Snowboard Question

[Johnskiismore]

For the snowboarders, I was wondering why you don't use ski poles? There is a boarder who I have seen at Cannon a few times, and when he gets off the lift, he sits down, puts his foot in the binding tightens up, and then he uses the poles to build up speed and go down the trail. This seems a lot easier than pushing with one foot to get to a decent pitch, only top sit down and strap in, and then get up and hop to descend.

I also posted this over on SJ, curious to know

 

[shwilly]

My friends bring collapsible poles for flat stretches when backcountry boarding.

At the resort they would be far more of a burden than they were worth. How far do you really have to skate from the top of the lift -- 30, maybe 50 feet? Going downhill I'd much rather not have poles, so folding them up and stowing them would cancel whatever benefit I got from poling a few feet at the top.

There are particular traverses where poles would be helpful, sure, but in general I'm fine with skating and occasionally hopping or walking. I'd rather not have any more equipment to keep up with.

 

[Johnskiismore]

Yeah, I guess you're right, its usually not that far before you start your descent.

 

[Big Game]

Poles with skies are a lot more efficient as force can be delivered symmetrically. I think if I tired to use poles, as a goofy rider, I'd always be able to put a lot of force on my left, but little on my right, causing me to go to be pushed to the right while exhausting. But I don't know....I could be wrong...maybe if I saw someone using them with success it would change my mind.

 

[dmc]

Poles are useless unless your navigating down the bumped up Sherburn trail with 60 lbs on your back..

 

[dmc]

There are particular traverses where poles would be helpful, sure, but in general I'm fine with skating and occasionally hopping or walking. I'd rather not have any more equipment to keep up with.

When I'm above treeline i carry and iceaxe for traverses...

 

[gymnast46]

Poles

I have a duck stance on my board so I don't believe poles would be of much use. If a rider's binding angles were set way forward like a hard booter then maybe poles would be of some use. The only time I could think I might need a pole is to fend off GSS

I'm a hardbooter and there have been times when poles would have been handy to traverse long flat stretches but it's not that big a deal to remove your rear boot from the binding and do a "kick and glide".

 

[Method9455]

For the snowboarders, I was wondering why you don't use ski poles? There is a boarder who I have seen at Cannon a few times, and when he gets off the lift, he sits down, puts his foot in the binding tightens up, and then he uses the poles to build up speed and go down the trail. This seems a lot easier than pushing with one foot to get to a decent pitch, only top sit down and strap in, and then get up and hop to descend.

I also posted this over on SJ, curious to know

When I come off the lift I'm moving just as fast as a skier, and can ride with my front foot only. So you ride around with the back foot between the bindings and turn with the front one. At this point I can weave through the crowds of people who can't do that at the top of the hill (PA/NJ, we have crowds even getting off the lift) with just one foot. Then you stop, strap in, and when you get up, hopping is not the way to go. If you are facing down hill, just dig in your toe edge near the nose, and start walking like normal, after about two steps you just rotate the nose down hill and you are have as much speed as most skiers get when they start. It is just a little awkward but once you get it, you'll never miss poles starting down a trail.

For a traverse, I just take the board off and walk it isn't worth the effort. And when skiers start skating on flat ground, they aren't just pulling themselves with their poles, 80% of that is from skating the skis and 20% is pushing with poles.

The only time I could poles being useful is for stopping on the hill. You get the click in bindings so you don't have to bend down, but there is no way to stop for long periods of time and balance on one edge. So for my dad, he doesn't want to switch to boarding because the sitting/standing all day gets old real fast. I almost never fall during the course of hte day, so I could conceive of going a whole day standing up on a board if I had a pole to lean on when I stopped.