I love going /out/, but I have a disability and as a result of that I have to take trekking poles for the harder trails, which help me in uneven terrain (where I lack the stability of a healthy person), with climbing elevation and whenever there's something like a larger rock in the way. They are kinda like a railing that I take with myself and enable me to do hikes that would be too complicated otherwise.This year, after a particularly long day I was so exhausted, I tripped and fell over, cracking my carbon fiber hiking poles with my knee. I duct taped them together and they lasted the rest of the hike, but now I need new ones and I have some questions that may be some anons can help me with:- How are folding trekking poles compared to sliding ones? Particularly when there's muddy terrain, if they unfold themselves in mud they aren't an option for me.- I considered going aluminium alloy instead of carbon fiber, the idea being that if a similar accident were to occur, they'd be stronger and less likely to splinter (and instead bend). It's more weight, but might be worth it for me. Does that logic check out?Picrel are some I considered, no. 1 is the one most closely resembling what I had before. Here's some stats for the stuff in the pic:# Carbon fiber- 193 g/pole- 62-135 cm- 36,19 €# 6061 Aluminium alloy 1- 235 g/pole- 62-135 cm- 23,98€# 7075 Aluminium alloy folding- 234 g/pole- 115-135 cm- 38,62 €# 3k Carbon fiber & 7075 Aluminium folding- 221 g/pole- 115-135 cm- 46,10€Thanks for any advice anons, I know trekking poles are a bit of a meme on /out/, but for someone with a disability like me they are what enable me to do hikes that I otherwise couldn't and thus they are what enable me to go /out/.
>>2787073a stick
>>2787073bottom right, those are far better and sturdier than the ones up top. The top ones have two sets of clamps, they are prone to collapsing when you don't want them to. The bottom two are a solid piece when pulled tight and the only clamp is up top. Only a single point of slippage failure.
>>2787083Unfortunately not a great option for me, I need two poles of equal length and that I can press on from the top. Probably works great for a healthy person, but sadly I am not.>>2787087I didn't have any problems with the top left system interestingly. If you have the style in the bottom right (folding) is my concern of mud unfounded? If there is a muddy ground, do they work normally or do they unfold? If that's an issue that may be a deal breaker for me.Thanks for the feedback already anon.
>>2787089The bottom ones have a cable running through the sections. When you pull the top section to the pop button, it pulls the cable tight and the sections together. They're not going to get stuck in the mud and pull apart. At least that's how the ones I have are designed. And my recommendation is based on that. Do you have a link to the site you're looking at them on?I have had the double clamps slip when I was climbing steep terrain and really needed the help, I'm glad I was going up, not down.
>>2787090I'm looking on AliExpress, the ones I had before were by some local brand, but they looked so similar to the ones in the top left that I suspect they come from the same factory. Since I had good experiences with naturehike I somewhat trust them and they are pretty cheap after all. I'll have to see if the spam filter lets me post the links:For the first pic:https://aliexpress.com/item/1005006861846258.htmlFor the second pic (which I'm not really considering):https://aliexpress.com/item/1005007317869114.htmlAnd for the third and fourth:https://aliexpress.com/item/1005007256715077.htmlIf you see prices massively lower than what I posted it's a welcome deal and can be ignored.
>>2787093Perfect, that's what I needed to see. If you go the second picture in the last link. In the picture of them in the pack, you can seethe cable running through them. It just looks like three individual pieces in some of the pictures, so that was the picture I wanted to see. They are like the ones I have. The top section is three pieces in one. A set of nested sections that pull until you lock into a pop button, that pulls the bottom two pieces together with the top section, they're not going anywhere. Then there's another nested section with the clamp that you will use to adjust to your preferred length. So, there's only the one clamp that can possibly slip. It should also have measure marks, so it's super easy to set it to the same length every time. With the two clamp ones, you have two length adjustment points(and two possible slip points), unless you mark it yourself, you have to play with it a little each time to get it to the length you like. It's not more than a couple seconds longer, but it is a difference that I noticed.
>>2787095Thanks anon, that puts that fear to rest. What you are saying about having a single adjustment point is also pretty great, because that was really annoying on the old ones, with 2 adjustment points per pole.I'll have to still decide if I want Aluminium alloy - for mildly more weight and a lower likelihood of shattering, or carbon fiber to save weight, but that's more of a subjective thing.I did like the handles in option 1 - decent ergonomics and the thick top meant you could press from the top onto them when needed. Picrel is from my last trip, at the end of that day I broke my old ones - it was very much worth it though and I can't wait to go again next year.
