Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Are trekking poles necessary/recommended?

I read the linked article.

While the article lists both advantages and disadvantages, I thought it was pretty obvious that the stated advantages greatly outwewighed the stated disadvantages, and that some of the disadvantages were more like stating the obvious and were easily overcome. The "disadvantage" of raising your heart rate due to higher upper body exertion is listed earlier in the article as an advantage, and even so, I would think that less lower body work (since poles spread out the exertion over the body more evenly) would offset and nullify any "disadvantage" of an increased heart rate due to added upper body work. From my own experience, I would disagree with the conclusion that hiking poles are unnecessary for the normal healthy hiker. I am neither old, fat, nor ill, and they are very helpful to me in numerous situations without any of the disadvantages stated in the article. Certainly there are situations where using hiking poles is not a good idea (where you have to use your hands, and if you are more likely to trip over them than not). But these exceptions are fairly self-evident and still do not, in my mind, outweigh the far greater advantages of using them in the remaining more frequent situations. Taking little "elastic" baby steps mostly down an 11-mile trail (in the case of the MWWT) is not an option for most people if they want to get down without taking hours to do it. What the article did get right in the end is stating that every hiker should weigh the advantages against the disadvantages and proceed accordingly. So after having read the article, I personally see no disadvantages whatsoever to using hiking poles on something like a normal Mt. Whitney Trail dayhike while carrying at least a daypack (which most everyone hiking that trail carries).


Agree. Having said that, however, they are beneficial.

CaT