March 2005
PACIFIC CREST TACKLE
Tackling 2700 miles through a landscape
that can throw anything at you requires
special gear. John Manning outlines a
few of his favourites from his 2004 Pacific
Crest Trail thru’ hike.

I’ve been sold on knee-saving Pacerpoles for some years now and wouldn’t have hiked without them. The angled, carefully moulded handles help your arms to propel you forward; without them, I could never have covered some of the bigger daily mileages that I did – I wore out two sets of pole tips and baskets during the hike.

Maximising performance rather than merely alleviating wear and tear on joints. That’s the claim of Heather Rhodes who has taken the concept of trekking poles back to the drawing board. John Manning reports....

Well-known outdoors folk who have tried Pacerpoles and cast aside earlier allegiances include Chis Bonington, Colin Mortlock, Don Roscoe and even Cameron McNeish. These aren’t people who are easily swayed, yet all swear by the advantages of Pacerpoles over more conventional poles.
John Jackson, former director of Plas y Brenin and a member of the team that made the first ascent of Kangchenjunga in 1955, said he wishes they’d been invented years ago. Ray Goldring, of New Zealand’s Mountain Safety Organisation, was bowled over by the difference Pacerpoles made over regular ski-type trekking poles.

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