|
| Home | Guest - Not logged in | |||
|
» Register
» Login
Gear Reviews
Documents
Tools
» Contact
|
Reviews > Trekking Poles > Poles > Gossamer Gear Lightrek Poles > Michael Lissner > Field Report Field Report ofGossamer Gear Lightrek Poles By Michael Lissner Contents of Review: 1. Biographical Information 2. Backpacking Background 3. Product Information 4. Product Description 5. Conditions of Field Testing 6. Results of Field Testing 7. Plans for Further Testing 8. Current Conclusions 1. Biographical Information: Name: Michael Jay Lissner Trail Name: (The) Chemist Age: 22 Gender: Male Height: 201 cm (6 ft 7 in) Weight: 88 kg (195 lb) Email Address: yourmothership at hotmail dot com City of Residence: Berkeley, California, USA [back to top] 2. Backpacking Background: I have been backpacking for the greater part of my life. I started with traditional backpacking while a Boy Scout, but my current style is a highly minimalist one relying more on skill and discomfort and less on creature comforts and toys. Although my backpacking style is an evolving thing, at this point I usually clock in 27.4 km (17 mile) days with a base weight (without food or water) of about 4.1 kg (9 lb), including my tarp, frameless pack and down quilt. My usual stomping grounds are any of the terrain within three hours from here including Desolation Wilderness, Emigrant Wilderness, Point Reyes National Park, Yosemite and others. [back to top] 3. Product Information: Manufacturer: Gossamer Gear Manufacturer's URL: http://www.GossamerGear.com Product Name: Lightrek Poles Size Tested: 130 cm (51 in) Measured Size (from end to tip): 133 cm (52.3 in) Year of Manufacture: 2004 Suggested Retail Price: 95.95 USD Advertised Weight: 60 g (2.1 oz) each (115 cm [45.3 in] size) Measured Weight: 74 g (2.6 oz) each* *Weight was measured on a Sunbeam digital scale that claims accuracy to 1 g or .1 oz. [back to top] 4. Product Description: These are ultralight non-collapsible carbon fiber trekking poles with zero frills. For a much more complete description, see my initial report by clicking here. [back to top] 5. Conditions of Field Testing: Since the initial report, I have taken these poles on three very different trips. The first of these trips was a three-day, 82 km (51 mile) journey in Desolation Wilderness, where I braved cold nights and hot days in elevations ranging from about 2,000 to 2,700 m (roughly 6,600 - 8,860 ft). The second of these was a ten-day camping trip (not backpacking) in Bear Valley, California at an elevation of about 2,750 m (9,000 ft). This trip was of limited relevance in regard to the poles, but I did have my tarp (see above) set up for most of it, so I did get to test the poles with my tarp in rain, hail and snow. The third trip was to Big Sur State Park. During that trip, the temperatures ranged from a nighttime low of about 4 C (40 F) to a high of about 24 C (85 F) and the elevations hovered at around 900 m (2,950 ft). [back to top] 6. Results of Field Testing: After having used these poles for a little while, I have come to like a lot of things about them, but I do have a few complaints and places where I feel they could probably use some improvement. Highest on the list of things I like about these poles is, of course, their light weight. I did get a chance to throw them in a river on my last trip, and yes, as shown on the Gossamer Gear website, they indeed do float. Not only does the foam handle float, the entire pole from tip to grip floats. They're that light. However, with this lightness comes the weakness that I spoke of in my initial report. So far, I am happy to report, I have not broken these poles or even heard more cracking noises as I did when writing the initial report. I have had what I would guess are some very close calls (though it is impossible to really know how close without breaking one of them). Unfortunately, for the most part, these close calls occur when I need the poles most - when I put a lot of weight on them. One thing I like about using poles in general is that by giving me a third leg to put weight on in emergencies, they usually get me out of sticky ankle-rolling situations before too many of my ligaments are torn. Not so with these poles. With these, when I start rolling my ankle and consequently try to put a lot of weight onto one of the poles, the weight just bends it down like a bow, and it doesn't end up serving very well as a cane. On the few occasions this has happened, I have put pretty much all of my weight on the pole, it has bent significantly, and I have managed to right my ankle and put my foot back down before the pole (or my ankle for that matter) bent so much that it broke. The other time that one of these poles came very close to breaking is interesting because it was bent for a prolonged period of time. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me during that event, but it occurred during the ten-day camping trip that I took, and happened when snow started coming down on my tarp during the night (see above for a picture of the tarp just before the snow came down). Unfortunately, because of the high winds that came with the storm I was weathering, my only viable option for setting up the tarp was to set it up with a very shallow angle. Although this fixed the problem of the winds while it was raining, when the snow started coming down, it was not kind enough to slide off the tarp, and instead stayed there weighing it down more and more. Around the middle of the night, I woke up to a tarp in my face, and moved to the center of the tarp, under the height of the ridgeline. When I woke up in the morning, the tarp was again about a palm's distance from my face, and I had to do an army crawl to get out of my sleeping bag. Luckily, the mud from the rains had been covered with poofy snow, and I didn't have to drag my sleeping bag through that mess. However, upon getting up, I looked at the pole that had been holding up the rear end of the tarp, and it was bent to a bow that was now about 2/3 the normal height, which is to say, quite unnervingly bent. I quickly untied it from the guylines it was supporting, and it sprung back into shape as if nothing had happened. Since then, I have hiked with it on another trip, and it has performed as if nothing happened.   As far as the use
