 Poster: A snowHead
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I've just bought a pair of Black Diamond Compactors, having got caught out twice last year... once on a really long traverse and once in ball deep powder that I should have known didn't have the gradient.
Q. In these conditions, do you carry one pole or both?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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If you're going to need them then two are best, if you won't need them then one.
It's the same with ropes when skiing/riding, if you aren't going to use it a 30m thin rope is fine, otherwise a 50m 9mm is what you need.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I've never used them.
I'd guess that people who use them would want a pair, unless you can get one big one which looks a lot like a paddle.
Breaking trail on a snowboard on flats is tough, but it's no better with ski poles, which just sink into the powder. Other than reading the terrain ahead, there's a technique to "paddling" a snowboard with one foot which I used to use until I worked out how to read the terrain better...
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In deep powder, you're not going to get anywhere trying to pole a snowboard. Similarly, on a long traverse, you're generally better off unstrapping, hiking straight up a few metres, then strapping back in and carrying on.
The only scenario I've ever found poles to be useful is if you have a long, flat run-out which is groomed or compacted - e.g. XC ski run, walking/snowshoeing track, one of those spontaneously groomed tracks which appear in some resorts or just a line that gets compacted from a lot of use. In these more-or-less hardpack conditions, poles can give you enough of a speed-boost to make the difference. Skiers really get the benefit from skating, rather than poling - trying to propel yourself on skis by pure poling is no fun either.
I really only carry poles when splitboarding.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| stevomcd wrote: |
| I really only carry poles when splitboarding. |
This....... I would have thought.
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@stevomcd, The traverse in mind was Col de Ves back to Grande Balme. It is hard pack and pretty flat.
I agree on the powder bit, my thoughts were it/they would aid me to get back on and upright, without digging in to much, when the terrain improved. I would have made the flat that caught me out were I not nervously following a friend and holding back, on that day. I swam my board to a better gradient but even this wasn't enough to come up over the tail and each attempt dug the board in too deep to ride out. Poles may have either helped me get upright, or may have just provided enough forward push to get me started moving.
Hopefully, I'll never need them 
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@bar shaker, in powder a useful technique can be to take your pack off, put that in the snow and push down on it to get a bit of a platform.
In all honesty though, getting stuck on a flat in deep powder on a snowboard is always a nightmare. Poles won't really help. Prevention is always better than cure!
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