Getting harassed for short ski poles

B_Kbest way to answer gapers is give a huge smile a ton of nods followed by "yea" x 4

SkiBum.You sound like the gaper

Short poles are useless for any type of real skiing

.lenconI still traverse all the places they do and I do it faster too. And it's not just them giving me crap, it's all gapers.



Yeah I agree that pole planting is good on moguls, but mogul skiers do use slightly smaller poles.

Isis_rocksI think I know what we're dealing with here

Laurent.On a somewhat related note, fuck Rossignol and other companies for putting roughly the same top sheet on their FIS SL ski's as their pleb rentals.

If I hear: "Hey that lad has rental skis, what a noob!" one more time on the hill I'm going to slit someone's throat with them.

roach1324theyre still more than 10 yrs old mate still a gapemove

.lenconPrepare for a rant...

So, Ive been skiing with my gf and her family a few times this year and they're a group of gapers (they're pretty good but they're gapers) and other gapers in general are really judgmental Ive noticed. One big thing they judge me on are my poles. They just go on and on about them. Im almost 5'8 and i think my poles are like 36". I work for panda poles and my boss is really smart about all things skiing and he doesn't comment on them. Anyway I'm not really a park skier, i ski all mountain, i just enjoy a shorter pole. They don't get int the way, I can still traverse just as fast if not faster than them, and i just really don't need a longer ski pole until I get a bit taller.

So I always get comments on why my poles are so short and they make fun of me for it.
Like:
Gaper 1: "Why are your poles so short"
Gaper 2: "He thinks they're 'stylish'"

um no i actually just don't need 4 foot poles

gaper: "you don't even use your poles when you turn you're supposed to pole plant to turn"

umm no?? my edges help me turn. My poles help with balance and traversing thats about it. Ever notice how they start kids off WITHOUT poles so they learn to use their edges and what not? Yeah crazy


But really I'm sorry for the rant but its getting ridiculous. My poles are short because I'm not traversing 24/7, i have bend in my knees when i ski so i don't need poles that touch the ground when I'm standing straight up, and my edges are what turn my ski, not my poles. But thank you for your insight gaper, its very much appreciated.



/rant

WannaBeWallischI ski the midwest so "all mountain" isnt even a thing.

Op.Must be in the wrong part of the Midwest. Granite Peak and Mount Bohemia have incredible terrain... There are some 15-25 foot chutes/cliffs and decent vert.

daskommandoPlease continue. I'm sure we'd all love to hear.




P.S. No sarcasm intended.

robotdnaThe fuq? All the mogul skiers I know use longer poles to keep their hands up and forward to drive their stance.


Here's my solution. I have adjustable poles. I lengthen them out to be quite long when skiing groomers/anything I want more control on. My plant gives my turn purpose and allows me to power through it while maintaining a forward stance. As soon as I start screwing around on the mountain i.e buttering, spinning, gapping things, tranny finding: I shorten them so they don't catch on anything. Long poles are nice for control though.