Trekking poles grip

corblimey

It just occurred to me this morning that I bought trekking poles for a trip I'm taking in September, and have never tried them out. So I'm going to go for a forest walk this weekend to see how they work, but I wanted to check my grip. I've checked videos and images, and think I've got it.

https://flic.kr/s/aHskFnDvQP

If it's not clear from those pics, I've come up through the strap from the bottom, and then just gripped the pole. It doesn't feel the most natural way to hold something, it feels like the straps (particularly the tightener strap) are 'in the way' kind of. And I feel like the outside of the palm (ie the left side of the right palm) is going to get irritated by rubbing against the strap. A pair of gloves would solve that, but I'll be hiking in very hot weather when I go away, so don't want to go down that road.

Any tips? Looser/tighter?

Alun

That's the right grip, but it looks like you need to loosen the straps off a bit, they look a bit tight.

corblimey

Tks Alun. I've loosed the strap a bit so that the "ball" of the thumb is resting against the inside of the strap a bit more. Feels a bit better. I guess the only thing to do is to try it out for an hour or so and see what happens...

unkel

The first time I used poles I overdid it. I walked up Lugnaquilla in just 1.5 hours and it felt great (like I was a beetle with 4 legs), but the outside of my palms (actually the areas just about an inch under the bottom of my thumbs) were badly blistered and have left scars. Since then I bring cycling gloves. You know the type - very skinny fingerless gloves. You can pick up a cheap pair in Dealz for €1.50

hmmm

The secret to trekking poles is that you don't grip the grip Your hand rests on the straps, which take the weight. You use your finger grips to adjust where they're pointing, but you should be able to lean on the poles with all the weight on the underside of your palm.

I'd never put my hands in the straps on open mountain. Fine if you're using them on low level walks or forest tracks but you're more likely to take a fall on steep ground and I wouldn't like to be trying to break my fall with a pole/strap wrapped around my wrist. A person I walk with broke their wrist this way. It's hard to jettison them if they're 'tied' to you.