Pole tips and baskets

[PGH1NC]

I have seen little on the forum regarding pole tips and baskets.

Do you use either? If so, how or why?

I might think the rubber tips over the carbide tips would be better on gripping the rocks on the AT and that the carbide tips might grip the ground better but harm the soil surface on well-used trails?

Do baskets help in mud? I still have the smaller baskets but they seem to get caught between rocks typical on the AT.

Any comments?

Thanks

[Nanatuk]

I use the rubber tips. Keeps them from getting stuck in the mud and on top of rocks instead of between them

I usually take the baskets off unless expecting to hike through snow.

[RockDoc]

Use rubber tips. It's courteous to others as you hike through rocky areas. Going CLICK CLICK CLICK for hours is not courteous to those trying to enjoy the peaceful wilderness. Also, the scratches on the trail and rocks is unsightly damage.

[nsherry61]

Another topic I have strong opinions on. To bad I can't figure out which opinions are most imortant.

1) I find the small baskets most helpful in mud. Many people don't use baskets at all in the desert. All baskets tend to get caught up on bushes along the trail. Baskets do occasionally keep the poles from dropping into narrow holes and cracks in rocks, but mostly just useful for mud, or snow baskets for snow.

2) Most Leki tips are shorter (less sticking out below the basket) than most Black Diamond and most other poles. Shorter tips are really nice in mud because the longer tips tend to hold onto the mud and stop one's forward momentum irritatingly often. The Black Diamond Distance Z poles have wonderfully short tips making them extra cooperative in the mud.

3) I find rubber tips to work fantastically well and be wonderfully quiet . . . until it rains and/or the leaves fall. Then the rubber tips are death cuz they no longer hold reliably.

4) The ethics of carbide tips and trail damage, to me are pretty muddy. The trail one is walking on is already a great big linear scar across the land. A couple of stripes of churned up dirt or scraped up rocks along the edge of that linear scar seem to me to be a pretty minor addition.

5) As for the noise of the carbide pole tips. Yeah. I agree. It's grating. I have gone to using rubber tips except with it is wet, leafy, or icy. Then, I switch back to exposed carbide.

[Traillium]

Another topic I have strong opinions on. To bad I can't figure out which opinions are most imortant.

1) I find the small baskets most helpful in mud. Many people don't use baskets at all in the desert. All baskets tend to get caught up on bushes along the trail. Baskets do occasionally keep the poles from dropping into narrow holes and cracks in rocks, but mostly just useful for mud, or snow baskets for snow.

2) Most Leki tips are shorter (less sticking out below the basket) than most Black Diamond and most other poles. Shorter tips are really nice in mud because the longer tips tend to hold onto the mud and stop one's forward momentum irritatingly often. The Black Diamond Distance Z poles have wonderfully short tips making them extra cooperative in the mud.

3) I find rubber tips to work fantastically well and be wonderfully quiet . . . until it rains and/or the leaves fall. Then the rubber tips are death cuz they no longer hold reliably.

4) The ethics of carbide tips and trail damage, to me are pretty muddy. The trail one is walking on is already a great big linear scar across the land. A couple of stripes of churned up dirt or scraped up rocks along the edge of that linear scar seem to me to be a pretty minor addition.

5) As for the noise of the carbide pole tips. Yeah. I agree. It's grating. I have gone to using rubber tips except with it is wet, leafy, or icy. Then, I switch back to exposed carbide.

Perhaps another benefit of carbide tips is the noisesome clacking that _MIGHT_ warn bears of my approach.

Also, here in Ontario, carbide tips ‘grab’ our softer limestone very well. And don’t grab our much harder Canadian Shield granites etc …

[greensleep]

I've used rubber tips a lot, but in rocks like those in northern PA, the spaces between the rocks will steal the rubber tips.

[The Old Chief]

In 2001 and 2002 I lost at least 6 rubber tips between Springer and Damascus. Finally stopped using them and from what I've noticed over the years hardly anyone else uses them either. If any of you guys find mine please let me know. As for leaving scratches on rocks this is an old argument we used to hear all the time 20 years ago from Wingfoot. Please point out an area of the AT where the rocks are badly scarred from carbide tips. Is it even possible to point out a carbide tip scarred rock in Pennsylvania? And I don't believe any dirt covered section of the AT is more unsightly because of a carbon tip than it would be by the end of a wooden hiking stick or aggressive cleats on some hiking boots. As for being noisy, if you're hearing carbon tips clacking along for several hours you're hiking in a way too crowded place or it's your tips making all the noise. I'd much rather hear hiking poles once in a while compared to the noise of a hiker with a backpacking guitar who decides that everybody at the shelter or camp site wants to listen to his intolerable attempt at music. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[Tipi Walter]

I never use rubber tips because I want all the traction I can get from a titanium tip. I have busted off about 5 tips over the years---but easily replaceable with a spare tip-home repair.

Btw, if you have a Black Diamond pole, Leki tips will work if you cut about an inch off the raw end of the pole---or just get Bk D. spares.

The far bigger problem on high priced hiking poles are the ones that use cork handles. Over time this cork will crack and split and break off, although coating the cork before every trip with some kind of Cork Saver helps alot. I use Birkenstock cork saver.

tRIP 182 (19)-XL.jpg
Saving my cork---it results in a tacky surface but it's worth it to safe the cork.

[TNhiker]

Finally stopped using them and from what I've noticed over the years hardly anyone else uses them either. If any of you guys find mine please let me know

likewise....

lost originals and have lost all the ones i have put on that i have found on the trail......

i have seen a few scrapes from tips in the GSMNP but nothing too much...

