I'm going to make a stereotypical assumption, excuse this, as it needs to be done for my reply. You are on this site, and going by a percentage, I'm going to say you are a park skier, and cruise and the mountain in spare time; but lets go back to the park skiing as that is where the previous points in this thread have led too.
First off you start by talking about rails, you then proceed to talk about how poles help you balance. I am going to put them together and ask how poles help you balance on rails. How do poles help you balance on rails? Is there a magical platform that is invisible to everyone on the hill besides yourself that allows you to lean on, with your poles, so you are correctly positioned an balanced throughout the duration of your rail slide? Or does the pound, if that, of aluminum,(excuse me if your to much of a baller and use some other technical gear) of the pole allow your body to sync into a perfect balance when that extra weight is positioned properly?
Off the subject of rails, lets talk about jumps. I believe if you have the abilitiy to jump off a jump, you have the ability to balance yourself your own way to the jump with the speed needed. When your in the air, i would like to know how the poles help you balance. Does it allow your 360 degree landing go from a not-so-perfect 355 degrees to a perfect 360 degrees? Or does a plant of the pole on the lip of the jump allow you to spin a textbook 360 with no questions asked?
I would love some answers as it will take away some of my confusion. Thank you.