[Mike P.]

Two poles are the way to go. In order to save a few dollars, I'm just using old X-C & ski poles, 1 piece, the last time I needed both hands for an extended period or time was 1998.

There might be a couple of places in the northeast where you can't toss your poles down a 6-10 foot section (think the step on Bondcliff or maybe a couple of spots on Garfield in the general area of the campsite) but overall I'm comfortable with the poles in my hands all the time.

I'd want to be able to collapse them maybe if I was doing Huntington, Colden Trap Dike, Cathedral & Dudley on Katahdin, King Ravine, Great Gully, Six Husbands, Castle Ravine & any crawling unbder rocks like perhaps ice gulch & Mahoosuc Notch. I'm tempted to say Huntington's I did with the poles, I'll have to go back there in the next year or two again anyway...

Poles are a big help, I'll only venture short trips without them, under 8 miles on lower peaks or easy trail, Waumbek probably the only 4k I'd do without them.