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Are walking sticks for hiking popular? They are in Georgia




Are walking sticks, hiking poles, trekking poles, alpine stocks, staffs, dangs, or pilgrim’s poles in style and popular? They are in Georgia, home of the Caucasus Mountains and rolling hills near the capital Tbilisi. Hiking around the hills of Tbilisi, people with walking sticks are a common sight. In fact, walking sticks are becoming increasingly popular for everyone, from casual walkers to alpine mountain hikers.

On one of my walks around the hills, I met a Georgian woman carrying a bamboo walking stick. Her stick had many uses: as a rhythmic walking pacer; a prop to hold onto when picking nettles; a stick to poke the ground to get a better look at plants; to wipe away cobwebs across the path; to clear the path ahead; to take the weight off her knees; to reduce stress on her back and hips; to help maintain her balance especially when walking downhill or down steps; to lean on or push up when walking uphill; to ward off dogs; to signal to others (‘here I am’); to point to objects along the walking trail; and to give me directions.

The walking stick was not a cane or a crook (a short stick with a bent top). Her walking stick did not have handles with adjustable wrist straps, nor was it made of titanium or aluminium, and nor did it have anti-shock springs or rubber tips. It didn’t have a snow basket, nor was there an embedded compass. It was not even ergonometrically designed.

Hers was an improvised bamboo stick, of about six feet (1.8 metres), picked up in the hills where she was walking. Hers was light, hollow, with a comfortable diameter that was easy to hold.

Hers was not fancy, but it did a good job. I could have used one a few weeks ago when I scrambled uphill over a patch of prickly pears.










MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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  1. Walking CanesMarch 9, 2023 at 8:11 PM

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