[pct-l] ski poles as trekking poles?

[m_factor at hotmail.com (Mara Factor)]

Hi Josh,

For a buck, try out the thrift store poles.  As Monty has suggested, the 
tips aren't as good for hiking as hiking pole tips, but if you've never used 
poles, they could be good to practice with.

Make sure the poles have straps and find someone who knows how to use them 
properly.  Have them show you.  The proper use of straps can make a huge 
difference in how tired your hands get.  Using the straps means you do not 
have to grip your poles tightly in order to put weight on them.  The straps 
aren't there just to prevent you from losing the poles if you let go.

Also, make sure the poles are the right length.  A couple of advantages of 
adjustable poles is that you can shorten them for going up hills and 
lengthen them for going down hills.  Most long-distance hikers, I suspect, 
just find a happy medium and don't bother with constant adjustments.  A good 
length to start with would be just long enough so that when grippiong the 
poles, if your upper arms are hanging at your sides, your forearms should be 
bent at a 90 degree angle so that they're parallel to the ground.

One more advantage to adjustable poles, they may give you more flexibility 
with shelter options as many lightweight tents/tarps/etc now use hiking 
poles to support the structure.  They also collapse and are much more 
packable than ski poles.

Check out my web site for more on poles:

http://friends.backcountry.net/m_factor/poles.html

and another link to Pete's Poles page:

http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/poles.htm

Pete's page has a lot of great information including pictures on how to use 
the straps.

It takes a bit of work to get used to using poles.  They don't weigh much 
but your arms really aren't used to carrying the extra weight.  If you find 
them useful after a while, you can then decide whether they are good enough 
or if you might want to get true hiking poles.  You may also find that you 
can replace just the tips with hiking pole tips.  Replacement tips are 
readily available so the question will be weather the hiking pole tips will 
fiti onto the ski pole tubing.

Happy Hiking,

Mara

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Visit my Travels and Trails web site at:

http://friends.backcountry.net/m_factor
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>From: "josh brown" <veganboyjosh@hotmail.com>
>To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
>Subject: [pct-l] ski poles as trekking poles?
>Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2005 00:38:21 -0800
>
>... i'm wondering if anyone has used ski poles (modified or not) as hiking 
>poles. a local thrift store has some for a dollar per pair, and it's 
>totally worth it for me to try this out.
...