Hiking poles and lightning

“I've been carrying aluminum hiking poles for years now and have been caught in several sever lightning storms.

What do you do with the poles in those situations?

Would Carbon poles be safer?

Or, do you need to worry at all?
last edited: 8/22/07 8:41:53 AM”

“I've looked into this (your 1st question) with the same concern - but take this w/ a grain of salt.

My understanding is that you are not more likely to get struck if you have the poles, but if you do get struck, you stand a greater chance of injury.

I typically keep hiking in storms, but if my wife or somebody was with me, I'd stop and separate myself from metals.

Also, the best place to go is sometimes up, depending on the layout. Say for example you're on a mountain when the storm strikes. Imagine the mountain tilted so that where you are hiking is level with the earth - in other words, if you're on the side of a mnt, the bottom of the mountain tilts up until it's parallel with the top of the mnt. Then, seek what would be low ground from that image. Sometimes, that's higher ground, othertimes, it's lower or even nearby. Of course, look for what would then be a "ditch" and lay low. Sit on your heals, cover your ears, close your mouth and eyes.

I don't do all that though.

not sure about carbon vs. aluminum - I have carbon
last edited: 8/22/07 8:51:21 AM”

“Sit on your heals, cover your ears, close your mouth and eyes.

why is that???”

“divinity

you want to cover the "exit" holes, that is usually where damage occures to the body when lightning strikes - sitting on your heals minimized your height and your ground based surface area

I'd recommend you just get ready to "cover up", then when you're about to get hit (you'll feel tingly), go for it.
last edited: 8/22/07 8:54:23 AM”

“Because, along with hollering "I can't hear you", that's what he does when confronted with a good point from the left:)”

“oh...I have to say it......should I stick my finger up my butt too???...lol..hahahahahahaaaa.......

..forgive me ...I'm hysterically nervous...”

“it's best a friend do that for you - I've heard



last edited: 8/22/07 8:57:30 AM”

“oh...I have to say it......should I stick my finger up my butt too???...lol..hahahahahahaaaa.......

..forgive me ...I'm hysterically nervous...”
divinity
11:54:28 AM
8/22/07

Is that really the orfice you're most concerned with?

BS - you carry an umbrella in a thunderstorm?

If above treeline, if your the highest object, your poles might be a worry. The greatest charge is coming from bald face rock or trees. Your poles are too puny to attract much.

I think.”

“Speak for your own pole, BM. Mine's just fine.”

“lmao....hahahahahahaaaaaa........”

“ummm i hate electrical storms...now I know why I dont do summer backpacking trips...lol.

Do those trail shelters make you any safer you think? (that is if you were lucky enough to be near one when the storm hit)”

“That's because you implanted aluminum.”

“1. Find the tallest tree around.
2. Climb it.
3. Stick your poles as high in the air as you can reach.

It's been my experiance that if I try to get something to happen then it probably won't.”

“Gee, I guess I better stay out of storms. I have three wires in my body, each of them ending somewhere in my heart!

Ouch, that could sting!

Plus back in 1990 they used steel wire to sew my chest back together.

Told my children not to have me buried, after I die. Just roll me to the recycling plant and see how much they can get for all the metal.
last edited: 8/22/07 9:12:16 AM”

“Lightning is too random and unpredictable for aluminum hiking poles to make any difference. The only way to be safe is to stay inside. I'm taking my chances.”

“Nothing random about it. A connection is made between opposite charges by way of least resistance.

Completely predictable. Just gotta measure charges.”

“I thought the main reason for getting rid of metal objects was to prevent them from burning you should you get struck.”

“I thought the main reason for getting rid of metal objects was to prevent them from burning you should you get struck

exactly”

“so have we agreed that hiking poles don't actually draw lightening your way... significantly increase your chances of being struck? The wires in my head are already crossed...I don't need lightening messing with my wiring :)”

“Very interesting.
BM, I occasionally carry an umbrella. I see your point; it is a piece of metal that you stick up in the air like a lightning rod.

With the hiking poles, I have surmized from Sarge that you are not more likely to be hit by lightning, but if you do get hit you are more likely to sustain greater injury from the burns from a red hot piece of metal.

I do like the example given by Sarge about looking at the topography of the mountain side and trying to locate the area that is out of the way of normal flow.

In looking at my original three questions:
We answered the first one (What do you do with the poles?) and maybe the third one(do you need to worry at all?),

what about the second one: Would Carbon poles be safer?”

“lightning is like a zillion volts. if it's going to fry you it's going to fry you. your trekking poles won't make any difference.df the amount of dielectric presented by your average boot or sleeping pad presents no challenge in the face of such an event.”

“If you're on top of a baldface in a thunderstorm then wouldn't holding your poles up into the air might be a really bad idea?

Relativity, no?”

“what about the second one: Would Carbon poles be safer?

Safer? If you were struck by lightning wouldn't make any difference. I think anything lashed to your pack that so it is higher than your head could be considered a lightning rod whether metal or carbon.

From everything I have read about people being struck by lightning where it exits the body to ground is anybody's guess. The feet seem to be the #1 point though.”

