Reviews > Trekking Poles > Poles > LEKI Super Makalu COR-TEC PA > Owner Review by Thomas Vickers

Leki Super Makalu Cor-Tec PA Trekking Poles Owner Review

August 24, 2005

Thomas Vickers
37 years old
Male
5 ft 11 in tall (1.8 m)
175 lb  (79 kg)
redroach@pobox.com
Southeast Texas, Houston Area

Tester Background:
I grew up in the piney woods of southeast Texas. Camping was a quick trip into the mosquito-infested woods behind the house. My style has evolved and over the last 4 or 5 years, I have begun to take a lighter weight approach to hiking gear (I still use sleeping bags and tents, just lighter versions). While I have flirted with lightweight hiking, I feel that I am more of a mid-weight hiker now. My philosophy is one of comfort, while carrying the lightest load possible

Testing Locations and Conditions:

South East and Central Texas:
Temperatures between 40 F and  95 F (7 C to 35 C).

North/Central California: 
This includes altitudes from 9,000 to 13,000  feet (2,700 to 3,200 meters) and temperatures between 35 F and 75 F (2 C and 24 C).

Arkansas:
Altitudes of 1,000 to 2,000 feet (305 to 610 m). Temperatures between 35 F and 95 F (2 C and 35 C).

Terrain:
Trails, boulders, rocks (1-3 feet (30.5 cm - 91 cm ) in diameter), mud, snow, sand. 

Precipitation:
Everything from rain to hail and everything in between.

Activities:
· Day hikes and weekend trips
· Long Hiking trips (5+ days)
· Shelter supports

And some background:
I first used hiking poles during a week-long trip to Yosemite.  One of my hiking partners had used them for several years and I had given him a lot of grief over them.   They just weren't part of what I considered wilderness gear. Basically, my opinion was that if you were weak enough to need hiking poles, then you shouldn't be on the trail.  On the last day of my trip to Yosemite, this opinion changed suddenly.   The previous afternoon I had fallen and twisted my knee. The injury didn't seem so bad until the next morning.  The knee was swollen and tender and I still had 8 miles (13 km) until the trailhead.  My friend loaned my his poles and the next eight miles were a lot easier than I had expected them to be.  In short, I realized that these poles were useful, but I was still a bit reluctant to get a pair.  I was finally convinced to get a pair when another member of my hiking group was struck by lightning the same year I hurt my knee.  Without his poles he would never have gotten down off the mountain he was on in order to get medical attention.  After that incident, I knew I needed to get a pair of hiking poles as soon as possible.

Description:
It took several months for me to reach a decision, but in the winter of 2001 I purchased my first pair of hiking poles.  My darlings are  a set of Leki Super Makalu Cor-Tec PA AS poles.  These poles are three section poles with an adjustable anti-shock spring, a cork-like grip material (Cor-Tec), angled grips, and adjustable comfort wrist straps.  They have a cool gold and black color scheme and are a lot more advanced than the set of poles that I had originally borrowed.  I choose the the poles based mainly on the grip material and anti-shock features.  Several trips to sporting goods stores convinced me that the Cor-Tec material of the grips was much less slippery than the "rubbery" grip material on other models of poles.  I just like the way that it felt and I also feel that it is less prone to damage than any of the other grip materials I saw. 

The anti-shock feature is also a great thing in my opinion.  It is easy to adjust and when in its stiffest (least amount of shock absorption) setting, the poles are strong and steady with all of my body weight on them.  I also like the way the pole length is adjusted.  Simply turn the segment counter-clockwise, pull it out to the desired length, then turn clockwise until it is tight and will not turn anymore. 

