On Aug 25, 4:04=A0pm, Siskuwihane <Siskuwiha...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Do you use them? Only one or a pair? Purchased or home made? Wood or
> metal? Do you just pick up a stick along the way?
>
> Mine is purchased, aluminum and only used occasionally in the warmer
> months, always used in winter. Just curious what others use =A0(or
> don't).
My pole is a snowshoe pole that lost the flange. It's in it's 5th
year of service, and has gone at least 1000 km. It's Aluminum,
and telscopes. Not the most expensive possible, but not the
cheapest either. Not the lightests, but not the heaviest.
Works in my luggage, though I put a plastic bag over the tip
to keep it from getting stuff dirty in my case.
I lost the flange on a snowshoe trip. I spent 3/4 of an hour
hunting for that flange in a bunch of rocks. By that point I
was starting to get cold, so I had to leave it.
It's got a strap on it that lets me put most of the weight on
my wrist. This means I only have to grip it hard enough to
point it where I want it. It's quite light compared to a wooden
pole the same length. Though I have to be careful about
getting it pinched in rocks and bending it, as I think that
would probably ruin it.
The rougher the trail, the more I want my pole. The more mud,
rocks, logs to step over, etc. the more I want it. I use it mostly
for balance on tricky spots. I also use it to test out the footing
on really difficult spots. Consider a place where the trail is
going down steep rocks and I have to get my foot down some
distance and onto a rock I can only just see over other rocks.
I use the pole to reach down and test it to see if it is stable
as it looks, and how slippery it is.
The pole is very useful crossing small streams, testing how
deep mud is, pu****ng back the lighter undergrowth, and
so on. Way happy to be able to push thistles or nettles back
while I walk by, particularly since I usually hike in shorts.
The pole improves my balance on downhill parts. It lets me
go a lot faster and still be confident of not slipping.
The pole is also useful against people's poorly trained dogs.
And I don't even need to be aggresive with it most times.
If you put the pole at 45 degrees across in front of you,
not pointed away from you just sort of like a guard rail,
many dogs will become confused by it and stop. A defused
situation with somebody's dog is usually better than any
kind of confrontation.
If I come to a smooth level place I will often just carry the
pole rather than three-legged-walking with it. On very long
smooth level places I will even shorten it and put it in
the backpack.
Socks
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