“This calls for an experiment.”

“Ditto.  I'll volunteer someone else to walk a couple of hundred feet ahead up the mountain waving their poles in the air.”

“I believe Carbon Fiber conducts electricity just as well.”

“everything is conductive at a zillion volts”

““everything is conductive at a zillion volts”

Exactly, which is why lightning is random. Lightning doesn't strike the highest point of a mountain or the tallest tree in the forest or the only boat on the lake. Those things may be mathematically slightly more probable to be hit, but that's not what happens. Lightning bolts snake out of the sky at a zillion volts and touch where ever they happen to fall - they don't take a direct path of least resistance. They sometimes take horizontal paths across the sky for miles before touching earth.

I like reading the lightning strike stats on the NOAA site. You can see that in CO, very few people are struck above treeline. Most are on farms, golf courses, or in the woods.”

“Statistics say that generally more people die being hit by lighting bolts than from shark attack.”

“Always hike with a One Iron Golf Club.”

“...especially in the mountains.”

“Interesting points. I was in a tent one night with aluminum tent poles and got to thinking about the lightning popping all around and the aluminum tent poles and the lightning hitting the aluminum tent poles and the possibility of me getting fried. Then I though about the bear cables (in the Smoky's) and that I have never seen a bear cable that has been hit by lightning, and that if anything around ought to get hit by lightning it ought to be a bear cable strung up between two poplar trees. So, I went to sleep.

I do remember on report earlier this year about a camper getting their tent pole hit by lightning and dying. The "official's" response was to get out of the tent in a lightning storm. They also said something about the squat down and cover your head thing. I thougt that was rediculous. I would be a much better attractor and conductor soaking wet that the tent pole as I have a great mass.

I thing you are right. You try to keep yourself out of the most likely places to get hit, but at the same time, there really isn't much you can do about it.”

“Euro...How many die from a Lightning bolt WHILE being attacked by a shark....? Just wondering...

Oh and for any non golfers...carry a one Iron because EVEN GOD CANNOT HIT A ONE IRON.”

“...or how many sharks die from lighting bolts, whethter they are golfing or not? I guess flying birds can get hit from lighting bolts?”

“So a zillion is actually several hundred million ---

But as they say, "it's the amps that get ya".”

“Well for dang sure you better watch out for those Forking Lightning Flashes....”

“You have a several hundred times chance of being murdered on any given day than dieing from lightning. I researched this a while back. If you don't go out the door worrying about getting a cap in yo ass, don't worry about the freakshow in the sky.”

“Tech ya got that right....live like you will die tomorrow.”

“You have a several hundred times chance of being murdered on any given day than dieing from lightning. I researched this a while back.


Sure, but what happens to your chances when you're hiking on a mountain during a thunder storm?

It's like, there are EXTREMELY LOW odds that any given person will be killed by a stingray, but what happens to those chances when you swim 2 feet above one and prod it with your finger?”

“I think your odds go up if you walk around above treeline in electrical storms.... or if you play golf (esp. in Florida).”

“Told my children not to have me buried, after I die. Just roll me to the recycling plant and see how much they can get for all the metal.
last edited: 8/22/07 11:12:16 AM”
nowslimmer
11:08:04 AM
8/22/07

lol...hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!

...rotflmao”

“given a long enough timeline everyone has the same chance of death... 100%.”

“Consider this - you never see the fried remains of marmots, big horn sheep, or mountain goats above treeline. Nor do you see burnt heron nests in the tops of dead trees in lakes and on river banks.”

“Try some sort of systematic study instead.”

“"clean" lightning!”

““Consider this - you never see the fried remains of marmots, big horn sheep, or mountain goats above treeline. Nor do you see burnt heron nests in the tops of dead trees in lakes and on river banks.”
toejam

LOL! You made me flash back to the farm days growing up. Driving down the road with my uncle the day after a huge storm, we look over at a herd of angus under a tree and their bodies were all bloated. You could see where bark had been blown off the tree by a lightning strike.

My uncle's commit..."Looks like I need to call my insurance."”

“In Other Lightning-related News:

Space Weather News for August 23, 2007
http://spaceweather.com

On Aug. 20th, an amateur astronomer in Oklahoma scanned the sky for meteors using a low-light video camera--but instead of meteors, he recorded a bizarre upside-down form of lightning called "Gigantic Jets." Discovered in 2001, Gigantic Jets are enormous discharges that leap upward 50 miles high from the tops of thunderclouds. They are related to better known sprites and elves, but are larger and more dramatic. The Oklahoma Jets are the first ever photographed over the continental United States and they may provide key data to researchers working to understand the phenomenon. Visit http://spaceweather.com to view a movie of the Jets and to learn how you might be able to catch them yourself.

If a friend sent you this alert and you would like to subscribe, click here: http://spaceweather.com/services/”

“Yeah, saw those pics on spaceweather. Very cool!”

“Guys? Do you think we can reserve the word "cool" (as in 'Fonzie cool') for things not weather related?



last edited: 8/24/07 11:29:26 AM”