Use:
One thing that I tend to harp on again and again is that I prefer my hiking gear to have a multitude of uses.  If I can find more than one use for a piece of gear, then it is likely to make repeat appearances on the trail with me.  The longer I have had my Leki Super Makalu Cor-Tec PA AS, the more uses I have found for them.  They started off a simple hiking poles.  They help me (who is super clumsy) to stay upright on narrow trails, keep from falling off of treacherous trails, hop along boulders, pick hats out of streams, cross streams without falling in, cross streams without falling over in the rushing water, and that is just the most common things I have used them for.   Over the past couple of years I have used them as integral parts of several shelters.  There are two tents and even a hammock that I have used on the trail that the Leki poles are integral parts of.  This saves me the weight of having to carry tent poles and it allows me to pitch my hammock on the ground when there are no trees.   In one instance I used a ground sheet from a tent and my Leki Poles to create an extra vestibule on the back of my tent so that I could keep gear dry during a rain/hail storm. I have even strung line between my poles to create a clothes line so that I could dry my clothes after washing.

While I love the fact that I have so many alternative uses for these poles, their main use is when I am in motion along a trail or even off of a trail.  I have had to boulder hop, rock hop, and general make my way over very rough ground on many occasions with my Leki Super Makalu Cor-Tec PA AS poles.  They have taken a beating and gotten some scratches, but they have never given out on me and they have made these rough types of terrain passable by me. I doubt that I could have covered some of the ground I have traveled without these poles.  Being as clumsy as I am, these poles are a real life saver when fording streams.  They have helped me balance as I crossed on tree trunks and they have kept me balanced when I had to walk in moving water on slippery rocks. Before I purchased these poles I took more than one unexpected dip in cold streams because I lost my balance.  These unexpected dunkings are now a thing of the past.

I have also had the chance to use these poles on snow. While this is the least encountered weather issue for me on my trips, it was nice to see that the Leki Super Makalu Cor-Tec PA AS helped me conquer another extreme trail condition with only one fall along the way.   For a clumsy oaf like me, that is a great thing.  Now extreme terrain is not the only reason I use these poles.  When going downhill, I adjust the anti-shock spring to its most absorbent setting and head down.  This has saved an incredible amount of wear and tear on my knees.  It also makes my downhill travel much safer. I was prone to slipping, ankle twisting, and falling due to my swift downhill 'sprints'.   The Leki poles have allowed me to keep up a lively pace while going down, but they have also helped me keep from hurting or damaging myself in the process.  I cannot even count the number of times they have kept me from taking a header on a rocky downhill section of trail.

Durability:
My poles are about four years old.  They have been scratched, banged, and dunked on many occasions.  The poles are no longer shiny and cool looking, but they definitely have a lot of miles left on them.  The carbide tips still bite into rocks and the anti-shock springs show no signs of giving out. In fact, other than cleaning the poles, I have not performed or needed to perform any real maintenance on them.  I do have a spare set of expanders (used to adjust pole length) in a drawer, but I can't see using them until the old ones give out.  I even have the original baskets that came with my poles.  The grips and straps are in great condition and work wonderfully after all my abuse.   I feel that I am going to get a lot more use out of these hiking poles before I need to repair or replace them.  They are just plain durable.

Final thoughts:
I really like these hiking poles.  They have been super dependable and have never let me down.  There has been one small issue with them, but it is minor.  The problem I have is that the poles are very hard to adjust, then secure, if my hands are wet, cold, or in gloves.  This isn't a huge thing, but at the end of the day when I am tired, hungry and cold, any adjustments to the Leki Super Makalu Cor-Tec PA AS tend to take me a lot longer than they do in warmer or drier conditions.

At this point I can't even think of being on the trail without these poles.  It just isn't going to happen as far as I am concerned.  I am far too clumsy to be on the trail without them and as I get older, they help keep the wear and tear on my knees to a minimum.  If for some strange reason I had to replace these poles, I would definitely get this same model again. Of my five regular hiking partners, I have even convinced two of them to get this exact model of Leki hiking poles.  Now this makes for interesting situations every morning as we sort our gear out, but it proves to me that they are a good investment for any hiker.   

Reviews > Trekking Poles > Poles > LEKI Super Makalu COR-TEC PA > Owner Review by Thomas Vickers