For purposes of balance, length is actually more important than mass. A ski pole is about as long as a human arm, so carrying a ski-pole doubles the length of balance-arm you have available to you. I would expect that the ideal would be a very lightweight pole, as long as is practical, with a heavy mass at the far end. Can anyone comment on the mass distribution of Olympic-level ski poles?
I don’t think it’s just mass. When I ski, I like touching the poles to the ground in turns just lightly. It’s kind of like extending your fingertips to the ground. It just gives you a better feel for what you’re doing.
Yes, I already said that.
But you’re not going 60 mph. Watch the downhill sometime and see how many times you see a pole plant. I watched a few runs last night and never saw even one.
I don’t mean pole plants. I mean dragging the tips behind on the snow in the turns, just like they do in the downhill. Maybe I’m just used to it, but if I have to ski down a hill without poles, it feels very strange, and I generally don’t plant my poles unless I’m in deep powder or something.
It could be all psychological.
Well, we’ve got linguists, biologists, phsycists, etc on this board, but looks like no Olympic downhill skiiers. 
Dude, all the Olympic downhill skiiers are, like, busy. 
Ok, now that I got my dig in, my experience skiing says that a 4 foot length of ski-pole can do wonders for putting yourself back over your feet, even if it doesn’t weigh very much. This site (for “Expert Skiers”) says basically the same thing, even if you’re an expert. Linky.
Also not to be discounted is the fact that at 60+ mph if you hold out your pole sideways, it’s going to exert a fair bit of force on you, even if it doesn’t weigh anything on it’s own.
Finally, there could be something to the idea that having a pair of poles which curve in behind you makes your tuck position a smidge more aerodynamic, which would give you a bit of a boost in the quadrennial go-fast-no-turns portion of the Olympiad.
In additional to the mechanical reasons to have poles, they can act like feline whiskers. A slight tap of the basket on the snow during a maneuver can add tons of unconscious spatial information that you just get used to having around.
The poles are used by downhillers for balance, not planting. If you’ve ever skied at high speeds you’d know why poles help…alot. Notice that when the skier needs to combat enertia, he’ll swing the pole outward.
Besides, the initial skating push-off is important. How are you going to do that without poles?
Then there’s the empirical proof…if poles didn’t help, they wouldn’t use them!
I regularly hit 50-60mph on piste, as verified by GPS. It’s really not that fast - I’d guess most decent black-run skiers hit 50mph. And yes, I plant poles at that speed, and yes, they can and do rescue me from hairy moments. Anyway, you wouldn’t deprive Linus of his security blanket, would you?
As Brain Wreck said, there is a big difference between skiing and snowboarding. I came late to boarding, and I’m still not that good, but one of the first things I realised is that, unlike skiing, boarding doesn’t tend to give you a second chance if you mess up!
Skiing, you catch an edge or get your weight on the wrong ski, you wobble, you can recover, and poles do help with that.
Boarding, you catch an edge and BLAM! you’re on your backside or your knees before you know what’s hit you.
I’m not a big skiing fan, but could it be that they also use the poles to help keep them in the proper position? As the poles are fit to the skier, wouldn’t they act as a kind of a guide as to whether or not the skier is in his/her optimum “tuck?” From what I understand, even being a fraction of an inch in the wrong position can cost you time, so wouldn’t holding two poles fit for your body in a particular position help you more then just trying to keep the position without holding anything?
Peace - DESK
That’s the point I was trying to make.
The poles really do help with balance. A big part of this is the fact that everyone learns to ski using poles. I can attest that skiing without poles feels really, really strange. Also, the movements required to throw the poles away would interfere with keeping one’s balance and moving forward.
A racer will not be penalized for losing one or both poles.
The movements involved in snowboarding are drastically different than those in skiing. The primary weight transferes are from heel to toe, rather than laterally like skiing.
St. Urho
Former Alpine Racer/Coach
Actually, here in the East at least, the kids learn without poles, and tend to ski without them, up to a certain age. However, if the theory was that without poles kids are unable to poke each other, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised.
I can’t find the story on the net, but didn’t this happen at the 1976 Olympics? I seem to recall that someone almost went down at the start of their run and lost a pole, then finished the run, skiing like a madman and finishing at the top of the rankings.
That would be Franz Klammer, but he didn’t lose a pole. His poles slipped on the icy course right at the start, throwing him off balance, and he was pretty much out of control the whole way down.
Here’s a good account (starts about halfway down page) Penguin Random House Canada
Sal- That’s pretty typical. Kids need to get to the point where they’re both big enough and coordinated enough to use poles.
Also, even though downhillers don’t physically plant the pole, they still make a similar movement with the initiation of each turn.
Oh c’mon, skiing without poles isn’t ***that ***weird. It’s different, sure, but it’s not that hard to compensate for. I’m no expert, but I have been skiing for the last 23 years (I’m 29) and I routinely either ski without poles or hold them nontraditionally. Just for fun, but it’s not that hard. Granted, I’m no agressive, expert-type skiier, either. I’m okay, I can handle the blacks, but I’m solidly recreational.
And yeah - I learned how to ski in Colorado, and we didn’t get poles for what seemed like ages in the first few ski schools. Probably to eliminate the poking, and too, when you’re that little, it’s not that far to the ground and you pop back up without any effort. Getting older sucks.
Do ski racers use poles as a sort of deflector when they hit gates? Instead of risking getting an arm or head stuck in the gate, they use a pole as a kind of shield?