HIKING POLE
BEST FOR HIKING / CAMPING / TREKKING
WHY USE WALKING POLES?
Before we get into how to use your walking poles, you might be wondering why you should use them at all. Are they just extra gear to carry? Turns out there are many ways walking poles (aka trekking or hiking poles) help you hike safer, faster and farther.
1. MOVING FASTER UPHILL & ON THE FLATS
Trekking poles help you go faster on flat ground and going uphill. They let you use your arms to push forward, giving your legs a bit of a break. You’ll be able to hike farther since your legs are doing less work. Also, you’ll find you can go faster over the same distance.
2. SLOWING YOUR DESCENTS
Going down steep hills, especially with tired legs or a heavy backpack puts a lot of stress on your knees and ankles. Over a long hike, that’s a lot of pounding on your joints. Leaning on walking poles going downhill reduces some of that wear and tear.
3. BALANCE IN TECHNICAL TERRAIN
Walking poles are like an extendable arm helping you balance in complicated terrain. If the trail is very rocky or muddy you can use the poles as two more points of contact with the ground. This will help you stay upright and not face down in the mud. If one foot slips, there are still three points to keep you standing.
4. MANY OTHER USES
Walking poles have many other uses you’ll see on the trail. They can clear stinging nettles or poison ivy off the trail, be a monopod for your camera, make you look larger for scaring away animals or hold up a tarp for overnight shelters. Richard Ayres, International Mountain Leader and physiology teacher, adds that poles “also help in keeping your body posture more upright, which aids breathing – a useful aid to acclimatization at altitude.”
HOW TO USE YOUR HIKING POLES
Here’s how to use walking poles most efficiently.
1. WALKING ON FLAT GROUND
Standing on flat ground, you’ll have your arms at 90 degrees. Every step you take you’ll swing your arms just like you naturally do walking. Step with your left foot forward and swing your right arm forward. If you want, just start by holding the poles in your arms and watch how your arms swing when you walk.
Swing the pole forward, plant the tip in the ground and push off the ground when you step past it. The main idea is to push yourself forward with the poles, one side at a time.
If you come to a large log or rock to step over you can try planting both trekking poles up where you are going and pulling yourself up. Sometimes having one up to pull and one down to push works well.
When you pick up the pole to swing it forward for the next step, try to keep it as low as possible, just above the ground. The higher you lift the pole, the more energy you are using. If the trail is clear, you only need to lift the pole a couple inches and let it swing forward.
Keep a loose grip on the handle. Using the strap properly will help with this. Try holding the pole with only your thumb and index finger to practice a light grip. Holding the handle too tight won’t break anything, it’ll just use extra energy.
As you’re walking, make sure the tip of the pole doesn’t get caught in between two rocks or boards in a boardwalk. If the tip is caught and you pull forward, it could bend or break. If this happens, let the pole go back to the same angle it got caught and pull straight out.
2. GOING UPHILL
Shorten your poles when going uphill. Since the ground in front of you is higher than where your feet are, you don’t need the poles to be as long. Your arms will get tired reaching too high.
If the uphill section is short, you could just ignore it. Adjusting the height of your poles might take a couple minutes and you’ll just be back on a flat section again anyways.
An alternative to unlocking and re-locking the poles at a shorter length is to take your hands out of the straps and grip it below the handle. You don’t have to stop to change the lengths and you get a shorter pole.
3. GOING DOWNHILL
Just the opposite of going uphill, adjust your poles to be longer when going downhill. You can also hold the poles on the top of the handles for negotiating steeper sections. Test the placement of your pole is secure before putting your weight on it.
4. SIDEHILLING
Sidehilling, or contouring, is when you hike across a hill. One side will be higher than the other. Adjust the uphill pole to be shorter than the downhill pole. For lesser angles, just grab the pole below the handle. If you are switchbacking up a hill back and forth, just switch hands with the poles as you turn back and forth to save time.
5. TESTING TERRAIN
Walking poles are useful as an extension to your arm. You can test rocks to see if they move before stepping or mud pits to see how deep they are. I’ve had rude surprises stepping into what I thought was a couple inches of mud when it was actually more than a foot deep. Mud or snow baskets will prevent the pole from sinking too deep.
