Trekking poles often feature hard metal or carbide tips, which provide excellent traction on trails, snow, and ice. Metal tips can wear down when utilized on ‘enhanced’ exteriors like asphalt. Also, metal tips can leave unwanted scratches on surfaces and damage liable soils. You can use safety rubber tips for these situations.
Notably, rubber tips lessen the bluster of metal tips knocking on the floor. This little advantage can make an astonishing disparity in overcrowded environments. When touring with trekking poles in your baggage, rubber tips are an easy way to decrease the likelihood of other equipment being damaged by stiff metal or carbide spikes.
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Types of Trekking Poles
- Trekking poles. Vended as a pair and utilized in tandem, trekking poles enhance your stability and can lower the strain on your knees while hiking and backpacking. Most are modifiable in size and some include inner springs that grip shock to further reduce impact.
- Hiking staff. Sometimes we name it walking staff or even trip staff, this is a one-pole that’s most compelling when used on somewhat flat terrain and with a thin burden on your back. Hiking staffs are flexible and some include a shock-absorbing feature. They may also include a built-in camera prop under the handle so the team can be utilized as a monopod.
Tip: Always put that special multi-tool in your backpack so you’re ready to go on your next trekking trip.
The Features of Trekking Poles
Leaning on how you intend to use the poles, you might want to think of poles with some of the subsequent elements. Let’s jump into some of them down below!
- Flexible: Many trekking poles alter in length to enhance stability on various terrain. They generally modify from about 24 to 55 inches long. Commonly you’ll want to trim the poles when going uphill and stretch them when going downhill.
- Non-adjustable: Some trekking poles don’t alter in length. These fixed-length poles tend to be more light than elastic poles as they work with fewer parts, making them across-the-board among the ultralight mass. They are ideal for activities where you know you solely need a clear length.
- Shock-absorbing poles. These provide inner hops that immerse shock when you hike downhill. With most poles, this feature can be shut when it’s not critical, like when you’re hiking uphill. Shock absorption is a stunning element for any hiker but is especially advisable if you have unstable hips, knees, or ankles or have had any prior harm to those places.
- Standard poles. These do not have a shock-absorbing component and are more lightweight and less pricey as a matter of fact. While they don’t soak as much effect when going downhill, they do deliver an identical level of proportion and help as shock-absorbing poles.
- Ultralight poles. Ultralight poles present the benefit of less swing weight, which makes them more straightforward and briefer to move. Over the duration of a lengthy hike, this represents less weariness. Ultralight poles are correspondingly more straightforward to pack. The pole shaft’s textile is a key determinant of the pole’s prevailing weight.
Should I Use Rubber Tips on Trekking Poles?
Rubber trekking pole tips are only useful on some surfaces like rock, pavement, cobblestones, or concrete walkways because those are unyielding surfaces.
They are completely useless in rough terrain. Some people just don’t get it and keep on using them. The truth is that rubber tips don’t work in wet grass, mud, or snow. So, people may ask why even bother using rubber tips on trekking poles?
Tip: It is critical to think about what essentials you will bring for one night of camping. Don’t forget this!
Why Even Bother Using Rubber Tips on Trekking Poles?
All the manufacturers of trekking poles, originally make them with metal or carbide tips. They are excellent for soft surfaces like dirt, mud, snow, and ice, but they’re really bad on hard surfaces. Here we come to the point why you should sometimes use rubber tips on your trekking poles.
Rubber tips are excellent when used on hard surfaces such as roads and pavements because they improve traction on them.
They are also cheap so get them just in case. Rubber tips help in reducing noise and protect against wear and tear of your carbide tips. So they have a double protective role of protecting you and your poles and we strongly recommend buying them.
Let’s resume all the benefits of using Rubber tips on trekking poles, and here they are in short:
- Decrease wear
- Get better traction
- Protect the environment (and your luggage)
- Improve pole performance
- Get the right fit
- The takeaway
Decrease Wear on Your Poles
We have already mentioned here that trekking poles come out of the factory with metal or carbide tips installed.
They are also replaceable, so you can greatly extend the life of these parts by covering them with rubber tips. This has proven to be true especially when you use the poles on hard surfaces.
Note: Have you noticed that some trekkers are wearing helmets on the go. This is crucial when surrounded by mountainous terrain.
Get Better Traction
When we want to compare rubber tips with metal tips, we can only conclude that rubber tips provide superior grip on unyielding surfaces. Metal or carbide tips of trekking poles usually slide on these surfaces.
Tip: Notably, you should know that hiking can suppress your appetite by not absorbing good calories? Hiking is associated with stagnant activities and has an immensely higher calory burning pace.
Protect the Environment
Rubber tips will not damage the ground if you are hiking in particularly sensitive areas, such as some historical places and old cultural monuments.
The rubber tips also do not make noise and they protect your other equipment and luggage from the damage that can cause by metal or carbide tips.
Improve Pole Performance
When purchasing rubber tips, pay attention to the so-called “fitness tips”. They have a different shape than standard rubber tips. It is important to know for what purpose you will use your trekking poles.
Tip: Have you ever thought about survivalist camping? There are so many facts about survivalist camping that you need to take into account.
Get the Right Fit
What is the next thing you need to take into consideration, after all these details we have mentioned? Be sure to get the right size of your rubber tip protectors for your trekking poles.
Note: Snakes are not your enemies. They are creatures of the wild and you should never do anything to harm them as they wouldn’t strike first. You only need to avoid rattlesnakes while hiking. There are a couple of tricks to implement in order to stay safe on a hike.
The Takeaway
As we explained here, there are very simple and easy to use, and they also have numerous benefits. So don’t you wait any longer, get them as soon as possible. That goes without saying!
How to Size Trekking Poles
Whether or not you possess trekking poles that modify in size, it’s crucial to know what height to position them at. Improperly adjusted trekking poles can yield pain in your arms, shoulders, rear, and neck.
- Regular hiking. With a fixation on typical hiking, alter the size so that when you hold the pole with the pinpoint on the base near your foot. In addition, your arm forms a 90-degree bend at the elbow. This will be the right length for most of your hiking journey, per se. If you hold poles with three sections, it’s good to set the top adjustment so it’s in the middle of the adjustment range and then set the base adjustment to the length that sets your arm at the correct angle. So, if you need to make changes while hiking, you can utilize just the top adjustment to fine-tune the length.
- Long uphill passages. In this circumstance, you can trim each pole by approximately 5–10cm to get more force and more secure pole plants. The more abrupt the slope, the more you trim those poles. Your trekking poles should help you in moving uphill without causing strain or weariness to your shoulders. As your shoulders should never feel as if they are in an artificial, raised place or as if they are being made up into your pack straps. If yes, you need to cut your poles much more.
- Long downhill routes. Try expanding every pole by about 5–10cm from the length you set it at for regular hiking. Conducting so will hold your body more upright for a fine balance. Whether you’re on a long traversing passage, you can trim the pole on the uphill side and raise the pole on the downhill side as advisable to enhance comfort and resilience.
