Silver explorer, artic trekking poles

[weluvafrica]

Can you please let me know, if you've been on this cruise, and if you definitely needed trekking poles. Thank you::)

[Seafairer]

Welcome to the board, Weluvafrica. I'm sure you'll get useful feedback here, but I'd like to suggest that you also call Silversea's office in Ft. Lauderdale to go over any specific questions or aspects of this that you might want to discuss (800-722-9955). If the representative doesn't have your answer, you can speak to their director of shoreside excursions, who has a detailed knowledge of all aspects of all of their tours.

[RachelG]

We did not take our trekking poles and did not need them. Only once did we go up any elevation, on jan mayen, and that was completely voluntary. most people did not climb the mountain there. Actually, i think they would have been in the way getting in and out of the zodiac.

[HDS]

We, and quite a few other passengers, took a pair of telescopic hiking poles (one pole for each of us) to Antarctica. We found them useful for maintaining balance on sloping snow and ice and on uneven rocky surfaces. We hadn't attempted to walk on snow or slippery ice before.

No problem carrying the poles on and off zodiac.

[caradara]

We also each used a pole in Antarctica when walking on ice and snow. They are very inexpensive at Walmart and fold into your suitcase diagonally. No problem with the zodiacs.

[RachelG]

Weluvafrica is talking about the arctic, not Antarctica. We didn't do any walking on ice or snow in the arctic at all. I do have the telescopic kind that I use for hiking, but they really aren't necessary in the arctic.

[jpalbny]

RachelG, you're right that most of the time in the Arctic, the hiking wasn't on snow or ice. There was very little snow in the coastal regions. We did land on 14 July Glacier on our cruise, which did involve hiking on the glacier itself. We didn't bring our collapsible hiking poles and didn't miss them terribly, but wouldn't have minded having them.

 

I'd say - if you don't mind hiking without them, and want to save room, you can go without. If you like having them, and feel more comfortable with them, by all means bring them. You can take them on the zodiac with no problem, and hand them off to the expedition staff when getting in/out of the zodiac. It can be a pain to hold on to your poles and take pictures at the same time...

[RachelG]

Unfortunately, we did not get the opportunity to hike on a glacier. Yes, the poles would come in handy there.

[weluvafrica]

Thank you all, for all the advice about trekking poles:)

[rojaan19]

.... We did land on 14 July Glacier on our cruise, which did involve hiking on the glacier itself.....

 

I'd say - if you don't mind hiking without them, and want to save room, you can go without. If you like having them, and feel more comfortable with them, by all means bring them. You can take them on the zodiac with no problem, and hand them off to the expedition staff when getting in/out of the zodiac. It can be a pain to hold on to your poles and take pictures at the same time...

 

 

I agree with JP - if you have poles they come in handy. We are not use to walking on ice/snow so for my husband and me we thought they were necessary. My husband has a bad knee and they definitely helped him walk the glacier. We will take them again in August - you never know when you might need them and they take up little room in your luggage !

[PennyAgain]

I have a lifetime of experience hiking and as I get older I make sure that I have my telescoping Leki hiking stick with me on all sorts of trips. Easily fits into my checked suitcase.

 

I put it into a plasic bag for packing.

 

I hate leaving home without it.