Poles for Boarders? Surely not

If there is one thing that the snowboarder like mocking, it's poles. Afterall, boarders prove that you can do it all without the silly sticks

14 February 2006 12:30 GMT / By Chris Hall

If there is one thing that the snowboarder like mocking, it's poles. Afterall, boarders prove that you can do it all without the silly sticks. (I have been curtly reminded that a person on a snowboard is actually a rider, not a boarder. A boarder is someone at a Boarding School - I stand corrected.)

The guys at Marx Boarding however are having none of it, and have created the SnowStik, especially for 'riders'.

The basic premise is to provide snowboarders with a telescopic pole that they can carry around on the mountains, and then flick out whenever they need it ï¿½ when hitting a flat, standing in a lift cue, or when exploring off-piste.

To accompany your SnowStik is the SnowClip, a holster which can strap onto your boot which the SnowStik will sit in until you need it.

Telescopic poles are not new, Leki have been making poles for a long time, which have found a following with powder hounds because they can be compressed and strapped to your sack once the walking is done.

Pole, yes, a great idea to save you unclipping your back foot and skating along twisting your knee when moving around the pistes. The SnowClip weï¿½ll need convincing about. Iï¿½d rather carry it on my rucksack, leaving my legs free to take care of the business end of riding.

Richard Marks, creator of the Snowstik said, "We started out looking at what snowboarders needed. We determined a multi-grip handle was essential as they stand sideways and use one or both hands to oar or paddle to propel themselves. Next the handle needed to have more strength than a simple ski grip. We used computer modeling to do strength analysis to make the Snowstik a lot stronger than a typical ski pole. Once we achieved that, we added Ticalium to the shafts to build on the overall strength. We believe the Snowstik is a dramatic improvement to the snowboarding experience".

Find out more at www.marxboarding.com.