# How do pole vaulters get from gig to gig? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2001, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pole-vaulters-get-from-gig-to-gig/70718 "2001-06-30T11:30:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2001, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pole-vaulters-get-from-gig-to-gig/70718/1 "2001-06-30T11:30:20Z")
How do pole vaulters get around, and take their pole with them? I imagine the pole has to be 1 solid piece to work, but even if I’m wrong the ones I’ve seen in use on TV seem to have only 1 middle joint at most. This still leaves two very long halves. Too big for a car, even on a roof rack. Too big for a bus. Couldn’t be stashed on a train without difficulty. And as for travelling around international sports events, how would you get the thing (or its half sections) on a plane? I’m assuming pole vaulters have their own pole(s) which they take with them everywhere they compete. Even if they don’t, this only relocates the problem. I mean, how do the people who manufacture these things get them across land, sea and air? ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2001, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pole-vaulters-get-from-gig-to-gig/70718/2 "2001-06-30T11:54:49Z")
Check out the below site for specifics… [http://speedandpower.com/vault/travel.shtml](http://speedandpower.com/vault/travel.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2001, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pole-vaulters-get-from-gig-to-gig/70718/3 "2001-06-30T20:26:20Z")
I’ll fess up that this is _partly_ a shameless self-bump, because I really want to know the answer to the question. In mitigation, this is one of those instances of the ‘instant vanishing post’. Submitted noon Saturday (my time) and off the first page by 5 pm! I appreciate **Funneefarmer’s** link, but it doesn’t really answer my questions. Any other takers? Or is the Doper community a trifle light on pole vault enthusiasts? ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2001, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pole-vaulters-get-from-gig-to-gig/70718/4 "2001-06-30T21:14:11Z")
Well if those personal stories weren’t enough for you (did you scroll down and read the stories?) you could hop over to the below site which is home to the Pole Vaulters Community Message Boards. When you need an expert’s opinion, ask the expert. [http://www.polevault.com/community/polevault\_community1.html](http://www.polevault.com/community/polevault_community1.html) ---
**Author:** ![RavingMad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/edb3f5/32.png) [@RavingMad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RavingMad)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2001, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pole-vaulters-get-from-gig-to-gig/70718/5 "2001-06-30T23:39:22Z")
As a former high school pole vaulter, I can first of all assure you that vaulting poles are entirely one piece – no middle joint whatsoever. Having only high school experience, I can’t tell you what the big boys at the international level do, but as for us, we schlepped ours along on the school bus. Open up the back emergency exit and slide the poles in no problem. Granted, the pole I used was only 13 feet long – not the 16+ footers used at the Olympic level. Can’t provide any cite for this, but I remember reading once a feature article about world record-holder Sergey Bubka walking around NYC with his pole over his shoulder. The humourous angle was that in the City of the Weird, nobody batted an eyelash at a man strolling along with a nearly 20-foot long fiberglass pole. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2001, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pole-vaulters-get-from-gig-to-gig/70718/6 "2001-07-01T00:46:48Z")
Naah, they use the pole vault to travel cross-country, one jump at a time. A really, really long one is used by vaulters to jump over the Mississippi, but is illegal in competition becuause of its potential of sticking it in a fan’s eye. ---
**Author:** ![evilhanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba8739/32.png) [@evilhanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilhanz)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pole-vaulters-get-from-gig-to-gig/70718/7 "2001-07-02T05:19:27Z")
I checked a ocuple of pole vaulting forums. The most intelligent post was as follows from [VaultWorld](http://www.vaultworld.com/wwwvault/messages/9734.html) > [@](#): > > Flyig with poles isn’t that much of a hassle, most of the time. Take your poles into the check-in area and place them somewhere they are visible, yet out of the way. Be sure to put one of those airline ID tags somewhere on your poles. Tell the ticketing agent you are checking in some pole vaulting poles and point out where your poles are. They should treat your poles like any other oversized baggage. DON’T let them try to tell you that you have to carry the poles anywhere, they’ll call someone to come get them. Also remind them that your poles ARE FRAGILE, and should be treated as such. Some airlines may charge you some extra $$, but it depends on the airline. Be aware that there are a couple of planes that poles won’t fit in the baggage area in the plane. One type of 737 and one of the MD type planes. That should be it as far as checking them in. Once you arrive, go to the baggage claim area and pick up your stuff. There should be an area for oversize baggage pickup. That’s where tehy will bring your poles out. Pay attention to when they bring your poles out and get them as soon as you can. Some of those baggage handlers can be real dumb asses sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![zwaldd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a9adbd/32.png) [@zwaldd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zwaldd)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2001, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-pole-vaulters-get-from-gig-to-gig/70718/8 "2001-07-02T13:49:19Z")
My ex-girlfriend’s mom used to be a pole vaulter (if she isn’t still). She would carry the pole on the side of her car, held in place by two rags looped around the pole in front and back and held in place by sticking the ends of the rags under the hood and trunk.