The Best Hiking Poles: How to Choose Trekking Poles for Terrain and Comfort
· Updated
The best hiking poles for most people are a pair of adjustable aluminium poles with reliable lever locks and cork grips. They take a real load off your knees on descents, steady you on rough ground and river crossings, help drive you up climbs, and some can even pitch a lightweight tent or tarp. For under the cost of a decent pair of boots, they are the single easiest way to make hard walking feel easier.
The choice comes down to a handful of decisions: adjustable, folding or fixed length; aluminium or carbon fibre; the type of lock, grip, basket and tip; and how you size them. Get those right and a pair lasts years. This guide from Camping Sites in Britain walks through each one, and it sits alongside our guide to camping along the UK's national trails, where poles earn their keep on the long days.
Poles are one part of a walking kit that starts at your feet. It is worth reading them next to our take on walking boots or trail shoes, because the two decisions shape how a long day feels more than anything else you carry.
Why use hiking poles at all
Poles share the work your legs would otherwise do alone, and the biggest gain is on the way down. Studies of trekking pole use have measured a meaningful drop in the load going through the knees on descents, which is exactly where most walkers feel it the next morning. On a long, steep descent off a summit that difference is the reason you can still walk comfortably the day after.
They do four other jobs. They give you two extra points of contact for balance on rough, loose or boggy ground and during river crossings, where a planted pole is the difference between a wobble and a swim. They let your arms help push you up climbs, spreading the effort across your whole body. They keep a rhythm going on flat, dull miles. And a good pair doubles as tent poles for many trekking tents and tarps, which saves weight if you are counting grams.
Adjustable, folding or fixed length
The three main designs suit different walkers, and adjustable poles are the safest first buy. Here is how they compare.
| Type | How it works | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telescopic (adjustable) | Two or three sections slide inside each other and lock at any length | Most walkers, mixed terrain, sharing between people, pitching a tent | Slightly heavier, more moving parts than fixed |
| Folding (Z-fold) | Three sections held by an internal cord, fold like tent poles, often with a short adjustment | Fast packing, running, minimal weight, stowing on a rucksack | Less length range, can be pricier |
| Fixed length | One set length, no mechanism | Fell running and ultralight racing where every gram counts | No adjustment for climbs, descents or your height |
For general UK hiking, go adjustable. Being able to shorten poles for a climb and lengthen them for a descent is genuinely useful, and adjustable poles are the ones that pack down to fit a tent or tarp. Folding poles come into their own if you want the smallest possible packed size for scrambling sections or for strapping to a daypack. Fixed poles are a specialist choice for racers.
Aluminium or carbon fibre
Aluminium is the sensible default, and carbon fibre is the upgrade for weight savers who look after their kit. The material decides the weight, the price and, importantly, how a pole fails.
Aluminium is tougher, cheaper and more forgiving. Put serious force through it, trap it in rock or fall on it, and it bends rather than snaps, which means a bent pole often still gets you home. Grades like 7075 aluminium are strong and hold up to hard use. The cost is a little extra weight per pole, which most walkers never notice.
Carbon fibre is lighter and stiffer, and on a long day that saved weight adds up with every swing of your arm. The catch is how it breaks. Carbon can crack or shatter suddenly when it is knocked hard sideways or jammed between rocks, and a cracked pole is done. For rocky, scrambly UK terrain, or if you are hard on gear, aluminium is the safer pick. For fast, light miles on paths, carbon is a treat.
Locking mechanisms
The lock is where cheap poles let you down, so this matters more than the marketing suggests. There are two common systems on adjustable poles.
Lever locks, the external clamp style that Black Diamond calls FlickLock, are the more reliable choice. You flip a lever to clamp the sections tight, you can see and feel that it is closed, and you can tension it with a small screw if it starts to slip. They work with cold or gloved hands and rarely fail without warning. Twist locks use an internal expander that grips when you twist the sections. They are neat and light, but they can slip under load, seize up or wear over time, and a slipping pole on a descent is exactly when you least want one. If in doubt, choose lever locks. Folding poles use a push button and an internal cord instead, which is a separate, dependable system.
Grips, straps and baskets
Grip material and straps decide how your hands feel after six hours, and baskets and tips decide how the poles behave on the ground.
Grips
Cork is the pick for long days and warm weather. It moulds to your hand over time, wicks sweat and does not get clammy, which is why so many premium poles use it. Foam is soft, light and warm to hold, good in the cold and comfortable to choke down on when you grab below the grip on a short climb. Rubber is hard wearing and insulates against cold and shock, but it can feel sweaty and blister a bare hand on a hot day, so it suits winter and occasional use more than long summer miles.
Wrist straps
The strap does more than stop you dropping a pole. Used properly, you bring your hand up through the loop from below so the strap takes the downward push, letting you drive off the pole with a relaxed grip instead of clenching all day. Padded, adjustable straps are worth having. On steep, exposed ground some walkers slip the straps off so a pole cannot trap an arm in a fall, which is a sensible habit to know.
