I have spent two seasons in the backcountry always descending with my collapsible climbing poles stowed on my back pack . At the ski area I always skiboard without poles in all conditions . To me much of the skiboard ethos is the ability to ride without poles , turning , skating and getting around is easy without them . But in the backcountry, I am always in the company of two guys who always ride with poles . Billy who is on Hagan 130 and Michael on Icelantic Scout . Yesterday , I decided to ride with poles all day on our backcountry tour both climbing and descending to see if there was any benefit to using poles on the down that I was missing out on . I told Billy who was shooting video to not shoot any video of me , as I would be riding with poles and that was sacrilege in skiboard circles. He did anyway .. and if he gets the video edited.. I will post the evidence of my straying from the poleless path .
First what I realized is that I was constantly stowing and unstowing my poles for the descent and the climb and if I just grabbed the poles and went it was one less thing to do . ...
Second , I realized that at ski areas , runs are designed to go straight down to a nice lift and then haul you right back up .. yes there are flats but those can be skated.. in the backcountry on a powder day exploring new terrain, there is always times when you ride down then need to climb back up a bit or traverse a bit to take a look at your next line , or pole out along flats...
In all those situations it was a pain in the a** not to have poles or to have to stop and retreive the poles from my pack ...
Third ..in backcountry skiboarding you are dead tired from climbing , and when you come to a stop on a steep slope with a heavy pack on your back it is pure heaven to be able to lean on your poles to rest.
Fourth , poles are super nice to probe the snow and check out of if that bridge of snow across the gully will support your weight or if you ride over the damn thing you will fall into a sink hole
Fifth as a former life long skier . I absolutely know what to do with poles in my hand , I can use them as triggers to get my turns going , they are not a hinderance ...
So in the backcountry ... I think I will be climbing and riding with poles on my Condor .. but please don't tell anyone .. you will never see me with poles at the resort .... and on Shredfest backcountry days when I am leading .. please , please if anyone is going to shoot video of me descending , please warn me so I can put the damn things away ..
Because as anyone knows... poles are for skiers and not for skiboarders , the only use of poles for skiboarders should be on the climb , and are totally unnecessary for the descent ...
First what I realized is that I was constantly stowing and unstowing my poles for the descent and the climb and if I just grabbed the poles and went it was one less thing to do . ...
Second , I realized that at ski areas , runs are designed to go straight down to a nice lift and then haul you right back up .. yes there are flats but those can be skated.. in the backcountry on a powder day exploring new terrain, there is always times when you ride down then need to climb back up a bit or traverse a bit to take a look at your next line , or pole out along flats...
In all those situations it was a pain in the a** not to have poles or to have to stop and retreive the poles from my pack ...
Third ..in backcountry skiboarding you are dead tired from climbing , and when you come to a stop on a steep slope with a heavy pack on your back it is pure heaven to be able to lean on your poles to rest.
Fourth , poles are super nice to probe the snow and check out of if that bridge of snow across the gully will support your weight or if you ride over the damn thing you will fall into a sink hole
Fifth as a former life long skier . I absolutely know what to do with poles in my hand , I can use them as triggers to get my turns going , they are not a hinderance ...
So in the backcountry ... I think I will be climbing and riding with poles on my Condor .. but please don't tell anyone .. you will never see me with poles at the resort .... and on Shredfest backcountry days when I am leading .. please , please if anyone is going to shoot video of me descending , please warn me so I can put the damn things away ..
Because as anyone knows... poles are for skiers and not for skiboarders , the only use of poles for skiboarders should be on the climb , and are totally unnecessary for the descent ...
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