Maya Calderon
I have now broken four sets of trekking poles in the last six years of long distance backpacking. The two pairs that are still in great shape are of similar design. The four broken pairs all lacked similar characteristics that I list below in my first practical buying guide for poles.
The features that matter
Aluminum, not carbon fiber, because backpacking most of the time is about being lightly loaded, but trekking poles are not an area to try to save a few grams by risking to break on the trail. Flick locks rather than twist locks – These are so much easier to use even with gloves on, especially after a long cold day. They are also more robust for bigger falls and also seem to work better in very hard frozen conditions. Cork or EVA foam grips. Plastic grips produce blisters. Adjustable length not fixed length. The trekker will require longer poles for descending and shorter poles for climbing up steep ground. So the poles must be set for normal walking and then lengthened or decreased as required. Replaceable tips. The tips wear out before the poles.
The features that do not matter
Anti-shock springs. Adds weight; minimal real benefit. Folding designs. Of little use to us trekkers. However useful if you are planning a lot of mountain climbing and intend to carry your poles on your back! Note too that wrist straps (even those described as ‘ergonomic’) are little more than nice-to-haves and are easily provided by standard wrist straps.
The pole length
Trekking pole length for general backpacking: Set the poles so that when standing on flat ground with the poles upright, your elbows are bent at 90 degrees. For very downhill sections of trail, lengthen the poles by 5 cm. For very steep up sections of trail, shorten the poles by 5 cm. That is how they are to be set every time!
The summary
The bottom line is buy aluminum, flick lock, cork grips, adjustable, and tip replaceable poles. These things will last you years and years to come, as opposed to the flood of inferior poles on the market that go to waste in a year or two because of all the frills of marketing that the poor consumer paid extra for in the 1st place.
Practical Considerations
Adventure travel can be a wonderful experience, and there are many things that can make or break a trip. As with any type of travel, preparing in advance is key. While many things are outside of our control, there are some things that we can do to prepare in order to have a wonderful adventure travel experience. By packing a few extra items of gear, building in a few contingency days to your itinerary, and making sure that someone back home knows your plans, you can avoid many of the situations that can ruin a trip.
The Insurance Question
As with anything, there are certain adventure activities that require additional coverage over and above the standard policy. For example, trekking at high altitudes, scuba diving, hiring motorcycles or engaging in any number of other adventure activities are typically considered to be ‘excluded activities’ on standard travel policies. This does not mean that you cannot travel while covered for these activities – only that you must pay an additional premium for the additional coverage and read the fine print to ensure that you have the correct coverage in place prior to your departure. I spoke with one local guide recently and his ‘advice’ on this topic was in stark contrast to just about every guidebook that I had read on the subject.
The Local Operator Factor
As mentioned above, the quality of local guides and local tour operators on a trek or adventure tour is what will make or break your adventure travel experience. Hence it is extremely important to do a thorough research on the local tour operators before booking your trip. Online travel reviews can give a general idea but one must supplement these reviews with conversations with previous travelers who have undertaken the same trip or tour.
The Takeaway
Many an adventure trip has gone south when travelers failed to realize that the rigors of a strong adventure travel trip are as much in their operators’ hands as in their own preparations. With the basic preparations for any strong adventure travel trip covered by physical training, best local operator selected, proper insurance for physical risks and flexibility to respond to natural, unplanned events (such as unusually bad weather), even the most demanding of adventure travel can, for the most part, be managed if planned correctly. This means building-in plenty of slack into an itinerant schedule, so that while a particular day or two might, in the worst case scenario, go completely awry, the effects of that single trip-wrecking day will not, in turn, affect the remainder of the schedule.
The Equipment Question
It is surprising how often travelers fail to pay due attention to decisions around equipment. While seemingly innocuous enough when used in day-to-day life under normal circumstances (e.g. milder than average weather), it is only when put under extreme stress (e.g. severe weather, high altitude) that the failure of suboptimal gear can cause most damage, and almost always at the worst possible moment. In short, wherever possible, it is best to pay to use the very best equipment for rent at the destination rather than to rely on unsuitable cheap gear and then suffer for it.
The Physical Preparation
Treks that require a lot of hard work to complete over a period of days to weeks are best tackled by those who have prepared themselves in advance for the arduous task that lies ahead. Many people travel too far, too fast and don’t realize how tired they are until it is too late. Preparation prior to embarking on a long trek is crucial to a safe and enjoyable trip. Even with good preparation, however, it is not uncommon for problems to surface that would not have been apparent with inadequate training.
A friend who lives in that area recently told me that the best pole for adventure travel would be one that most articles would choose to ignore.
The Worst-Case Plan
As I noted before, strong adventure travelers develop contingency plans in case something terrible happens. These plans will include details for their group to stay in contact with other team members or a family member back home in the event of an emergency. They will investigate the costs to complete an evacuation by helicopter or other means and verify that their travel insurance will cover these expenses. If they will be trekking at high altitude, they will identify the nearest medical facilities, and understand their options for transport to these locations in the event of an injury or illness. All of this planning will take only take 2 hours of planning time prior to their trip, but could very well save weeks of wasted time and resources in the worst case scenario.
The Mental Game
When going on an adventure tour, physical challenges are not the only difficulties to be faced. Often the hardest time is in your own mind and it can be very hard to keep going after a few days of tiredness. This can be made worse by bad weather, but often it is just a case of each person in the group wanting to do something different. This is when the trip can go from being an adventure that is being remembered for years to come to a very difficult and sometimes unpleasant experience. The people who handle these difficult times the best are those who go on an adventure tour expecting the worst and are then pleasantly surprised by the experiences that they have. It is also very helpful to read about other people’s experiences on an adventure tour, especially the bad times.
What Local Operators Wish You Knew
What a local operator wishes you to know is that visitors underestimate the combined effects of fatigue on their bodies and minds and that they underestimate the value of following the local’s advice about the weather and other conditions. Those local’s have run their routes hundreds of times and know best. And when something goes wrong on an adventure, it is almost always because a traveler has ignored the advice of his or her local guide.
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