Ski Poles 101

Ski poles have long been treated as the red-headed stepchild of your ski kit.

They get run over in parking lots, forgotten outside of bars, mismatched, scratched, and grow less and less basketed over time. Every season we are tempted by a shiny new set of boards, but yet we rock the same poles we’ve owned since high school.

Do you even ever register poles in skiing photos?

To be fair, when it comes to resort skiing anyway, they are least technical, least important piece of gear, the order of which goes: boots, bindings (safety second), skis…and poles. And yet, have you ever tried to ski powder with race baskets? Have you ever tried to ski anything at all (other than park rails) without them? It’s a disaster that leaves you as unbalanced as the cougars leaving Aspen’s Cloud 9 after umpteenth bottles of Veuve.

As fun as poles are when it comes to euphemisms, try to take this at face value: Poles matter. Here’s what you need to know about–as Line founder Jason Levinthal called them–pointy sticks with grips.

Sizing

Unless you’re a bump or park skier, the rule is generally that you want your arm to be at a 90-degree angle if your pole tip is in the snow. To test this anywhere other than on snow, turn the pole upside down and grab it just under the basket.

This is the correct way to size a ski pole. Thank you, theskimonster.com.

Baskets

I am consistently irritated that most ski poles come with “race” baskets, dinky little things that poke right through anything that isn’t firmly groomed or shellacked. Let’s face it, if we were really that concerned with aerodynamics, we would all be skiing in GS suits, and horrifying children and freezing our asses off along the way. Powder baskets, on the other hand, are wide enough to stop in soft snow when you pole plant, therefore keeping your balance intact and your shoulder from dropping at a critical point in your turn. Most poles you buy new will come with both, but some brands do not make it easy to swap. (I gave myself a black eye trying to pull the basket off by holding it between my ski boots and pulling the pole up.) If you ski soft snow, trust us on this, powder baskets will help.

Straps

Wrist straps are helpful so you don’t lose your pole in the liftline, during a turn, or after a fall. If you’re skiing in trees or avalanche terrain, however, you may want to take off your straps so your basket doesn’t get caught and rip out your shoulder or so your pole doesn’t become an anchor in an avalanche.

Yes, summer photo, but the technique is correct! Thank you andrewskurka.com for showing it right.

To correctly use the pole strap, your hand goes up through the strap, and then your thumb and hand come back down over it to grip the strap around the pole. If you have a hard time remembering this (we get it), here’s how we teach the kids to do it properly: Make a bunny with your hand, go up through the hole, then eat the carrot. 

Bending

Should you accidentally bend your ski pole by driving over it, using it to pry open a rusted door, or crashing horrifically, we have one word of caution: Don’t try to bend it back cold. It will snap. Put it near a fire or heat it with a hairdryer, then bend it back into position very slowly.

Wagner's Graphics Guru bent her pole by getting it caught under her ski on See Forever.

Backcountry

Poles become more technical and more important in the backcountry, where you need them to help propel you uphill. Lightweight, adjustable poles are a must for anyone who plans to do it more than once in a while. (Regardless of adjustable poles, for even a one-day outing, powder baskets are critical.) When going uphill, you’ll want to lengthen your poles 10 cm or so to allow you more arm leverage when skinning. It will help you lengthen your stride and make the experience easier and less taxing. Remembering to shorten them before descending, however, remains hard, even for seasoned experts.

Be sure to choose a backcountry pole with a soft grip underneath the handle for sidehilling, i.e. skinning across a steep slope where your uphill arm is closer to the ground. This will allow you to hold your pole comfortably on that side without it slipping. Other backcountry poles come with “whippets,” a little mini ice-axe on the handle designed to help you self-arrest during slide-for-lifes, and with half-baskets, which are useful when booting up a couloir in crampons. If ski mountaineering is in your future, be sure to check those out.

Photo: Jay Goodrich

That’s a wrap on poles 101, which we hope helps you appreciate your least-recognized piece of gear. Balance, after all, is everything—as is that fun little pole clap you can do before dropping into something gnarly. Keep calm, and pole on!

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Article by Kimberly Beekman

Kimberly Beekman is the former editor-in-chief of the late, great Skiing Magazine (RIP), and a longtime editor of SKI Magazine before that. She currently uses the title of “freelancer” as a beard to ski powder all over the world. She lives in Steamboat, Colorado, with her wonderful daughter and terrible cat.