When Should We Use or Not Use Ski Poles? Why?
Take a moment to imagine the skiers in your mind’s eye. They might be wearing warm clothing, as well as a hat and gloves. Perhaps they are wearing goggles and a helmet, ski boots, and already have their skis on. Equally important, they were carrying ski poles. Ski poles improve turning into a more precise and fluid motion, and they also greatly help with timing and balance.
Are poles essential? The answer depends on many factors. Many decisions to use or not use poles depend on your ability, your age, your skiing style and the terrain you will encounter.MANGO shows you what happens with and without poles.
Freestyle skiers
Poles are of great help in most of the terrain that skiers will be dealing with. The main exception is the park. Many freestyle skiers do not use poles in order to free their entire body for tricks. Jumps are cleaner when skiers can focus on landing big, complex airs without flying around. The same is true for rails and other tricks in the park. Poles are not necessary.
Beginner skiers
In almost every ski school in the country, skiers are taught to ski without poles. There are some very important reasons for this. The foundation of skiing is proper balance and center of gravity. Beginners don’t need crampon turns, especially if they are still on very easy slopes. They need to feel where their center of mass is, and swinging poles around can ruin that.
Fine-tuning skills
Some other types of skiers can do very well by not using poles. If someone is relying too much on their poles, they can take a break. By turning around and refocusing on their legs – instead of the poles – their technique will return.
Sometimes people will lower their hands because of the poles, which can change the center of balance. The instructor may reset this habit by taking away the pole until it is secured.
Aggressive skiers
Some skiers don’t care about turns. They want to bomb the hill as fast as possible and don’t care about proper technique. These people may not need poles, which are used primarily to assist with turns. Poles also cause air resistance, and your body is not as aerodynamic as it would be without them.
When to start using them
Once you are old enough (around 6 or 7 years old), you should start skiing with poles on a regular basis. This is because your turning habits start very early. You want to have solid turn initiation and timing right from the start and poles will help. Once you start making parallel turns, you should use poles.
This is true for the most part for beginners of all ages. Not having bars is good for learning, but once you get into the lower intermediate stages you should start using them. Notice how racers are using the poles, and how the poles help keep you balanced throughout the turn. This applies to all levels, from intermediate to expert.
Other benefits
As any skier knows, traversing without poles can be a pain. Being able to propel yourself along the flats or sideways through the mountains is a huge advantage. They can also help you navigate lift lines with tricky inclines.
The poles can also help you get up after a fall. Ski poles are also great if you have kids. You can pull them up the hill or use poles to pull them down runs that are too steep for them.
Using poles is necessary for keeping timing and rhythm, especially when skiing steep terrain or moguls. However, if you are just learning to ski, your child is skiing for the first time, or you wish to improve your abilities in the terrain park, leaving the skis at home could help you grow.
Use the time without poles to enhance your form and to break bad habits. Then when you reintroduce poles, you will see significant progress in the quality and ease of skiing.
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