Fully realizing that those who use trekking pole straps consider those of us who don't to be weirdo, contrarian outliers — and just plain wrong! — I can explain why I don't and how it came to be.
Hiking here in the Northeast there many places where there are a lot of little ups and downs, and being someone who does not prefer to use poles on flat or gentle up and down trails, I found myself constantly switching back and forth between briefly using the poles to go up or down a hill, and then carrying them again, either one pole in each hand or both in one hand. For this kind of use, I found that this endless repetition of engaging and disengaging hands from the straps to be a constant annoyance. With conventional poles I noticed that I could go pretty much all day without ever using the straps.
One fateful day I did a hike with some new friends, one of whom was using some Gossamer Gear LightTrek poles. He let me try them, and Ooohh-la-la, it was love at first swing, and about 10 seconds and 100 feet down the trail I knew I just had to have some very light poles. However, that same day my friend managed to break one of them during what was a 'garden variety' trail stumble, so I thought perhaps they might be a skosh too light. I also really-really-
really don't like twist lock, so after considerable mulling I decided to make my own 2-section, flicklock version. Distilling a very long saga down to one sentence, I made my own with some China-sourced carbon fiber tubes, GG grips and Black Diamond flicklocks and Distance Z pole tips.
On the trail, I did indeed notice that it took more hand strength to hold the GG grips than I liked. I looked at my old Leki grips on the Makalu Ti poles that seemed easier to grip, observing that there is a little 'shelf' where the index finger wraps around the grip. So I took a Dremel tool and sanded out the GG grip, making the shelf a little deeper than that on the Leki grips. This finger rest made a huge difference! It reduced hand strain enormously because now my thumb wrapped around the grip and also helped 'lock' the index finger into the recessed area. Additionally, the pole can be held with the middle finger on the shelf and the thumb over the top of the grip, resulting in a very, very low amount of hand strain.
Later on, I decided to do the same finger rest treatment to the bottom of the grip, adding a small tube of EVA foam below the GG grip to extend the bottom of the grip. This makes it easy to slide the hand down the grip for steep uphill sections without having to release the flicklock and shorten the pole... very handy IMO.
Recently on one set of these poles (of course I have a few sets from various prototype testing!) I added some Black Diamond Distance straps and have been testing those. They work fine, although when I start off using them in the morning I find that later I revert to habit and simply don't use them... I truly find them unnecessary with the grip mods I have incorporated.
So even though I don't use straps, I have put considerable thought, effort and testing into the process and am not some uninformed doofus on this topic.
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