No Poles in Powder.

soup

soup

Active member
Just tried riding my ep pros in the powder with no poles and let me tell you: One of the funnest times on skis ever.

It gives you so much freedom to just throw your hand down and just slash some snow. The skis ski like a snowboard in the deep so its just an unreal feeling. It did kinda suck when some "hardcore powder skiers" would see me in the line and yell "get some poles you park rat!" So For all you owners of hellbents or ep pros or any other rockered ski try this shit. drop the poles, feel the snow. its an unreal feeling.

and for all you haters just fuck off do your own thing I dont need to hear your shit.
 
i tried skiing in powder once with no poles

but i just felt really unbalanced and stuff

but on the other hand my skis are no where near being labeled a pow ski
 
personally, i wouldn't waste epic powder day without poles...just rushing to be the fastest to get the lines you want. I would do a few days after a pow day on when its mellow, fucking around and searching for fresh.
 
word, i have a broken hand so i don't have a choice to use poles, but even if i could i wouldn't on powder days, you feel so free, and making slash/surf turns while dragging a hand is one of the coolest thing even
 
If you arent touring or having to hike out of flat spots, try it for a run. Doing a double hand drag leaned way over in untracked is like skimming the surface of a perfectly flat lake at 40mph.
 
thanks dude, i think im gonna try this next powder day, but hopefully i can demo some pow skis that day though, cuz i only got invaders
 
i hardly ever ski with poles.. bu the other day was the first day that i skied in powder without poles and i have to admit it wwas sooo dope! no poles in powder is awsome!!
 
Its so much fun just letting your hand drag through the snow. I do get sick of hearing "the get some poles" comments.
 
eh personally I HATE skiing trees with no poles, but I feel like no poles on a bc booter would be mad fun. plus it would take out the one solid thing you could land on.
 
I woulden't do it unless i was just dickin around. (snow fight) but if i'm doing anythinig steep or just charging anything i gota have poles
 
i tired no poles in pow one day, cuz i snaped one of my poles so i decided to use none. if i got in some pow that i could make wide turns it was okay, but since most of the pow was skied out i was skiing right next to, or weaving in and out of the trees and it was super hard to turn... if i had some rockered skis it wouldve been better no poles but i was on ARV's and had to lean back to make hard turns and just ended up getting chin bang... i need my poles to make faster turns.. but no poles on high speed groomers is kinda fun...
 
ive only had a few runs no poling through powder and it wasnt the most

spectacular powder but it felt so much more fun then with poles

and the throwing snow at ur buddies is def a bonus :)
 
you know you can just do lame hand drags in the powder with your poles on too. ya it probably feels a lot lighter and more femm to dip your hands down and daintily graze the pow with pole-less hands. but for that one positive the fact that you don't have poles restricts you in so many other areas of pow skiing. slashing in and out of the glades, techy burly lines, AK turns and what not require poles for best benefits
 
You can do everything you just said, with poles. Just wrap em around your wrist, and when you want to hand drag, or throw snow, just let your poles dangle....
 
I've tried. I ended up being in the backseatand falling all over the place. I immediatly ran and grabbed my poles.
 
i had a pretty similar experience

same kind of skis too

any kind of technical/steeper stuff was out of the question
 
i skied this weekend without poles in the powder and it was sick loved hand draging and i just felt unrestrained, but then i went to the steeper stuff where you definatly need to think before you drop in and i felt very uncofident i was just scared that i didn't have that downhill support. so i agree that it is alot of fun in the pow but not as much in the steeper more technical stuff

sorry for my spelling
 
finally some one on newschoolers who isn't like zomg i need fat ass rockered skis to even attempt pow. i ski powder all the time on my park skis. maybe its because montana's snow is so dry...
 
the one thing i like my poles for the most is trees. maybe steeps as well. Everywhere else is far game for me to drop them for abit.
I started no poles last year, just kind of now and then, did that all last year and into this year. but what started out as 2-3 runs a day is slowly progressing into no poles all the time. doesnt help ive broken 2 pair this year though haha
 
if your goin to be skiing anything really deep you will want poles especially ifs it deep at least thats my expereince because without poles in the really deep is so hard and u end up skiing really bad like your form
 
