Poles vs. no poles.

SHastatahoe

SHastatahoe

Active member
No no no, this is not a standard "no poles isn't skiing" or "poles are a thing of the past" thread. It is a comparison of my past experiences.

I have been riding no poles on sunny park-centered days for years now. Stemming from cycling around in racing, no poles has always been there for me.

While yes, it is fun, it isnt the same as ripping with some poles.

No poles on a sunny park-day; These days are lots of fun. buttering around, hand dragging, pushups, whatever. though most of the time I do use poles, sometimes I just ditch them, whatever, its rad.

No poles on a powder day; So saterday I did a sweet gap-type jump thing in the trees, and while trying to prove to my snowboarding counterpart that the jump was possible, I had too much speed and overshot.

I overshot by about 15 feet to flat choped up pow stuff, and Fd my thumb up. So the next day, which turned out to be a gnarly powder day of the "lightest wet snow ever". It was a classic day of sierra cement. Anyways,

due to the possible broken thumb, and the fact that I hadnt been skiing the three weeks prior, I decided to go without poles. I started the day on my 183 gotamas. This proved to be more difficult than I expected, and I felt

fairly out of control. I never fell, or got stuck really, but I think due to the loss of pole control in addition to the deep wet snow that was snakin my skis from under me, it wasn't ideal conditions for my experiment. I then switched

to 189 made'ns. These proved much better, as the larger ski floated and allowed for better control in the powder. Though it was still difficult, and I found myself leaning back a whole lot more.

Dropping cliffs, nothing larger than 10 feet, was fun, but I slaped my arms against the snow upon landing, which kinda hurt.

Overall, handrags in powder were sick, but there was a loss of overall control. It is not impossible to ride no poles in powder, but I think it is a lot easier on huge pow sticks. Though I usually would not go no poles in powder, if I got something like hellbents I would probobly experiment more. I had fun with something new, though i didnt feel like I could shred like I usually do.

 
yes, carves arent nearly as good without poles, but i feel as though park is more fun without them. when i go up for spins, i feel like i have more control over how my spin gets thrown and the spinning motion, no idea why. just happens. other day i fucked up my thumb pretty bad on a fd rail, so i couldnt grip my pole since my thumb hurt too much, so i ended up ditching my poles all day, very fun.
 
well, no poles is just plain fun

i used to hate on my good friend t3dizzle because he was a nopoler pronounced nop-o-lurr.

well, i dabbled a little while ago, and it was fun. But not until now will all my cool new gear do i feel how awesome it feels to tear it up with no poles.

Seeing how im shortly away from converting my skiing persona into somthing furry (like snowy hair and shit) i think no poles will be perfect for the rest of the season.

BUT, I will not completely ditch them, they will be in the car if need be.

Also its a perk for filming. And you can hangout with snowbirders!
 
I wasnt arguing one superior to the other, but more my experiences with both.

Skiing no poles in powder is hard, that is pretty much what I was getting at. It was fun though, and being challenged on mellow stuff is fun, I also feel it will make me a better skier all together.
 
i tried skiing trees wihtout poles and that was so much fun but i was just joking. for park i dont use poles and for normal mountain i try to use them
 
it just takes practice man. skiing pow w/o poles is just something you have to get used to.

i wonder how many threads like this there are now
 
i have had the same experiences with everything, no poles pow is fun but i felt way out of control especially on anyhting steep, but then again i was on 151 invaders no seths, no poles park= a blast, so much fun
 
This isnt what the thread is about. And that is incorrect. Skiing is about exploration. and exploring new ways to skis, as well as new places to ski. some of them don't work. some of them do. I'm just talking about my experience.
 
in what way is this not another "oh i tried skiing no poles story thread" dont try to cover up the fact that this is another no poles thread, so in typical ns response
O rly?
&
Cool story hansel!
 
my take on things=

no poles- fun day on mountain, chill, park filled day

poles- racing going fast goin down steep trails

its all about what your doing
 
my poles have been stolen 3 seperate times so on the last time i was just like fuck it!

so now i shred ery thing sans poles

its way more stable in the air because poles have there own like movement so they can throw you off if you dont huck perfect, but without poles you can use your arms to steady yourself

and grabs are sicker too
 
you just need to get used to it in powder, and once you have no poles down in powder, it helps alot with no poles in the park.
i tried going no poles one day last year, and halfway through the day i tried using them again and i couldnt stand it, so i snapped them and threw them in the trees, and havent used a pair of poles since!!

in the powder, my first day was really akward without poles, after 2 days it wasnt bad, but after 3 days i had it down. it really is so much better, you definatly have to watch your arms, and make sure not to drag them behind your body on landings or it hurts like hell, but you learn eventually. i actually think i ski better than i did with poles when im without them in pow, i make much more fluid turns and i think it helped me get better at skiing overall cause im not relying on poles to help.
it definatly is alot more fun on rockered skis. super big stiff skis is still kinda hard for me, but soft rockered skis are amazing.
so yeah i hope i never hold a pair of poles again, maybe if i do some harder backcountry that requires alot of traversing and stuff i might need to. but even then, i ski with alot of snowboarders so i still get around easier than them.
 
i did, they suck, they serve no purpose, they look stupid, i cant see any reason at all to use poles in the park
 
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