Katahdin, trekking poles or not?

[Megapixel]

I summit big K to start my hike tuesday... i'm trying to figure with a daypack and no where to really put my hiking poles when i need my hands for climbing... do i bring them up or not? Useful?

[Migrating Bird]

The only place I did not use mine was the short section of the Hunt spur. They help my knees on the downhill.

[Blissful]

I'd take them, yes. There are some rock scramble areas but they were very useful to me. The only place where I put my poles away was Mahoosuc Notch

[two-step]

I religiously used trekking poles during my thru-hike and still spread the gospel on how beneficial they are, but the next time I summit K... I will absolutely, without a doubt, leave them behind!!! They kind of (not really) come in handy the first few miles you set out, but from there on I found them to more of a hazard and a pain in the ass. It was getting to be such a hassle juggling them when I needed both hands that I ended up just cramming them in my pack. And a lot of people come off the mountain with either a bent pole or a knee injury from trying to stabilize themselves with a pole when they shouldn't have... I hiked with and was almost one of these people :) So, to make an already long response short... summit with free hands. And congratulations to you :)

[Megapixel]

thanks! i'll take em. what did u do with them when you have only a day pack when u don't need them on the boulder scrambles???

[Slo-go'en]

I agree with two step. Poles are still usefull when going up - most of the time - but can be a real hazard coming down. I find I tend to lean too far forward trying to use poles on steep down hill or they just get in the way and slow me way down.

On steep, rocky trail your better off using your hands to hold onto trees, roots and rocks while doing the rock hop dance down the trail. There are often places where you want to swing around and step backwards and always look three steps ahead to plan where your feet will be.

If you can't store the poles on the pack, toss them down ahead of you as you go, but this slows you down as you have to keep stoping to pick them back up.

[Tinker]

Not. I had no use for my ever-present hiking poles on Katahdin. I think I left them back at the campsite holding up my tarp.

http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/files/2/5/0/2/dsc01565_thumb.jpg (http://whiteblaze.net/forum/vbg/showimage.php?i=38613&c=member&imageuser=2502)

I just had to check. I'm sure at least one of them would have been in my hands if I had carried them up. I remember lots of hands and feet scrambling but don't remember once using my poles.

[ChinMusic]

I haven't climbed Big K but I gotta say the poles make the pics at the sign look cool.......:cool:

[Cookerhiker]

You're seeing a gamut of perspectives here. I didn't find them useful going up but there were a few places on the descent (still on the Hunt Trail) where I was glad I had them.

[peakbagger]

Three piece collapsable poles work well and can usually be hung off the pack while going through the boulder field on the Hunt trail. Two piece poles tend to collapse into too long of a package and gets caught on occasion. They are handy near the summit cone and on the trail below the boulder field. The trail across the plateau is almost "paved"with rocks, so they arent needed.

I always carry them for the trip downhill. My pair went with me over the knifes edge twice in three days two years ago.

[10-K]

I took mine and distinctly remember wishing I had left them.

If I had it to do over again I'd probably lose the trekking poles somewhere around Glencliff. If I remember right, I was continually tossing them down ahead of me and picking them back up again when I climbed down pretty often.

The only trekking pole I've ever broking in half was on the north side of Mt. Washington.

[Blue Jay]

thanks! i'll take em. what did u do with them when you have only a day pack when u don't need them on the boulder scrambles???

Why did you ask?????

[ChinMusic]

Why did you ask?????
My post about the cool pics at the sign mustof swayed him.....:cool:

[Cookerhiker]

Why did you ask?????

He was probably responding to Posts 2 & 3, not the post just before his...


My post about the cool pics at the sign mustof swayed him.....:cool:

...or he's clairvoyant.:)

[ChinMusic]

He was probably responding to Posts 2 & 3, not the post just before his...



...or he's clairvoyant.:)
Dang it......