I'm going to go ahead and disagree with the good pole argument.  I've had expensive poles both for backcountry and in-bounds, and both have broken immediately.  First I had a set of fancy-schmancy carbon poles  for in-bounds, and they snapped in three hours--I didn't even crash when it happened.  Then last year when I got my first set of adjustable poles ($80, blah) for touring I broke them two turns into my first run.  I had to buy another upper section for $25 and haven't broken it since, but they're flexy as hell and make me nervous.  The $10 poles I use for resort skiing now have been great, and I'm probably never spending any more than that on poles again.