Baskets and tips
Baskets are the discs near the tip that stop the pole plunging into soft ground. Small trekking baskets suit paths, trails and firm ground and are what most poles ship with. Wide snow baskets clip on in place of them for snow, deep mud and boggy moorland, spreading the load so the pole does not vanish to the handle. Most poles let you swap between the two.
Tips are either a hardened carbide or steel point for grip on rock, ice and hard trail, or a rubber foot that pushes onto the point for tarmac, paving, rock slabs and anywhere you want to protect the ground and cut the clatter. Carry the rubber feet, use them on hard paths and stony sections, and pull them off for grip in mud, grass and snow. Carbide tips wear down over years and can be replaced on better poles.
How to size hiking poles
Set the pole so that, standing on the flat with the tip on the ground beside your foot, your elbow makes a right angle of 90 degrees. That is your baseline length. Most walkers land somewhere around 110 to 125cm depending on height, and adjustable poles cover the range easily.
Then adjust for the ground. Shorten the poles by roughly 5 to 10cm for a sustained climb, so you are not reaching up awkwardly. Lengthen them by a similar amount for a long descent, so the pole reaches the ground below you and takes the load off your knees before your foot lands. On a long traverse, some walkers set the uphill pole shorter than the downhill one. You do not need to fiddle constantly, but making the change at the top and bottom of a big hill is worth the ten seconds it takes.
Brands worth knowing
A few names come up again and again for good reason, across every budget.
- Leki, a German brand that helped popularise trekking poles, known for ergonomic grips, secure lever locks and a strong range from folding to fully adjustable.
- Black Diamond, whose FlickLock lever mechanism set the standard for reliable clamping, with well regarded aluminium and carbon models covering trail and mountain use.
- Alpkit, a British brand offering excellent value poles that punch well above their price, a good place to start without overspending.
- Mountain King, a UK maker known for very light poles favoured by fell runners and fast packers.
- Komperdell, an Austrian specialist with a long pedigree in poles for hiking and the mountains.
Spend where it counts. A mid range aluminium pole with lever locks and a cork or foam grip from any of these will outlast a cheap own brand pole many times over, and you will feel the difference within the first hour.
One pole or two, and packing them
Two poles beat one for balance, knee relief and climbing power, and most walkers should use a pair. A single pole or a traditional walking stick still helps on gentler ground, on paved trails, or if you want a hand free for a map, a camera or a dog lead. If you are managing a knee or ankle, two poles share the load far more evenly than one.
Packability is where folding and adjustable poles earn their place. Folding Z-fold poles collapse to around 35 to 40cm, short enough to disappear inside a daypack, which suits scrambles where you want both hands free. Three-section adjustable poles pack down nearly as small and still give you the length range for pitching a shelter. Whichever you choose, poles strap neatly to the side of a rucksack when you are not using them. Our guide to how you plan a multi-day hike covers where they fit into the rest of your load, and the mountain safety guide is worth a read before you take poles onto steeper ground.
Frequently asked questions
Do hiking poles really save your knees?
Yes, on descents especially. Planting a pole transfers part of your body weight through your arms, measurably reducing the force going through the knee joint each step. Over a long, steep descent that is the difference between sore knees the next day and none.
Are aluminium or carbon poles better?
Aluminium for most UK walkers. It is tougher, cheaper and bends rather than snaps if you jam or fall on it, so a damaged pole often still works. Carbon is lighter and stiffer but can crack suddenly when knocked hard sideways, so it suits careful, weight-conscious use on paths.
What length should my hiking poles be?
Stand on flat ground with the tip beside your foot and set the length so your elbow bends to 90 degrees. That is your baseline. Shorten by 5 to 10cm for climbs and lengthen by a similar amount for long descents.
Are lever locks better than twist locks?
Yes. Lever locks, such as Black Diamond's FlickLock, clamp externally, are easy to check, work in gloves and rarely slip. Twist locks are lighter and neater but can slip under load or seize over time, which is why lever locks are the safer choice.
Can trekking poles be used to pitch a tent?
Many lightweight tents and tarps are designed to pitch on trekking poles instead of dedicated tent poles, saving the weight of carrying both. Adjustable poles work best because you can set the exact height the shelter needs.
Do I need one pole or two?
Two is better for balance, knee relief and climbing power, and is what most walkers should use. A single pole helps on easier ground or when you want a hand free, but a pair shares the load far more evenly.
The short version
Buy a pair of adjustable aluminium poles with lever locks and cork or foam grips, size them to a 90-degree elbow on the flat, and carry rubber tips for hard paths and snow baskets for the bog. That covers almost every walker on almost every UK trail.
Sort your poles, sort your footwear, and the hills get noticeably kinder. When you are ready to put them to use, find somewhere to pitch up through our campsite listings, or read more in our guide to camping along the UK's national trails.
