LEKI Super Makalu PA SA Trekking Poles ~ Over 200 Miles of Testing
Written: Sep 07 '05 (Updated Sep 07 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great absorption, I like the cork/rubber grip and positive angle, grabs everything well, strap comfortable
Cons: Pricey but worth it
The Bottom Line: Great long distance hiking poles or for the casual dayhiker. Well made, a great warranty, and not too heavy. The best pole on the market - 2004 Backpacker's Choice.
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| nchoward's Full Review: Leki Super Makalu Cor Tec Positive Angle (2) |
I recently finished the 211-mile John Muir Trail that spans from Mount Whitney north to Yosemite Valley. All said I probably covered closer to 230 miles with added side trips and the 11 miles from Mount Whitney to Whitney Portal parking lot. I used my LEKI Super Makalu COR-TEC PA AS every mile, every stream, and every snow pack.
WHAT IS COR-TEC PA AS? COR-TEC is the cork/rubber mixture used for the grip. PA means the Positive Angle of the grip, and the AS is for the Anti-shock system of the pole. I will cover these in great detail below.
THE TREKKING POLE BASICS
Shaft: Aluminum Anti-shock, 3-section heat treated for high tensile strength
Length: minimum 80 cm (32 in); maximum 140 cm (55 in)
Weight: 21.7 oz. per pair
Grip: COR-TEC (natural cork and rubber) with 15 degree Positive Angle
Strap: Auto Comfort Strap
Tips: Carbide flextips that flex up to 30 degrees with Plastic retaining tips for easy transport
Finish: Anodized
Basket(s): Performance Trek Basket Sizes: Adjusts from 80-140cm
Warranty: Lifetime Warranty Against Shaft Breakage
MY EXPERIENCE - When I hiked about 280 miles earlier this summer on the Appalachian Trail, I carried the Komperdell Umbrella Trekking Pole and 1 Alpine Masters Trekking Pole because of the massive amounts of rain (at least ½ the time I was hiking). I hiked with a guy that used the LEKI Super Makalus and loved them and only heard great things about the company from all hikers.
I could have used my hybrid trekking pole system but I decided to change because:
1) The high Sierras are not supposed to rain all that much so I didn’t need the Komperdell Pole. (Read my trail journal at www.trailjournals.com/howard to see how that rain thing didn’t work out for me).
2) I was also displeased that the Alpina Masters’ tip replacement system became damaged from just the 2 weeks of hiking I completed. The plastic piece that holds the tip in place mushroomed out after it was bent by a rock. Replacing the tip meant bending or breaking the plastic – I was not interested in doing that.
WHERE TO SHOP - I found my LEKIs online at eBay just under $100 new. The seller included a $15 travel case (looks like a nylon cue carrier), so I feel that I got a pretty good deal for these $139 MSRP trekking poles. It will be hard to find these on sale under $110 as they are reviewed so well and most owners will not sell their used pairs.
THE POLES - The trekking pole is a painted black/gold and is an anodized, heat treated aluminum. The poles extend out to 140cm maximum length (great for anyone up to 6ֺ” in my opinion) and can be broken down to 80cm or 32”. I went even farther and loosened the pole so much that I could pull the top section off and deceased the packing length to less than 30”. This helped me when I shipped these poles in my checked baggage and the duffle bag was only 30” long. TSA does not allow trekking poles to be carried on any flight. The paint and metal held up over the 200 miles that is basically all rock, mountain passes, and streams. Cosmetically, they look like they’ve only been out for some day hikes.
The poles adjust to where you want them and stay there. LEKI claims that, once properly adjusted, the Easy Lock System will exert 140kg of pressure so your poles do not slide. I had to adjust my poles perhaps once or twice daily. This was far better than my Komperdell and Masters poles.
THE GRIP - The 15 degree positive angle (PA) grip works wonders on your wrist and forearms. I know the difference because I’ve hiked with a staff and a PA trekking pole at the same time. The staff does not allow for your wrist to “lean” forward as you hike so it stresses your wrist back. You wrist might be a little sore at the end of a long day, which is something that never happened with the PA grip.
