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  1. #1
    Registered User sparky2009's Avatar
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    Default Straps on trekking poles

    I was wondering what everyone thought of the straps on trekking poles. Personally, I don't see the need and since they're in the way, I remove them. I just got a new set of Leki's and removed the straps such that they can be re-attached in the future if I ever change my mind about this.

  2. #2
    Registered User Bags4266's Avatar
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    Default

    Mostly not, big difference when I do though.

  3. #3

  4. #4

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    Are you sure you have seen the correct way to use the straps? When used correctly, straps are an integral part of how the trekking pole can work. Have you used them by putting the hand through the bottom so the strap is around the top of the wrist and coming up through the palm?

    I love the straps because I don't have to have a firm grip on the handle.

  5. #5
    Registered User Elder's Avatar
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    The straps are an integral part of the trekking pole...without
    you have to grip harder, hands are colder, you have to work more.
    Done correctly they allow you to reach further and on the power side push further.
    Your hands are mostly relaxed.
    They are Lekis so I know the strap is good, learn to use it.

    Oh, and don't be a gram weinie..leave the baskets on too!
    Baskets protect the tip, the lower shaft and the trail, by limiting the little holes.

    We didn't put straps on them for no purpose!!

  6. #6
    Registered User Toolshed's Avatar
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    Ditto on keepiung the straps on.
    I sometimes see folks with the straps loosely around their wrists. When possible, I explain that you need to put your hand up throught the strap and then down onto the grip. The leverage is much greater,the grip is enhanced and the hand does not need to be clenched as much - In fact, I usually never grab the handles, just letting them rest against my palms using the strap as a lever. Enjoy your poles and put them back on....
    .....Someday, like many others who joined WB in the early years, I may dry up and dissapear....

  7. #7
    Registered User Bags4266's Avatar
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    I only use one pole and switch hands often, thats wht I usually don't strap in.

  8. #8
    Registered User Doctari's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by white_russian View Post
    Are you sure you have seen the correct way to use the straps? When used correctly, straps are an integral part of how the trekking pole can work. Have you used them by putting the hand through the bottom so the strap is around the top of the wrist and coming up through the palm?

    I love the straps because I don't have to have a firm grip on the handle.
    My thoughts exactly. Use them correctly, & the straps can be a blessing.

    I don't even hold on to my poles, my hands are just in a neutral position & swing naturally, the poles do help as I walk along, doing so with nearly no effort on my part.
    Curse you Perry the Platypus!

  9. #9
    Registered User weary's Avatar
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    The downside of all straps used around your wrist, regardless of whether you use them "correctly" or not, is that in a fall, they are apt to get entanglred with your arm and cause a fracture or serious strain. Why? If you use a strap around your wrist, it is not easy to get out of quickly. So an unexpected fall, is more apt to cause more serious injuries.

    Because for many years I've hiked without a staff or a pole, I tend not to use a strap. If I keep it on the pole, it simply provides a better handgrip.

    But, thanks to White Blaze instruction, I also know the "right" way to use a strap. But the right way doesn't lessen injuries, it just allows straps to be used with a minimal expenditure of energy.

    Weary

  10. #10

    Default

    straps also get really annoying the hotter it gets. i just remove mine i am used to using a plain old walking stick anyway so it dont matter too me. I dont really go around looking for the most effiecent way to hike

  11. #11
    Springer - Front Royal Lilred's Avatar
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    If straps around the wrist were so dangerous when falling, then nobody would snow ski due to all the broken bones from poles. I've skiied for ten years in my youth with pole straps around my wrist and you want to talk about some serious falls!!! never once did they cause me injury, and I fell every time I skiied, and I skiied a LOT. Put your hand up through the strap, from bottom to top and use your wrist to move the pole forward. You barely have to hold the pole. When faced with a climb they easily dangle from your wrist. I had an animal chew through one of my straps, and darned if I didn't drop that pole every time I used that hand to do something. Kept forgetting it wasn't attached to my arm. Drove me nuts!!
    "It was on the first of May, in the year 1769, that I resigned my domestic happiness for a time, and left my family and peaceable habitation on the Yadkin River, in North Carolina, to wander through the wilderness of America." - Daniel Boone

  12. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by tomsawyer222 View Post
    straps also get really annoying the hotter it gets. i just remove mine i am used to using a plain old walking stick anyway so it dont matter too me. I dont really go around looking for the most effiecent way to hike
    So do you carry cast iron to cook on since you don't go around looking for the most efficient way to hike?

    Pretty much everybody thinks about pack weight and that is the heart of hiking efficiently, but things like wearing trail runners instead of boots and correctly using poles are really just an extension of that.

  13. #13
    Registered User Lyle's Avatar
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    Use PacerPoles and you do not need to worry about straps or how to use them. Not necessary. Best poles out there, most comfortable by far and most efficient.

  14. #14

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    In 2002 a guy named Two Scoops fell off the trail near Clingman's Dome and dislocated his shoulder. He blamed the straps on his hiking poles, saying he wasn't able to brace himself for the fall. He left his pack and hiked down to Newfound Gap and hitched to a hospital...a few days later he hiked back up and his pack was still there, leaning up against a tree right next to the trail where he left it...had it happened a couple weeks later when the road to Clingman's Dome was open it might have gone missing.

  15. #15
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    I took the straps off my poles. I use them more like a walking staff and for setting up my tarp. The efficiency of using the straps weighed against how I hike just didn't add up. So off they came. To me they were more of a nuisance. If your pack is that heavy, or you are hiking that fast that a little extra push is needed, then they'd help. My pack is light, and I stroll along the trail so they aren't needed at all for me.

    To each their own.

  16. #16

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    I have a pair of ultralight trekking poles that come without straps (as do other brands of ultralights) and I don't miss them. As a matter of fact on my AT thru-hike I removed the straps from my standard Lekis. But that's just my style. For some people straps are genuinely useful.

  17. #17
    Registered User QuarterPounder's Avatar
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    Good Stuff.

    For years I used a 4 ft "stick". Now, I have a pair of Leki poles.

    I've never used the straps and thought about taking them off. After reviewing these posts and the youtube, I'm leavin' them on... and may learn to use the things the correct way

    Thanks

    12 Days and counting.....
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^
    Taking a walk......

    http://www.trailjournals.com/dg2010atnobo

  18. #18
    Registered User World-Wide's Avatar
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    [QUOTE=white_russian;978459]Have you used them by putting the hand through the bottom so the strap is around the top of the wrist and coming up through the palm?

    I use the straps this way also! Makes stepping down easy and places less stress on the wrist! JMHO World-Wide

  19. #19
    Virginia Tortoise
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    The straps are very useful if you loose your balance and/or fall and are able to hold onto the poles. I've been in situations where a pole would have either floated away in a raging stream or fallen down a steep mountain. So I think that the straps help you hang onto the poles in certain situations.

  20. #20
    Registered User climber2377's Avatar
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    i like the straps, they give me support on my wrists and i find i can hold the poles loosely in my hands. i think its a big mistake to take them off.
    "some rise, some fall, SOME CLIMB to get to Terrapin"

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