Using Embedded Poles: Advantages and Disadvantages

Why use embedded poles？

For lots of people, embedded poles make a long walk easier. A few people find that walking poles ease pressure on their knees, particularly when descending hills. As a general rule, walking poles transfer a few of your load from your legs to your arms and mean that the work in a walk is carried by your whole body, not just your legs.People carrying a heavy rucksack use embedded poles both as a way of redistributing the weight and also as a way to help with balance on tricky sections.

Disadvantages to embedded poles

It's not all good news with poles. Transferring load through the embedded poles to your arms means that you will have tired arms as well as shoulders at the end of a long walk, not just tired legs. Some people get sore wrists with

, though this can often be overcome with correct use of the wrist straps. In deep undergrowth such as heather or long grass, poles can become snagged. A few walkers rely on their poles well above the snow line when it would be safer if they were carrying an ice axe, hence they become a safety liability.

Types of embedded poles

Embedded poles are generally two or three section with a twist or lever locking mechanism to make it easy to extend or reduce the length of them when on the move. They have a ski-pole type handle and a strap that your wrist goes through. At the base is usually a snow or trekking basket to stop the pole going too deep in mud or snow. Below this is a hardwearing steel or tungsten tip for maximum grip on various surfaces. A few poles have detachable rubber feet that can be used on slippy surfaces.