Trekking Poles — To use or not

That’s the question…

The debate is raging in the hiking universe. Trekking poles (a.k.a., hiking poles, walking poles, ski poles), are they helpful or just dead weight? People who use them, swear by them. Others have tried and rejected them. Everyone has an opinion. Ultimately, it may only be a matter of preference but, there is some research on the topic. Recently, Outside Magazine published an article discussing the research surrounding this. The most startling finding was that you burn about 20% more calories with poles compared to without! How can this be when using the poles feels so much easier (at least for this author)?

So, I turned to the hiking and mountaineering community for help. There is a great Facebook group called California Peaks with about 5K members.

My post reads: “Trekking Poles? Anyone? Having done a lot of hikes with and without poles, once I tried them, I was hooked. I could swear that they saved energy…. until I read this article in Outdoor Magazine. Research says that trekking poles will make you burn more calories than without. How do I reconcile this with my own personal experience? The only thing I can think of is that, with the poles, I can distribute load and work more evenly to other parts of my body. For example, I can save 25% of my leg work by distributing it to my arms. There is then a small cost of doing that, as evidenced by the extra calories. There are many other benefits with poles, such as balancing aid, offloading legs when going on a steep decline or incline, fending off bears (well….), etc. How do you feel about them poles?”

It did not take long to get responses with great thoughts, theories and opinions on this matter. Who would have thought that two poles could elicit so much enthusiasm?

Anyway, the benefits seem to outweigh the disadvantages. From the responses, I assembled the following. Poles can…

1. Save you energy on steep terrain (debatable, more about this further down)
2. Help offload your feet, knees and legs
3. Improve balance when negotiating challenging terrain (crossing a creek, for example)
4. Be helpful as a defense weapon (fending off a bear, perhaps?)
5. Be used as a splint to shore up a broken bone
6. Help you avoid puking on your shoes (good one!)
7. Mitigate swelling in hands and arms because you will keep them higher

I really loved the analogy with 4-wheel driving that Verdi Tanrierdi offered. Basically, you will get better traction at a small cost of more energy use.

Some people want nothing to do with the poles:

1. They get caught between cracks and rocks
2. Get in the way of using your hands for other things, like eating snacks or, holding on to things.

What about that extra energy use?

For this mystery, I decided to do my own test. I found a trail with a 30% to 35% slope and for the next 23 minutes, I hiked up and down. The first day, I did it without poles. The next day, I used poles.

As the table shows, even on a steeper slope, I ended up using more energy with poles compared to without. The difference amounts to over 17%, not that far from the research referred to in the article from Outdoor Magazine.

Granted, I was not using any scientific method or tools. I used my FitBit and a stopwatch app on my phone plus a spread sheet.

Anyway…. I will continue using trekking poles for steep terrain, let’s say 25% to 40%. Above that, it will depend on conditions. Maybe an ice axe!