Trekking Pole Straps

[ChinMusic]

For those of you that use poles, do you use the straps, sometimes use them, or let em hang?

I find that when the trail is smooth/easy that I use the straps but when the going gets tough I pull my hands out of the straps.

I don't like the idea of falling with my hands stuck in the straps. If I'm gonna fall I want to distance myself from the poles as well.

Comments?

[Monkeywrench]

I don't like the idea of falling with my hands stuck in the straps. If I'm gonna fall I want to distance myself from the poles as well.

If that works for you and you feel more comfortable, then go ahead and use them that way. At the end of the day, you shouldn't care how anybody else uses their trekking poles.

I use the straps and never thought about what might or might not happen if I were to fall with them. Thanks a lot for giving me something new to obsess about!

[jhick]

I rarely use the straps. I don't like getting the pole stuck in some PA rocks and my hand being strapped into the pole. I've gotten so used to not using the straps, I usually don't bother.

[rafe]

Try to hook up with Mara Factor at a Gathering or Ruck. She gives little workshop on using trekking poles. IIRC, if you have your hands looped through the pole straps correctly, they will slip through if you fall forward.

[Blissful]

I use them but they are a pain sometimes. Never had a problem with them when I fell though.

[ChinMusic]

The reason I thought of this today was after reading my buddy's 2007 thru. I read that his little finger was severely sprained (he thought it was broken) on a fall when it got caught in the strap. I guess he could have sprained his finger with contact with the ground too.

His story reminded me of how I use my poles. I kind of instinctively pull my hands out of the straps when going through rough sections. I love the poles for helping save me from falls, but if I'm going down I try to toss em away from me.

[Chenango]

I stopped using the straps after I fell and gave my wrist a good bit of stress. No more straps for me.

[Lellers]

Last week I stopped using the straps when after day 2 of my SNP hike, I looked at my wrist and saw a very large, nonpainful bruise on the inside of my right wrist. I do like my poles, however. Countless times they've saved me from spills. When I was younger, they'd have been a hindrance, and most of the younger people I hike with feel that way. These days, I find that my balance is just a teeny bit off. I wear bifocals, and so sometimes when I look down quickly, the ground is out of focus, and I've got some arthritis in my lower back and hips. The poles are a big help to me, but the straps, eh, not so much.

I say, use the poles/straps in whichever way you are most comfortable.

[gravityman]

Love my straps. I use them like ski pole straps. That way I don't have to hold the pole handle very tightly at all. No injuries after many falls and many miles.

[Summit]

Love my straps. I use them like ski pole straps. That way I don't have to hold the pole handle very tightly at all. No injuries after many falls and many miles.

Ditto! If you've stopped using the straps you probably did not have them adjusted properly or were not using them correctly. You should, when adjusted correctly, be putting your weight on the strap - wrist-to-strap, right at or very close to the juncture with the pole hole. As gravityman says, you can literally open your hand grip away from the pole and still place your weight squarely on the pole. That's how you know you have them adjusted properly. If not using the straps, might as well use a pair of sticks. The 'magic' of trekking poles is in the straps!

[NICKTHEGREEK]

Love my straps. I use them like ski pole straps. That way I don't have to hold the pole handle very tightly at all. No injuries after many falls and many miles.

Exactly how you grip your pole is between you and your maker but it's why the straps are there.

[MyName1sMud]

I am opposite... I try and keep my hands in the straps when the going gets rough. No doubt when I think I will be falling....

Try and use my poles as a "selt arrest"

[Quoddy]

I used to use the straps on my Leki Super Makaula poles, but since switching last year to TiGoat AGP's at 3.2 oz each, I find the available straps hinder the extremely quick action I can get with these sticks, and therefore just leave the straps off.

[Delirious Nomad]

I use trekking poles - but I cut the straps off. Having them dangling on my hands was annoying, and I didn't want to use them.
My buddy uses his straps - he says they support the hand/wrist better when you use them. Not sure on that, but I like going without them.

[J5man]

Ask Lonewolf

[Old Grouse]

I use my straps and haven't had any problems. This discussion reminds me of the one about automobile seatbelts in which someone knows a friend of a friend who went in the water and would have drowned if they' been wearing their seatbelt - ignoring the millions of people saved by them.

[Delirious Nomad]

Forgot to also say that I adjust where I am gripping depending on uphill / downhill / rocky / flat / paved(grip both in one hand and carry <smile>) terrain. If my hands were in the straps - I couldn't change where I grip!

[ChinMusic]

I use my straps and haven't had any problems. This discussion reminds me of the one about automobile seatbelts in which someone knows a friend of a friend who went in the water and would have drowned if they' been wearing their seatbelt - ignoring the millions of people saved by them.

Trekking pole straps "save" people??? Come on. Poor analogy.

IMO the straps are an energy saver but in a fall are a danger.

As a curiosity I did a Google search on ski injuries and found LOTS of references to straps causing thumb injuries/etc on falls. I don't see a whole lot of difference when compared to hikers.

I'm like Delirious Nomad, in that I like to change my hand positions (exp on steep downs) and simply couldn't do that with straps. I forgot about that.

[Jim Adams]

Trekking pole straps "save" people??? Come on. Poor analogy.

IMO the straps are an energy saver but in a fall are a danger.

As a curiosity I did a Google search on ski injuries and found LOTS of references to straps causing thumb injuries/etc on falls. I don't see a whole lot of difference when compared to hikers.

I'm like Delirious Nomad, in that I like to change my hand positions (exp on steep downs) and simply couldn't do that with straps. I forgot about that.

I change my hand positions constantly and can not figure out how you could hike without the straps. The straps contain and control the weight that you have placed on the pole. I have never been injured due to my poles in a fall. I imagine alot of the thumb injuries with skiing have more to do with speed than straps. Thumb injuries are very common with dirt bikes and mountain bicycles and neither of them use straps.
Being a white water paddler and brainwashed over the years to NEVER let go of your paddle, I probably will never lose my poles in a fall even without straps.

geek

[WAYSEEKER]

In my opinion, it is a matter of preference.