[George]

i have picked up quite a few rubber tips on the rail, and some baskets - toss both

[egilbe]

I quit using rubber tips when it slipped on some newly fallen leaves and I went for a tumble. Hiking poles are a safety item ancov they dlip, they are useless to me. So...no tips. Snow baskets I use. Sand, or mud, baskets are useless to me. I use my trekking poles for my shaped tarp. The tips slide into a pocket in the tarp.

[peakbagger]

I also have found many rubber tips on the trail over the years. I do use the small baskets on my Lekis and rarely if ever has lost any. I switch to snow baskets in the winter. If you use the poles long enough the carbides will wear out. Leki sells replacement tips but if you wait too long until the aluminum starts wearing out they will not fit right.

[MuddyWaters]

I also have found many rubber tips on the trail over the years. I do use the small baskets on my Lekis and rarely if ever has lost any. I switch to snow baskets in the winter. If you use the poles long enough the carbides will wear out. Leki sells replacement tips but if you wait too long until the aluminum starts wearing out they will not fit right.

My last poles lost tips around 1500 mi. of use. Within 30 mi.of each other. Didnt wear out the carbide, carbide fell out of plastic tip. Finished hike with no carbides. Hardly noticeable most of time.

Pole tips aerate the soil next to trail. Thats why you sonetimee have a nice green border. Often grassy near top of peaks on AT.

[Grampie]

I have seen little on the forum regarding pole tips and baskets.

Do you use either? If so, how or why?

I might think the rubber tips over the carbide tips would be better on gripping the rocks on the AT and that the carbide tips might grip the ground better but harm the soil surface on well-used trails?

Do baskets help in mud? I still have the smaller baskets but they seem to get caught between rocks typical on the AT.

Any comments?

Thanks

The rubber tip protectors are not of much use. Thr poles are designed to use the carbide tips and small baskets.this was told to me by a service rep. From Levi at Trail Days. During my thru I replaced the carbide tips 3 times.

[rickb]

I've used rubber tips a lot, but in rocks like those in northern PA, the spaces between the rocks will steal the rubber tips.

A few drops of superglue works wonders.

Don’t use the poles I glued the tips on anymore, but once they were glued on they were not coming off.

But never hiked with the, in PA!

[cmoulder]

The vast majority (oh, about 99.44%) of scratches that people notice and complain about are from crampons, not trekking poles.

I don't know how people wear out tungsten carbide tips. I've got some ~30 y/o Leki Makalu Ti poles (back when all the sections were made of Ti) and the plastic and aluminum around the tip is worn but the carbide tip itself is unscathed.

I use mostly BD Distance tips with the small built-in basket. Keeps leaves from collecting on the poles. In the winter it's nice to use a large 5" basket for snow.

[Traveler]

I've a set of BD poles with well over 3,000 miles on them and the tips don't seem to be any worse for wear. I use rubber tips in summer months until leaves start to collect on the tips, at that point I remove them until spring.

My observation of rubber tips is some poles are more prone to losing them than others depending on the manufacturer of both pole and tips, type of finish on the end of the pole that allows the rubber to grip or slide,, and how well the diameter of the pole is accommodated by the tip. As Rickb suggests, using a little glue on them helps to keep them in place. My hiking buddy could not keep rubber tips on his poles and opted to drill a small hole through the tip and secure the rubber tip with aircraft safety wire, though any light wire would work.

I prefer to keep the small "fair weather" baskets on the poles since I got them, they seem to work nicely as bumpers moving around rocks and can prevent the pole from sliding into crevices. I use snow baskets, preferring the 4 to 5-inch diameter baskets (Komperdel) with leather supports for the outer ring. In my experience, these are are more effective in snow over a foot deep than the plastic baskets.

[Time Zone]

I'll chime in on the side of no tips, no baskets.

Originally I thought I should use tips so to prolong the life of the poles. Then I kept losing them - esp. in muck - they'd just get sucked off and lost. The baskets would fall off too - doesn't take much to torque them out of locked position, from which they can just fall off. Finally, I met a more experienced hiker that assured me that after years of using no rubber tips, the carbide tips of her poles hadn't even noticeably worn down. From that point on, I quit worrying about it. I have a feeling the twist-locking mechanism will go before the carbide tips do.

So far, it's been 2.5 years and all is still well. No worries, and no more unintended donations to the thermoplastic/rubber content of the forest. Sometimes I use the caps (not the same as tips) for transportation to protect car interiors, but that's it. Oh, and the carbide tips work well enough on rock. They can skitter across if you don't put much weight on them (unlike rubber tips), but they can work fine if you let them bear down in a good spot.

[rickb]

I'll chime in on the side of no tips, no baskets.

A a well held carbide tipped poll can give you a bit more confidence than one with a rubber tip when a dog comes bounding at you.

[ldsailor]

I kept losing rubber tips in mud, so I stopped. It's a real pain in the a** digging them out of the mud when they come off. I tried rubber tips on rocks and found that they didn't work for me. A bare tip fits better into crevices within the rock and I don't lose a tip in between rocks. Also, I found rubber tips on the larger boulders slipped as much as bare tips and sometimes even more.

Sorry about the noise but I kind of like the "tip clicking." I'm real slow and the clicking gives me a heads up that someone want to pass me before i can feel their breath on my neck (seriously - why don't overtaking hikers say something when they approach a slower hiker?).