[pct-l] trekking poles with lever lock

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

It's just a hiking stick, not crutches. Your lever-lock pole can also  
suffer an unexpected collapse if a) you stick it in a hole you didn't  
see or b) you didn't tighten the levers.

Just think of all the millions of times your feet slipped beneath you  
or you stepped on a loose rock or a slippery log and you managed to  
right yourself and hike on. Your ankles didn't break then.

I know it's still a few weeks before everybody leaves, but please  
please stop what-iffing yourselves to death. In a few weeks, none of  
this is going to matter anymore.

Diane
On Mar 20, 2011, at 7:45 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:
>
>
> Steel eye's posts are always good advice to take;  but I wonder if  
> a pole more likely to slip at the wrong moment might lead to hurt  
> ankles, other falls etc.  Vs a pole that won't slip;  it might  
> break but would be far less likely to do so...
>
> ... I have had my BD ergo corks slip on me before,  in a heavy  
> volcanic dust area they weren't tight enough and eventually slipped  
> about two inches... I didn't fall,  but at the wrong moment would  
> have fallen the same had they broke or slipped two inches either way.
>
> If breaking the poles is a concern the BD poles are easy to leave a  
> little looser so they will slip under hard strain...