All

I'll give another example of how trekking poles can help. When I turned my ankle in rough terrain, trekking poles took enough weight off my ankle to let me haul myself out - w/o having to bag the hike and/or call SAR to haul my overloaded but out of there.

Second example - very useful when ridgehiking, esp. if there isn't anything to grab on to if you slip.

And I hate the things in flat terrain/improved trails - just weight then.

Steadman