Yo, what’s going on everybody—Mike here with BackpackingTV, and today we’re talking about sticks… the fancy ones from the internet: trekking poles. I’ve been guilty of neglecting them in the past, and the place that really hammered that lesson home was Cape Inberg in the Faroe Islands—the tallest sea cliff in the world. The climb up was fine, but the descent was basically a straight bomb down a goat trail, and I’ve never wished harder that I’d actually packed my poles. In this video I break down why trekking poles have one of the biggest price swings in all of backpacking gear—like $20 all the way to $200+. The big takeaway is that “most expensive” doesn’t automatically mean “best for you.” If you’re mostly doing day hikes and just want stability on rocky terrain, you probably don’t need to spend a ton. But if you’re on extended trips and you’re super weight-conscious, paying more for poles that weigh next to nothing can make a lot of sense—especially if you’re carrying them for days before you really need them. My general advice, like with most gear, is to aim somewhere in the middle: enough quality that they won’t break immediately, without paying top dollar for ultralight benefits you might not actually need.