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

well, since I started the use of the word proprioception on this thread, let me give two illustrations

(1) think curb feelers for cars. Remember those? No the curb feeler is not a literal extension of your brain, of course not Dale, but the information it gives is. The sound signal it gives tells your brain how far over to park the car. Similarly for poles, the signal they give (sound or feel) helps guide you on the trail, knowing where to put your foot.

(2) skiing poles offer some of the same proprioceptive information on the slopes instead of the trail.

(3) Grand Canyon deaths were mentioned on another thread. A common cause of death is standing on the edge, losing spatial awareness, and plopping over the cliff. Just holding onto a tree, or railing ,etc gives proprioceptive clues to staying upright. Even looking at the ground nearby is helpful. Looking out at the vistas with just visual clues is often not good enough because the far, far distance and tiny angles of motion. That clue plus the even worse inner inner balance function gets you into trouble. Just touching something else gives you "hard data" . Just as an aside, if anyone thinks their inner ear balance function is good, then why do pilots flying in a cloud bank without instrumentation find themselves at extreme bank angles, thinking they were level? It seems like physical and visual clues are far more powerful than the inner ear/brain balance function for all of the scenarios listed here.

As for me, I actually prefer a single hiking staff. I prefer its rigidity, especially for going down with a load. And when stopped I prefer to not fiddle with two poles tucked under my arm or rested somewhere. The fancy expensive gear testing info is useful, but it boils down eventually to personal preference.