Is two poles really better then one?
I carry one oak stick. And for months now, just about everyone I see has two. It looks like people are going skiing. Is this really better? I just don't get it!
i don't get it and never willOriginally Posted by Sierra Echo
I carry one oak stick. And for months now, just about everyone I see has two. It looks like people are going skiing. Is this really better? I just don't get it!
Lop Sided
For me it's a matter of balance, I used a Hickory stick for 25 years but was always a little unbalanced, Now with a set of Black Diamond Trail Ergo Cork handle poles, Balance is once again restored to the universe!!
I would think they would trip you up instead of give you balance~!
Balance and more
.
It's funny you should say that, I was thinking about it while I was camping this past weekend, I remember once crossing a stream by using randomly located large stones, I did the arms out like an airplane to balance myself as I hopped from stone to stone trying to keep my balance on the slippery moss covered stones, I thought, Wow, That would have been much easier if I had Trekking poles back then.
And one time, using my very solid 5 foot tall hickory staff, I tripped descending a very steep hill and had to put most or all of my weight on the staff while grasping it with both hands, What followed was me swiveling around that one anchoring point (The Hickory Staff) and contacting with the ground anyway, While the contact was significantly reduced to just touching and not slamming onto the ground, I think having the two trekking poles could have avoided the fall altogether, Like have 4 legs instead of two. But, The staff would definitely make a better tool to fend off animals and I could probably knock a coyote out with it or any other aggressive animal or at least keep it at bay.
I have always hiked without poles until last year. I bought a pair of Alpine poles, cheap but worked. I wont go with out poles again. They really help save pressure off the knees. And balance..
Graywolf
"So what if theres a mountain, get over it!!!" - Graywolf, 2010
Yes, unquestionably.
Propulsion, balance, braking, rythm.
Lots of shock off your feet, legs, and back. More with shock absorbing poles.
Posture, especially uphill.
Using two ploes (correctly, straps etc.) compared to either one pole or none...an average of 6% fewer footsteps per mile
This a based on a combination of longer more relaxed stride and no hesitant steps for up/down. YMMV, usually more!
Lots of advantages.
Get the best..Leki!, of course, I am the Leki guy
LMAO that sounds kinda like me today~!!!
I was sitting on a low to the ground rock with a 30 lb pack on.
I start to get up by kinda leaning to my right side and the pack made me spin on around!!
One stick Two stick
See, There you go!!
Two sticks are better than one!!
That's been my experience. Plus two poles just generally get in the way. I tend to use a farmers' three legged milking stool as a guide. On rough terrain, and primitive milking parlors, three legs are the proper number in my experience.
Try it for yourself and make up your own mind.
Exactly... poles work for some folks, and don't work at all for others. I use two poles because I have less than great knees, and it really reduces the strain on them going downhills (for me). For other people though, they just get in the way. Try two poles out and decide then.
Don't take anything I say seriously... I certainly don't.
There's a reason for two poles.
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
Two are better than one, because you aerate both sides of the trail and you pulverize twice as many of them damn rocks.
I find using 2 poles the way to go for me. Where I hike there are lots of muddy areas and I have to cross on logs and the poles help me to keep my balance.
Hammock Hanger by choice
Warbonnet BlackBird 1.7 dbl
www.neusioktrail.org
Bears love people, they say we taste just like chicken.
It's all a matter of choice for you. As you can see from all these posts so far, there are many opinions and all valid for each one's methods and needs. I have actually hiked more with 2 poles than not. However, the last several hikes I have been on, I have used a single beech stick. It is similiar to what Gene Espy used. I have actually nicknamed it "The Espy"!I carry one oak stick. And for months now, just about everyone I see has two. It looks like people are going skiing. Is this really better? I just don't get it!
Right now I enjoy using the single stick, sometime this year, I will do a few without any poles or sticks perhaps to experience that. My advice is try them all! And the good thing is, you don't have to stick (pardon the pun) to just one method. It's all good!
I'll answer your question with another question; is two legs & feet better than one? Yes they are
The trail was here before we arrived, and it will still be here when we are gone...enjoy it now, and preserve it for others that come after us
Using that "logic", 3 poles or even 5 would be better. I will admit this is one of the best justifications I've heard over the years.
That's the dumbest extremist logic argument ever posted on WB; even someone as shallow as you might have noticed most people have only two arms.
The trail was here before we arrived, and it will still be here when we are gone...enjoy it now, and preserve it for others that come after us
Good advice here and elsewhere in this thread. There's no exact answer. I use no poles on day hikes, one pole on long trips in the desert and high country, two poles on the AT, which were very helpful in roots and rocks. That didn't convince me, though, that two poles are always better.
Interesting comment about fewer steps with two poles. I never thought about it before, but I did notice that phenomenon on the rocks in PA and elsewhere on the AT. I was taking larger steps and moving faster and smoother with the poles.
PS: I love these contentious pole threads. Whenever I volunteer on a trail-building crew here in Arizona, trying to scratch a tread out to help complete the AZT route, a favorite camp story of mine is relating how people actually argue about poles on the AT. Most can't believe there are actually enough people on a trail that using poles or not would make a difference. It's funny to see peoples' reactions.
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
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