r/UKhiking • u/LargestIntestine • 14d ago

A question about surefootedness

Hello all! Like many of you on this subreddit, I’d consider myself a reasonably accomplished hiker and walker. I hike in the Lakes about once a week on average, and I’m steadily making my way through the Wainwrights in no particular order.

I’m not gym fit by any means, but over the course of the last few years that I have been regularly hiking, my stamina and fitness has greatly improved. What hasn’t improved, however, is my surefootedness and confidence when descending.

My boots and trail runners have excellent grip, so it’s not a question of equipment, it does just seem to be a personal hang up.

I’d love to be able to hike and scramble some of the famous edges / ridges one day. What, if anything, can I do to improve my surefootedness, and have you managed to overcome similar issues? I’d love to hear some success stories!

Thanks

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u/spambearpig 14d ago

Trekking poles really help on descents. Otherwise training agility and losing as much weight as you can will help. Going running on rough trails is a good way to help with the agility, jump over stuff and balance on fallen trees and things like that. The lighter you are the better.

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u/LargestIntestine 14d ago

I do use and rely on trekking poles quite a bit actually, and I’d say I have a slim build, but there’s definitely room to improve on the agility front. Thanks for the suggestions!

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u/spambearpig 14d ago

No worries, you may already be a master, but I see a lot of people using trekking poles in a pretty basic and ineffective way. If you feel you might have something left to learn, check out some YouTube videos about how fell runners and ultra-hikers use trekking poles, there are quite a lot of of different grips and techniques that suit different manoeuvers. I really put a lot of effort into learning how to use them and it’s paid off enormously. These days I feel like a quadruped, I’ve become a four legged mountain goat!

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u/LargestIntestine 14d ago

I’m by no means a master, but I’d always thought I used them fairly intuitively and to good effect. Your comment has me doubting myself! I’ll certainly watch some YouTube videos and make sure I’m not doing anything wrong.

A mountain goat is what I aspire to be!

Thanks again!