>>2787103Anon consider rereading my post. The reason that's not an option is because I am disabled, it has nothing to do with city vs rural meme shit.
>>2787106He's a troll. He's not trying to make a rational point, he's just trying to get under your skin. Don't feed the troll
>>2787107Fair point anon. A positive side effect of growing up disabled is it takes a lot more than that to get under my skin, but feeding the trolls is still a waste of time, thanks for the reminder.
>>2787089>that I can press on from the topYou can achieve this on a walking staff with a prusik knot. You should still get your more lightweight and optimized walking aids but if you're in the habit of breaking them it might be a good idea to have a plan for improvising good replacements in the field.
>>2787097I like my aluminum poles, I got a cheapo black diamond set 2 years ago and the bottom sections are absolutely kicked to shit from getting jammed into rocks. I wouldn't trust carbon fiber which had the kind of scratches and gouges that my poles have, but they're also probably in line for a replacement soon. One piece of advice I can give; bring an allen wrench on your first couple of hikes with your new poles and tighten up any of the clamps that slip. One of my poles slipped a little on the topmost clamp out of the box. I also like poles that have a grippy section extending out under the main grip so you can choke up on them while going uphill instead of adjusting the poles on the fly.
>>2787073>- I considered going aluminium alloy instead of carbon fiber, the idea being that if a similar accident were to occur, they'd be stronger and less likely to splinter (and instead bend).Yeah, aluminium poles tend to be more durable.
>>2787112Metal latches are a key feature My MSR dynalock explore are solid and I abuse the fek out of them. I didn't get black diamonds because the locking mechanism looked cheap and you just confirmed it.
>>2787073I'd stay away from any cheap poles, or any ultralight ones. I've seen broken aluminum poles on the trail side pretty often already.A heavy aluminum or fibreglass pole might work, in fact, I'd probably look for "self-defense" ones. Cold steel's walking canes come to mind for me. Those are almost indestructible.If it doesn't have to be muhmemepole, a classic rattan cane will also work just fine. Those are cheap, lightweight, durable, and the hook is helpful if you want to get to higher fruits or stuff like that.Also if you're doing highly uneven terrain or descents at some point, you'll quickly find that poles are often to short to even reach the ground. In that case, a staff is much better.
>>2787136>Poles are too short to reach the ground on a downhill That's almost the whole point of extendable poles: making them super long for steep downhill and short for steep uphill. Do people actually buy extendable poles and keep them the same length on the uphill as they do the downhill..?
>>2787110I'll have to try that out, as a backup if nothing else, thanks anon.>>2787112Yeah the issue with carbon fiber is that it's only strong in 1 direction, 2 if weaved correctly. Any force perpendicular to the fibers and it's pretty weak structurally. I'm leaning towards Aluminium alloy, if nothing else because it's like a 24g difference, which is basically nothing.>>2787136Anything non adjustable is non negotiable sadly, as >>2787138 said, you change them for climbs and descends in length, and that's a necessary feature for me. I'll have to consider if I prefer Aluminium for the strength with perpendicular forces or carbon fiber for the additional strength along the pole, I just wish I had some way to quantify how much of a difference that makes.
Prefer carbon because the stick has to accelerate pretty hard so often to keep up pace. If you watch aluminum users you can see them being lazier. Even just dangling the heavier aluminum is significantly more annoying for getting something else done with your hands.
>>2787138Mine have a second grip section below the main cork handles to use when going uphill, and then downhill I put my palms on the tops. If I know I have a long stretch of a particular elevation direction I'll adjust them but being able to use three different grips saves a lot of fiddling when the trail is up and down all day
>>2787126that's a great point. I'll probably replace my poles in the spring and I'll keep an eye out for that.>>2787156This is what I do, I never wanna adjust my poles mid-hike if I can avoid it.
>>2787160It is very steep where I live. It takes less than 30 seconds to adjust my pole length and is pretty much a necessity on downhill.>>2787156Mine have an extended grip that I use from time to time but the steepness of my local terrain obligates extending the poles on the downhill.My point remains that if you aren't using the extension feature you don't need a double lock pole, just get a single lock cheapo pole because you're not doing anything on difficult terrain.
