Gene Goldenfeld wrote in message ...

Sport? As in championships? I don't know about that, but cross country
skiers and racers have for long used poles in the off season to do
anything from ski walk to hill bound. The use of poles for hiking and
backpacking became particularly popular in California about five or six
years ago. The use of poles to walk around the block seems to be a
commercial variant that was initially encouraged by Exel's marketing of
a rubber-coated tip and a "Nordic Walker" pole or some such.

FWIW Nordic Walking is not supposed to be an urban extension
of hiking with poles, it is a sport in its own right in that
it involves a slightly different technique (from hiking, roller
skiing or skiing).

The rubber-coated tip, or the "asphalt paw", is but one of
the three tip options; depending on terrain there´s also a
harder tip and a metal spike.

It´s true that the boom (in Finland) didn´t start until Exel
brought its NW poles into the market in 1998, but it wasn´t
a case of Exel figuring out a smart way to sell gear in the
summer, but of Exel designing a pole to meet a modest but
existing demand (mainly from the "sports resorts" where pole
walking was propagated as a great low-impact "health activity")
and finding out much to everyone´s surprise that they had a
hot selling item in their hands.

The rest is history - and at some point money, greed, hype
stepped in and other companies wanted to get on the bandwagon:-)



I haven't tried the rubber tips but would be disinclined to use poles on
sidewalks and asphalt for fear of doing in shoulders and elbows (many more
strokes than with rollerskiing).

I can assure your fear is completely unfounded; the shorter
length of the poles and the different technique make NW
completely unjarring - in fact, it´s great for relaxing
those tight shoulder muscles (which is one reason for its
high popularity with middle-aged office workers).

BTW for someone who is already in good shape or rollerskis,
NW is of use mainly as a variation (and requires some hills
to be exerting enough.)

(Juha Mieto is a keen NWalker, but he is the first to admit
he is just a "cit skier" these days, at 120kg.)



Can't complain, though, if it sends some people toward cross country skiing.

I´m not sure there´ll be much crossover. In this country, those
who didn´t ski before simply continue their NW throughout the
year (thus bringing a newcomer to the fauna sharing our XC
trails).


Anders