Ski Pole Length: A Technical Discussion

Introduction To Ski Pole Length

When making equipment choices, even the least educated will often guess right in assuming that your skis and boots have the most significant effect on your skiing, and they’d be right to think that. Ensuring your skis and boots are right for you is crucial to good skiing. We have educational blogs on skis and boots that you should check out. I’d also say that your skis and boots come first, and anyone investing in ski equipment should do so in a good pair of well-fitted boots and skis. That being said, some pieces of our equipment are often overlooked. Our ski poles, for example, usually get less than a cursory “they’ll do” or “they seem about right” before being taken out on the slopes.

Your ski poles, though, may well be dashing your hopes of breaking the ceiling of mediocrity. Pick the wrong ski pole length, and you’ve just made skiing 10x harder. No matter how many times your coach or instructor tells you to angulate and stop rotating, those sticks of yours will make it very difficult. So, here is what you need to know about picking the right length pole and unlocking a secret weapon that the top pros know all too well.

Are My Ski Poles Too Long?

Skis poles that are too long make your pole swing often come through the use of the upper arm and shoulder. The pole basket is swung around the outside of the body instead of under the elbow using the wrist and forearm. Excessive arm and upper body movement to bring the pole through can cause upper body rotation and/or tipping to the inside of the turn, which causes you to lose grip on the outside ski.

A pole that is too long will also be slow! It’s tough to be quick and sharp with your pole touch if the pole can’t be swung effectively. By keeping your arms and hands in front of the body with a pole the right length, you can pole touch quickly and without interference; this is incredibly useful in moguls and short turns. You’ll also notice a skier will find it hard to manage the rebound from the pole when it’s too long, causing the wrist and arm to deflect open and backwards.

When carving, a pole that is too long can make moving into the next turn difficult. The downhill pole blocks the centre of mass from moving across the skis low and fast, making creating higher edge angles earlier in the turn harder. Sometimes, swinging the pole through at the end of a carved turn can cause an unwanted rising of the body or may result in falling inside at the end of the turn as the downhill side of the body tilts to allow the pole to pass under. How To Carve On Skis: WSC Ski Series

Are My Ski Poles Too Short?

One of the primary uses for our ski poles is to provide stability as an added point of contact with the snow. When we make a turn, our inside pole drags in the snow to provide us with a reference to how far we can move inside the turn. When our ski poles are too short, we must lean further to create this point of contact. By moving further inside than you would with poles the right length, you’ll likely fall to the inside ski. In cases where the pole is really short, sometimes this extra point of contact isn’t created at all, and you give up the benefit of additional balance.

When skiing bumps, if the pole is too short, the upper body isn’t stabilized, and the arms or body drop to make contact with the snow. With little upper body stabilization in the bumps, it will be very difficult to absorb using the legs effectively.

In most cases, a pole too short creates issues around lack of stability. We need our poles to be in contact with the snow without disturbing good athletic stance and arm position. Poles too short and you’ll start searching and reaching for this contact, resulting in a loss of balance.

How To Measure Ski Pole Length Correctly

The old way of measuring your ski pole length was to turn the pole upside down, hold just under the basket and check for a right angle at the elbow. This method creates issues; first, you don’t ski standing straight up on the flats with regular shoes on.

To find the right length, or at least get a very good estimate, you should consider that you’ll be stood on a slope and slightly flexed. Therefore, whatever your pole length would be using the standard method, I’d recommend taking 5 cm off.

The only way to find the perfect pole length is to experiment on the snow. That’s why I recommend purchasing an adjustable pole. Adjustable poles are great because you can play around with different pole lengths. A little like Goldilocks would, you should ski with your poles really long and short and carefully and methodically work your way through different lengths until you find the sweet spot. When the pole is the correct length, it should create stability by dragging in the snow and making a third point of contact in the snow, and you should be able to swing the pole through to touch using just your wrist and forearm, keeping the rest of the body still.

How To Pole Plant

The first step in developing a solid pole plant is creating good discipline with the arms and hands. Watch any good skier; you’ll notice they all have good hand and arm positions. This stabilizes the upper body and allows the legs to work effectively in the skis’ turning effort. To create this solid position, your arms should stay out in front, just above your waist, but not too high; there should be a reasonable amount of tension held in the arms, but ensure there is a bend at the elbow to stay relaxed and free. Your hands should sit outside your elbows. Think elbows in and hands out instead of hands in and elbows out!

To swing the pole through to touch, try to use the wrist and forearm. The upper arm and upper body should remain stable during a pole touch. By using the wrist and forearm, the pole will swing under and through with little interference.

To time the pole touch correctly, I think about the pole touch being the last thing I do during a turn. It touches the snow at the exact moment my skis change edges. This is because the body is most out of balance at this point, so the pole touch helps create stability during the edge changing. Think about your outside hand and pole moving through the turn at the same speed as your outside foot. This ensures your pole touch comes at precisely the right moment. When skiing bumps, the pole plant still happens during edge change. To get you started, try pole planting on top of each bump; this will encourage edge change to take place on top of the bump, which is generally the easiest place to initiate a new turn.