Kids and poles?

[Greg]

What age, or is it more ability dependent? I was thinking about it this morning and after seeing [thread="25932"]hiroto's 6 year old daughter[/thread] using poles, it got me wondering. My daughter is nowhere near that good yet, but she can link slow wedged turns. Is adding poles to the mix next season too much for her to think about? She turns 6 next January.

 

[Paul]

My daughter just started with poles halfway through this season. She'll be 8 in September. I think its mostly ability, she should be able to make turns without really having to think about it.

 

[billski]

We didn't start with poles until my daughters were about 8. It really depends on how quickly they progress on the basic skills. Poles can be a crutch and/or a distraction.

 

[hiroto]

Exact question I asked at EPIC: When is a child ready for poles?

General consensus seems to be that later the better, wait til Level 5. This season is the first season she started using it, and I felt it was a little too early.

At the beginning of the season, she was totally confused when I taught her the timing of pole touches (she'll do it right for a couple turns and gradually it will shift phase :blink so I kind of gave up and let her do whatever she feels like. Now she kinds of plant them when she is more relaxed on easier trail, when she really doesn't need, and when it is steeper, she hardly plants and it really isn't helping. Also she swings her arm back when she plants and that's a no no. I need to start talking about that.

I would say, if she is not asking for it, no need to give them to her in a hurry.

 

[Angus]

my 6 year old was adamant she have poles this year. Like any good modern parent, I surrendered b/c I got sick of listening to her badger me. They were a complete and total distraction for the first couple of trips. Kept threatening to take them away - she actually broke a pair on zoomer at cannon before xmas and got another pair. Now, they just hang there doing no good! My son didn't use them for a couple of years and it helped him alot. Of course, younger sister wants to do everything older brother does therefore she's skiing with poles too early!

 

[gladerider]

i gave my daughters their poles when they were around 8 yrs. and it wasn't their age. it was based on their coordination, leg strength, etc. last thing you want is to see them get hurt with their poles.
my kids started skiing when they were 3 1/2. i am sure all kids grow at a different rate, but mine really got their strength and coordination together when they were about 7. by then, they were not falling much and even when they did, they knew how to fall and got right back up. by the time they were 8, they were more than ready and i had no reservations.
i also know that some of my friends sons developed their coordination and leg strength better and they were ready earlier.

 

[loafer89]

I started skiing with Warren when he was 23 months old, but he did not ski with poles until he was 6 years old. Now we are working on pole plants and he is coming along slowly but surely.

 

[Euler]

Both my kids started using poles this year. They are 7 and 10. One of the big reasons was that they now ski the whole mountain with me and the poles make it much easier for them to negotiate the flats and the lift lines. They both are starting to use pole plants too so I think the timing was right for them.

 

[FridayHiker]

We gave our kids poles at 6 yo, when they started skiing parallel consistently. They started skiing at 2, so they were all-mountain skiers by that point.

 

[ckofer]

I'll go along with 6 for the youngest. We started our kids younger on the mountains but there seems to be large jump in coordination at 6 yrs old. Even adults who are learning should skip poles IMHO. There is a lot of value to starting on very short skis (blades even) and learn to center yourself early in the process.

 

[drjeff]

My daughter just started with her poles this month. She's 4. She's skied over 40 days the last 2 seasons, and is linking wide track parallel turns and is 1 level below the top level of Mount Snow Snow Camp. We got her poles AFTER her instructors recommended that she get them as a way to advance her abilities.

While she is still having difficulty grasping the appropriate time to plant and turn around them, even after 12 days with them now, she does use them very appropriately in aiding in skating on flat terrain and also for use in the liftlines. It was a big psychological boost for her too as she saw getting poles as a sign of improving her ability. Plus, with her ability group in ski lessons, just about everyone in her lesson group is using poles too, and most of her group is 4 and 5 year olds. Bottom line, in my daughters case we left the descision upto the instructors as to when it was the right time.