[at-l] Sticks story

[Cody Girl]

First thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts on hiking sticks.  I've
had a pair of REI sticks for 6 or 7 yrs and the tip broke off of one back in
August.  It took me a while to get to REI, then I didn't actually check them
out while at the store, or upon returning home.  I found myself on a short
hike recently and pulled out the new sticks and discovered that one would
not tighten up.  There's a lesson for me there for sure.

Took a few more weeks to get back to REI, so that gave me time to hear from
y'all.  BTW, the sticks in question are REI Peak UL by Komperdell.

Yesterday I took them in, determined to closely examine some of the sticks
that had been mentioned here, then use the store credit as appropriate.   We
never got that far.  Apparently this particular REI store has seen several
returns for this same issue recently, but also knew what the problem was and
how to quick fix it.  By extending the pole fully, through the red STOP
section. and giving a good strong tug, the top of the stick will come off
and the twist mechanism inside is exposed.  I can then essentially "rewind"
the mechanism and it will tighten right up.  The person I was talking with
believes this happens when people looking at the sticks in the store
repeatedly loosen them up so much the tightening mechanism won't tighten.  I
put on my dubious face, but he was adament that this solved the problem.  We
all kind of played with this a while and it seemed all was well.  So, I came
home with the same sticks.

As I prepared to write this I played with it a bit more and I'm a little
concerned that the stick would not tighten again.  The good news is that I
was able to immediately disassemble the stick, rewind the mechanism, and put
it back together, so at the moment all is well.  I have the dubious face on
again, but my dogs don't really understand dubious and the REI guy is not
here.  So, I will hike with this stick as much as possible in the coming
weeks and this will either become a non-problem or I'll be shopping for
sticks before the big hike next spring.  In the meantime, this is ok for
now.

I agree that using sticks kind of keeps your upper body involved as you
hike.  I have a poor sense of balance and my knees aren't in great shape
either, so sticks have helped me with both of those issues over the
years. However, in the past few weeks while I've been stickless, I've been
hiking some on flats and some on canyon side and I was able to get up and
down the hill without them.  I really thought I had gotten to the place
where sticks were a must for me, so that was VERY encouraging.  I also think
that perhaps the more I use them, the more dependant I become.  I may try
keeping them in the pack unless needed for specific terrain for a bit and
see how that goes, but if my knees start to cry, out they will come.

I often carry them on flat land but sometimes the arms get tired.  They are
extremely effective for knocking spider webs out of the way!

Thanks again everyone, for comments, links, etc
Tortoise
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