Thread: Hiking poles, whos uses them?

I use them, especially for long trips with heavy packs. As said 2 can be a pain in thick bush, but the rest of the time they're great for reducing load and impact on the legs. My knees are solid downhill but I definitely go up hills with a heavy pack faster if I'm using granny poles, lets the arms do some work too.

I have a pair of macpac carbon fibre ones which weigh bugger all, they're tougher than I thought too - fell over once and sat sideways on one with the end stuck between rocks, felt it bend like a banana and it sprung straight again when I took the weight off it.

Make sure you get ones with external clamps for the telescoping adjustment, the twist-lock mechanicanisms you get on some poles are rubbish.

As far as pole height goes, set them so your elbows are at a right angle when the pole is on the ground and you'll be about right. Some people shorten them a bit for steep uphills and lengthen them a bit for steep downhills, but I don't really bother with that.