Trekking Pole Tip Nightmare - And How I Finally Fixed It
Last month, I set out for a four-day trip along the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains, and I was so stoked to really put my gear to the test. About eight miles into day one, the rubber tip on my left trekking pole started coming loose. No big deal-I thought I’d just plug it back in, but it kept sliding off every few hundred yards. By the time I reached my lunch spot, it had vanished somewhere along the trail.
No worries, right? Until I realized hiking on mixed rock and dirt with the bare carbide tip was way louder then expected, and I kept skidding around on smoother rocks. The pole, without its proper tip, wasn’t gripping, and the constant “tink-tink” with every step got super annoying. A noisy, slippery pole wasn’t just uncomfortable, it felt a bit unsafe on the descents.
Here’s what I tried:
- At first, I swapped the remaining rubber tip from my other pole, but then went through the same issue on the other side.
- I tried wrapping duct tape around the end to give it more grip. It helped a little, but wore down after about an hour and left sticky bits everywhere.
- Someone on the trail suggested using a small pebble jammed into the tip and then covering it with tape, but this felt awkward and still slipped.
- At camp, I Googled “trekking pole tip hack” and found recommendations to use a chair leg cap from the hardware store-neat, but I didn’t exactly have that handy in the wilderness.
What FINALLY got me through the trip was actually pretty dumb but worked surprisingly well: the bottom of my old trail runner, which I’d thrown into the bottom of my pack “just in case” (my boots were giving me hot spots). I cut a small chunk (about 1″ square) from the heel using my multi-tool, then jammed it over the end of the pole, securing it tightly with two zip ties and a layer of Leukotape. It wasn’t pretty, but it reduced slip, muffled the noise, and lasted two more days before the tape finally wore out. When that happened, a friend let me try a different style of pole tip-one with a broader, screw-on base-so now I carry those as backup.
Lessons learned & tips:
- If you use trekking poles, check the security of the tips (both rubber and carbide parts!) every trip. Don’t just carry spare baskets-throw an extra rubber tip or two in your ditty bag. They’re light and don’t take up any space.
- Duct tape makes a terrible substitute for trail traction but works as a last resort.
- Zip ties and a scrap of durable rubber (like a broken sandal, shoe, etc.) can be a solid field replacement in an emergency.
- Consider swapping stock pole tips for aftermarket screw-in types if you’ve had this problem before-they’re less likely to get left behind on the trail.
Hope this helps someone else who ends up with a clicky, slippery trekking pole miles from the trailhead!