Trekking pole recommendations

[Zach]

My mother has been doing some of the smaller mountains with me, and would like to get a set of trekking poles. She's 69 and still gets around pretty well, but the poles would be handy on steeper areas. She's about 6'2" tall, so they would need to extend long enough for her. I don't know anything about poles other than that I see people using them, so any advice about what she should buy would be very helpful and I'll pass it along to her.

[snapper]

Zach - I've been using poles for many years now due to knee issues. Unless your Mom is planning on doing a lot of truly steep terrain, I think she'd be fine with some basic poles. There are "high end" poles from Leki and Black Diamond but she might be fine with poles from LL Bean, REI or even (God forgive me) Wal-Mart. The big thing to look for, in my opinion, is to make sure the locking mechanism is solid so the poles don't collapse under her when weight is put on them. I've had poles do that when traveling downhill but then I weigh 210 lbs. and really put my poles to the test.

Unless things have changed, there are two basic locking mechanisms; one is a twist lock and the other is a thumb lock. I've had both and they each work, On my Leki poles, the locking mechanism has worn out over time but it's still pretty solid; although it will begin to slide over the course of a long day. My thumb lock poles are only a few years old so I haven't had enough time to wear them out so the jury is still out as to how long they'll last. My guess is either style will work. Just keep them clean, be sure the crud, mud and grit is out of the joints and they should last a long time.

Hope that helps. Take care, best of luck to your Mom in selecting poles and until next time...be well.

snapper

[snapper]

Zach - Just went through today's mail and REI is currently selling Leki poles for 25% off. Might be worth a look.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time...be well.

snapper

[billconner]

70, 6-1, 200 pounds - I got the most basic Black Diamond poles from REi with cork handles 10 years ago and they are still wonderful. Help a lot.

[forgedin78]

I bought the absolute cheapest poles I could find online, because I wasn't sure if I would like using them. They were cascade mountain tech, and they were twist lock. I thought I would replace them with nicer ones if I liked using them once I wore them out. That was about 4 years ago and hundreds of miles later, and they are still going strong.

[TCD]

I have some of the Walmart flick lock poles, and some Cascade Mountain Tech poles. The Walmart poles and the BD poles are identical. The only difference is you get to pay extra $ if you want the BD name on the poles.

Cascade Mountain Tech has a nice selection. Their carbon poles are very nice and quite light. And the have flick lock as well as twist lock. And the flick lock tension is field adjustable with no tools, unlike WM and BD, which require a screwdriver to adjust. The CMT carbon poles are not rated for skiing; I broke a couple skiing with them before I realized that. If you need something stronger, they have metal poles as well.

[Zach]

Thank you all very much for the help. It sounds like the cheap ones are the way to go, and that's always good.