The COR-TEC part of the name means it has a Cork and Rubber mix used in the grip. The grip is great for the most part as it feels great in your hand and has contours for you fingers to lie. The only downfall to the mixture with rubber is that the grip actually got slippery when I was sweating harder. Natural cork would be much better for the absorption, however, the COR-TEC is very resilient and can put up with a lot more abuse (e.g., your poles falling as you lean them on a tree). Unlike my Masters’ all rubber grip that left a nice blister on the inside of my thumb after 30-40 miles, I never got a single blister from the LEKIs.
THE STRAP - The strap is a felt-like and nylon top-bottom design for greater comfort. The felt-like material feels great against my wrist and it even wicks away some of the sweat on warmer days.
The strap tension system is easy to use, but you have to stop walking to really use it – at least I had to. There is a dial on top of the trekking pole that tells you right and left poles and also has a symbol. I thought that the would mean tighter, but I had to turn both dials in opposite directions to loosen the dial to adjust the wrist strap. Once the dial is loose, you simply adjust your strap to your taste and tighten the dial again.
How to use straps - The grips of trekking pole should not be held like the last bottle of beer in a bar full of alcoholics. The strap is there for you to press down on for forward movement. Here’s what I do: I hold the strap up from the pole first, extend all my fingers joined, and push my hand through the loop. I then simply push my wrist down and grab the grip. The strap should be pushing both on the inside of your wrist and on the top where a watch will usually rest. All you have to do is now push down on your straps instead of grabbing the grips each step you take.
I found this page for trekking pole beginners. It is a very elementary guide at using poles. http://www.personal.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/poles.htm
SHOCK ABSORPTION - Trekking poles are not supposed to be used just to try to take the strain off your knees and hips. I find that they are best used for primarily balance and to catch yourself if you slip on rocks or at fast creek/river crossings. People that rely on trekking poles to save their knees entirely will probably and up straining their arms or fall anyway because the pole will slide out when there is too much weight bearing down.
LEKI Super Makalus are some of the only trekking poles out there that let you choose 3 different absorption types. You can select no SA (for uphills), medium, and full SA. It is all personal taste. I selected the medium setting and used that for all the ups and downs.
To adjust the SA, LEKI made it simple to just push all the way down on your pole vertically and turn your pole in the direction of great or lesser SA. Your owner’s manual will walk you through this. I like to take apart my poles and adjust them while I look at them. I’ve seen people adjust their poles to two different settings and just “thought” they did it the right way. Taking apart the pole is too easy and it gives you a chance to clean the spring and elastomer if needed.
THE TIPS - Like most poles, the LEKI poles have a carbide tip. What I really liked about these poles, however, is that the hardened rubber outer can bend up to 30 degrees without stressing the pole. I had to look at my pole perhaps 4 times over my hike when I though I must have bent the pole after I got the tip stuck between two rocks. To my relief – each time – the pole look perfect even though the outer tip portion showed a little scar.
The tips are concave carbide but grab just as well as the carbide tips I’ve seen that have little spikes on the end. I had absolutely no problems with the tips grabbing rock wet, angled, or of any type.
The LEKI COR-TEKs comes with the summer/performance basket only. You can purchase additional baskets for the winter or to satisfy your taste. You can purchase snow baskets or even rubber fitness walking tips.
IMPROVEMENTS - The only improvement I would like to see would be making a grip with Left and Right markings that actually stay longer than 200-300 miles (mine started to wear off around 100 ) and make the dials more understandable. One would think means tighter, but mine didn’t work out this way. I am not sure if this was a fluke.
OVERALL - I would not leave home without these poles even for a day hike. I hiked right around 500 miles this summer and would hate to think the nasty cuts I’d have or sore knees I would be icing if it wasn’t for trekking poles.
I also hiked about 100 miles in the Sierras wearing the camp sandal crocs. The only way I could walk so long in these was because of the trekking poles. Even though I took my crocs across snow packs and over 13,000 feet, I need the poles because the sandals did not have great traction.
Check out there website for taking apart your poles and pictures of the SA system and locking mechanism. http://www.leki.com/html/trek_polebasics.asp
Random Trivia - Makalu is the 5th largest mountain in the world standing at 8,475 meters (27,805 feet)
LEKI is pronounced, “Lake-ee”. LE is the first two letters of the owner’s last name, Klaus Lenhart, and KI is from the location of the company, Kirchheim/Teck, Germany
Recommended:
Yes
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nchoward
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Location: USA
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Happy father of the most beautiful girl in the world
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