What size ski poles you need, and whether you need them yet

The chart

Every row here is the same rule: about 68% of standing height, rounded to the sizes poles are actually sold in. Poles come in 2 in or 5 cm steps, so a chart cannot be more precise than that and any that claims to be is making it up.

The elbow test beats the chart

The chart is a starting point. This is the actual answer, and it takes ten seconds in a shop:

1. Stand up straight in your ski boots.
2. Turn the pole upside down so the grip is on the floor.
3. Hold the pole just underneath the basket, the plastic ring near the tip.
4. Look at your elbow. A right angle with the forearm level with the floor is correct. Hand higher than the elbow means the pole is too long; forearm sloping down means it is too short.

If you are between two lengths, take the shorter one. A pole that is slightly short is unnoticeable; a pole that is too long forces your hand up and your weight back, and being in the back seat is already the beginner’s default problem.

What poles are actually for

Less than people assume on day one and more than people assume by day five. Poles do four jobs, in ascending order of when they start to matter:

• Pushing along the flats and in lift lines. This is the job you notice first and it is genuinely the most useful thing about them in week one.
• Balance while standing still, including getting up after a fall and standing on a slope while somebody puts a glove back on.
• Timing the turn. A pole plant is what sets the rhythm of a linked turn. This starts to matter when you begin making short turns on steeper ground and not before.
• Reading the snow. Advanced use, and irrelevant to a family resort trip.

Notice that nothing in that list is about propelling you down the mountain. That is the most common beginner misconception, and it produces a skier who is trying to push themselves along with their arms instead of steering with their feet.

The case for skiing your first day without poles

Most ski schools start absolute beginners without poles, and they are right to. A brand-new skier has enough to think about, and two sticks in the hands become something to wave, to lean on, and to fall onto. Learning to steer with your feet before you have anything to lean on builds better habits.

Take poles from the point where you can link turns down a green run without thinking about each one, which for most adults is somewhere in the second or third day. The rest of what a beginner setup involves is here.

Grips, baskets and straps

• Baskets. The ring near the tip stops the pole sinking. A small basket is standard for groomed resort runs; a large powder basket is for deep snow and gets in the way everywhere else. Baskets pop on and off, so this is a five-dollar decision rather than a purchase decision.
• Grips. Rubber, plastic and cork all work. Cork is warmer in the hand and more expensive. This is genuinely a comfort preference with no right answer.
• Straps. Use them on groomed resort terrain: a dropped pole on a lift is a walk back up. The correct way is up through the loop from underneath and then down over the strap, so the strap takes the load rather than your grip.
• Adjustable poles. Genuinely useful for a growing child, since one pair covers several years, and for anyone who tours. For a fixed-length resort skier they add weight and a failure point for no benefit.

Aluminum against composite

Aluminum poles bend and stay bent. Carbon and composite poles are lighter and stiffer, and they snap rather than bending. For a family resort skier, aluminum is the correct choice for one unromantic reason: a bent pole can be bent back and finished the day with, and a snapped one cannot.

Weight difference between the two on a recreational pole is on the order of a few ounces per pole. Nobody in a lift line has ever noticed it.

Why there are no pole picks on this page

Every product recommendation on this site is computed from figures the maker publishes, and the working is printed under each one so you can check it. For ski poles, the specifications that would drive that arithmetic — published length options, shaft alloy, published weight and a published warranty term — are not consistently published by the brands that sell poles into this market, and we are not going to compile a ranking out of retailer listings and call it a specification.

So this page sizes you and stops. When we can build a pole ledger from published maker figures the way we did for helmets and goggles, this page will get picks and the sources will be listed at the bottom like everywhere else. Our full method is published here, including what we do when a maker publishes nothing.

Poles for children

Same elbow test, same rule, one addition: children grow, so an adjustable pole or a hand-me-down pair one size up is genuinely sensible where it would be a bad idea for boots. Our page on which kids gear you can size up and which you cannot puts poles firmly in the “size up, it is fine” column, alongside jackets and unlike boots and helmets.

And for a genuinely small child in their first season, no poles at all is the right answer for longer than it is for an adult. Ski schools often keep children pole-free for a full week. The rest of what actually helps a child learn is here.