Just ride without the straps on your poles.
Really, I broke my thumb every season before I started doing this. I still get an occasional strain, but much rarer... Only problem is you have to pick up your poles every time you bail, but that's better than breaking your thumb every time you...
Jon Olsson Invitational was like this, best 1, 3, 5 and 7.
What made it not boring was that they could decide what kind of trick themselves, i.e. cork/d-spin/switch etc..
I think it's a really cool way to do a big air competition.
I've mounted mine at +4.5cm. Works great for ordinary skiing and I still get some extra control for switch riding and railing. Works for me:)
At least on my skis there are marks from 0 all the way to +7.5, so mounting where you want them shouldn't be a problem.
Right now I have exams and shit, but next week I'll be skiing every day! I'll try to shoot some pics/videos and post them. Don't think they've got enough snow for kickers yet, though, so it will only be rails...
Here's a video of the event:http://www.skifilm.no/
The site is in Norwegian, but just click on 'AIR WE GO 2004', then another window pops up, then choose either 300, 600 or 900kbps and the video will start streaming.
Enjoy!
I've heard that in addition to a crappy landing they struggled with...
Yeah, I noticed they're kind of heavy. I'm riding K2 PEs, which are a bit on the heavy side as well. My bindings are light, though.
You think I should get some lighter boots instead?
I can get a sweet deal on the Nordica Beast boot. Should I go for it? Nordica markets the boot towards all mountain riders, though, and I ride about 70% park.
I used to be a racer, so I'm used to stiff boots. As far as I know, the Beast lies between hard race boots and flexy soft boots?
Thanks!