How do you feel about those poles - do you find them a reliable tool, easy to use, quickly able to put out an additional support point where you need it? Or do they make you feel clumsy and uncoordinated?

I think poles are great; but to use them effortlessly requires practice. To me, they're now second nature, but the first few times I used them, I really struggled to get the rhythm and coordination right. (I still occasionally get them crossed, or caught in a root or crack in the rock - at which point I question whether the designer's parents were really ever married.) Have you tried walking without them, and if so, was there a difference in the amount of falling?

There's always the middle ground: one pole. Since I began my backpacking career by copying Colin Fletcher, I used a single, 5-foot-long pole for many years. I always found that a very natural thing to do, as opposed to my initial reaction to double poles. I still occasionally threaten to return to the single fixed length pole.

Good luck, and hang in there. And welcome to the forums.