during trips goes, I am pretty pleased, but they have taken some
getting used to. The first problem that I have with them is that they
are slightly longer than their advertised length, and I tend to choke
down on them slightly as I hike. The pictures on the left show the two
grips that I alternate between when using these poles. I would say that
I spend about 90% of my time with my hands in the position on the far
left, and about 10% with my thumbs up on top of the poles. When I have
my hands in the position on the far left, I put the wide part of the
grips below my middle fingers, and use my top two fingers to grip the
pole, and my bottom two to guide it forward and back. When I grip the
poles with my thumbs on top, I grip each of them with all five fingers,
and tend to have a more rigid, less "swingy" pole technique.There are two reasons that I have been switching grip techniques. The first reason is to prevent blisters. When I keep my hand in the position on the far left, after about 20 km (12.4 mi) I end up with hot spots on the inside of my thumb where it rubs on the pole. So far, no blisters have come of it, but it is uncomfortable on a minor, nearly unnoticeable level. The other reason I switch to the thumb-on-top position is to obtain a stronger grip that makes the poles slightly longer, being useful for running and pole-vaulting down hills. I should say at this point though that under normal circumstances, I don't believe I grip the poles tightly as I walk. This as well has created a bit of an unusual problem from time to time because if the basket gets caught on a rock or root - as it is wont to do - the pole just falls right out of my hand. Luckily though, it's never happened that I dropped both poles simultaneously, so I've always been able to pick up one dropped pole with the other. Which brings me to my next point ... ... The spectra cords that are in the bottom of the grips have proven to be slightly useful, but I have to admit I don't find a whole lot of use for them. They are supposed to be used for keeper cords to keep the poles from falling on the ground, but I'd rather pick them up once in a while than have something loosely touching my wrist all day. I have found them to be a safe and reliable place for my sunglasses while I sleep, though if they were slightly bigger they would accommodate the arm of my glasses better. All in all, I am definitely glad they are there, but I don't use them very often (kind of like my tarp). The only other problem that I have had with these poles is that they are completely non-collapsible. They really are quite large and awkward. There have been a number of times when this has been a problem. For one, they are longer than the trunk of my Ford Explorer Sport is wide, meaning that they have to go in diagonally, taking up quite a lot of space for what they are. For two, when I don't want to use them, putting them on my pack is pretty impractical because they get caught on every branch that is lower than about 3 m (10 ft). When I was thinking about hitchhiking, on my last trip, they were a bit of a mental deterrent because I knew that whoever decided to stop might not have space in their car for both their length and my height. For the record, I didn't end up hitching, but I am not sure it was because of the poles really. The other problem I have experienced in regard to their length was when I was setting up my tarp. As you can see in the picture at the top of this report, to set up my tarp, I had to angle the poles outward pretty significantly, thereby reducing their length. Though the poles were quite angled, they served admirably in this capacity. The other result of their length is that my idiotic trailblazing adventures off-trail have been somewhat more challenging. It's a bear pushing your way through a plant that you can't get around, but doing so while one hand is holding a pair of really long poles is even harder. On my last trip, I spent about an hour scrambling around on dirt cliffs that were probably too soft to be safely scrambling around on while wearing a pack, and these poles made that dumb endeavor a little more challenging than it would have been had I been able to make them smaller and strap them on my pack. The result of these adventures is that the handles and baskets have suffered some damage. Both are significantly more scratched up than I thought they would be, but I think I will save pictures of them for the final report, when a quality before-and-after comparison can be undertaken (I apologize to those of you reading this in the four months before that report has been uploaded - email me if you really want the pics now). One bit of damage that is not a result of trailblazing, though, is that the little white Gossamer Gear sticker has begun to peel up on both poles - not a big deal, and probably saves me a gram or two each. [back to top] 7. Plans for Further Testing: In the next four months, I will continue using these poles on each of my hiking and backpacking trips both as pace setters as I hike and as tarp supports when the weather turns nasty. I will monitor the damage to the grips and to the baskets, and with any luck, these poles will come through the testing alive. [back to top] 8. Current Conclusions: Looking back on this report, it looks like I might not be happy with these poles. I complain that they bend a lot, that they don't collapse, that they might be capable of giving me blisters if I don't switch hand positions every now and again. In reality, however, I really do like these poles. I don't believe I have one complaint that doesn't come down to a compromise between weight vs. comfort or function. In almost every case where I have a complaint, the solution would mean making the poles heavier, and heavy is one thing they are designed not to be. I look forward to using these for the next four months, and it's hard at this point to imagine not wanting to continue using them after the testing period has ended. Stay tuned for final conclusions. My thanks go out to Gossamer Gear and BGT. Read more reviews of Gossamer Gear gear Read more gear reviews by Michael Lissner Reviews > Trekking Poles > Poles > Gossamer Gear Lightrek Poles > Michael Lissner > Field Report | |||