Ya it's fun but I often try to pole plant and it just feels wierd. other than powder, i never ski with poles i think they're a waste of time and hands.....definately a waste of hands
 
I aired a cliff that i normally hit about 20 foot dropp and 30 foot gap, immediatly on take off got backseat cause im awekward with no poles and rolled the windows down and landed on my back. There was so much snow, it was fun.
 
i have to respectfully disagree. i can ski absolutely everything that i normally ski with poles, without them. ive been making a concerted effort over the past few weeks to ski steeps, powder, trees, everything, without poles. its not only possible, its a lot of fun. its takes some getting used to the balance. i find i stay a little closer down to the snow when not using poles. i will admit that im not as GOOD at skiing powder without my poles- maybe dont charge quite as hard. but it is a different feel, and most days, for all mountain cruising, i dont find i need poles. plus, you really cant beat dragging your hand through the snow on a steep powdery face. this being said, today was a bit of a powder day and i used my poles for the first time in a while and actually really enjoyed having them. but they are definately not a necessity (for me).

 
man is that true. i had a ski pop off in kind of a steep, wind buffed, rocky area, and it took me sooo long to get back clicked in and upright without my poles. it sucked.
 
i ski pow with no poles and park woth poles. 

i mean the melees have just as much surface area, or close to as a snowboard so i dont see why i need then (just more to fall on and loose). 

and also the feeling of just putting your hands on the snow and being able to feel what you are riding is a banger feeling. 

i will never go back. 
 
i love skiing steeps with no poles,

i feel so much more connected with the mountain because i drag my uphill hand through my turns and im lower to the ground
 
ive had numerous no pole pow days this year at brighton and id have to say that besides forcing you to keep your hands out infront of you and planting on steeps, that poles arent necessary.. you can hit any burly line, any cliff line and ball dropping steeps without poles just fine, you just have to adjust a little.. i think it keeps me on my toes more and makes you all that much better of a skier when you pick the poles back up..
 
all the powder stashes at my hill require some serious traversing and hiking, so i've never tried no poles in powder, but i will say dropping your poles makes drinking a red bull while skiing a lot easier.
 
word. its most probably been said but no poles vs poles is like rubber vs. no rubber. its the strangest feeling skiing relativly steep fresh no poles kinda a scary but so much FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!i dont feel confident enough to ski serious coulouirs w/o poles tho.
 
I just got back from skiing pillow lines on whistler with no poles. Fuck I cant see myself ever having poles again in the powder. Its the best feeling.

The steep shit I can see having poles agin cause that shit is just gnar but I dont really like the steep ass gnar shit. I like flow and deep powder so im stickin with no poles for now.
 
i will say that i did the same thing as someone else- snapped a pole and said fuck it im skiing with out poles cuz i only hav one. it was a pow day and i must say that it was a good fun day. YES very tight bumped out spots sucked but tight trees arent that bad cuz u hav one less thing to clip the trees with. I almost found it easier to get through tighter trees. Also just with anythin else in skiing it takes practice and i bet with pratice you can master it. In the future I prob will drop the poles in pow sometimes- as for park thats a totally def story, hopefully they will become useless there as they already are.
 
yeah i havent skied no poles too much but i must admit skiing trees and stuff with no poles every now and then is pretty dope, like doing hand drag 180's off little drops into pow and such
 
you just need to do it for a while to get the feel. i ski better, now, because i haven't brought poles in the last 40 times i've been up. i have more confidence, because they don't get in the way of my grabs, my landings, and my body if i fall. i can use my hands to grab anything way easier, like trees or rocks. handplants and fastplants and stuff are an obvious reason as well. slashing pow with your hands is an amazing feeling that everyone should experience. sure, you can do all that stuff while you hold poles, but why? for proper turn timing? any strong skier should be able to ski at least as well with or without poles.
 
Did it for the first time in powder last week and had a great time. Its a completely different direction to take skiing and im pretty psyched that people like Eric Pollard, Andy Mahre, Pep Fujas, and crew are showing its true potential. For those complaining about wasting a powder day, come to the northwest where we have an abundance of powder days that you can just mess around on a few here and there.
 
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