, but that is another story). After this hike I went out and bought poles. At first the big pole decision for me was shocks or no shocks. Hemmed and hawed for about two weeks, looked on-line but couldn't really decide. Finally went to Sports Basement thinking that since the poles with shocks were more expensive, they obviously must be better.....and walked out of Sports Basement with shockLESS poles. I ended up making the decision based on grip comfort. The poles without shocks just felt better. I used them on the Half Dome hike ( as Dale has posted more recently) and they were great! My approach to the downhill killer knee syndrome....pills and poles..... Aleve and poles. I think my decision to go shockless was the right one for me. I feel that I have a better feel for how "planted" my pole is before putting weight on it. And from an engineering point of view (occupational hazard) it takes less energy to use a shockless pole than a pole with shocks. Energy is wasted when you compress the shock.
ReplyDeleteThe poles I chose had clamp locks instead of twist locks. Be sure to bring a screw driver to adjust the clamping force of the clamps on your first serious downhill hike. My clamps felt pretty good when I was testing them out, but slipped going downhill on the Half Dome hike. Luckily there was a Swiss army knife in the group and I was able to tighten my clamps, they started slipping after an hour or so of steep downhill.
Great update Greg!
DeleteI used my poles today. Somewhere along the line the tip on the left (they are generic, just had it in my left hand) either wore out or broke. I now need to get some replacement parts.
Love the engineering comment - had not thought about wasted energy.