Ski Poles

For most skiers, ski poles are their friends. They help with turn initiation, maintaining balance and control, and pushing through the flat spots. For most kids, poles become fun toys or even weapons.

Poles started out as wooden sticks and poles (hence the name) and have made their way through other materials such as bamboo, aluminum, fiberglass, composites, and carbon fiber. The least expensive options are finding two sticks in the woods or raiding your parent's garage. These options will likely last about an hour at the resorts because they will either break, or your friends will make too much fun of you. So your best options are buying aluminum, composite, or carbon poles.

Aluminum Ski Poles
Aluminum is a great choice for the novice skier that is trying to decide if they will take to skiing. Aluminum poles are cheap and fairly durable. The downside to aluminum is that after it has been bent, it is very difficult to get it straight again. Also, while trying to bend a pole back to straight, the brittleness of aluminum can cause it to break. To avoid such a disaster, the next best material is composite.

Composite Ski Poles
Composite ski poles can be made up of fiberglass, resins, and other ingredients that make a pole more flexible than aluminum. If you fall on a composite pole, it is extremely rare that it will break or be bent out of shape. The disadvantages of composite poles is that they are a little more expensive and can be somewhat heavier than aluminum.

Carbon Ski Poles
The king of ski pole construction is carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is lightweight, strong, and can absorb a lot of shock. The carbon poles are much more expensive ($75-150 retail, but we have some as cheap as $39) than the aluminum and composite poles, but they really are that much better. They have the lightweight of aluminum and durability of composite. You get the best of both.

One of the major manufacturers of composite and carbon poles today is Goode (pronounced "good"... the "e" is silent). Goode makes all of the Goode poles, as well as the Defiance and Royal Shaft poles. The Defiance poles are a Level Nine Sports in-house creations and the Royal Shaft poles feature bright and innovative graphics.

Whatever you decide, we have an excellent assortment of ski poles to fit your budget and performance needs.

We now offer a ski pole cutting service for $5. We can cut any pole that we have in stock if we do not have the size you need. We cut up to 6 inches and cut from the tip (bottom.) Keep in mind the graphics that will be affected by the cut though that is usually minor. This option is on every ski pole product page to be chosen in the dropdown list.