Ski pole length calculator: resort and touring
Stand in ski boots, turn the pole upside down and grip under the basket: your forearm should be level and your elbow at about 90 degrees. That is roughly 68 percent of standing height, which is about 48 inches at 6 foot, 46 at 5 foot 10, and 44 at 5 foot 6. Touring poles run about 5 cm shorter as a baseline and adjust from there.
Pole length is the easiest number in skiing to get right and the one people most often inherit from whatever was in the garage. The test takes ten seconds: stand in ski boots, turn the pole upside down, grip it just under the basket, and your forearm should be roughly level with the ground with your elbow at about 90 degrees.
Pole length calculator
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Built from the standard forearm-level fitting convention, not a measurement we took. Poles are sold in 5 cm steps, so round to the nearest available size and adjust from there.
The length chart
| Height | Resort pole | In inches | Touring baseline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4'10" (147 cm) | 100 cm | 40 in | 95 cm |
| 5'0" (152 cm) | 102.5 cm | 40 in | 97.5 cm |
| 5'2" (157 cm) | 107.5 cm | 42 in | 102.5 cm |
| 5'4" (163 cm) | 110 cm | 44 in | 105 cm |
| 5'6" (168 cm) | 115 cm | 46 in | 110 cm |
| 5'8" (173 cm) | 117.5 cm | 46 in | 112.5 cm |
| 5'10" (178 cm) | 120 cm | 48 in | 115 cm |
| 6'0" (183 cm) | 125 cm | 50 in | 120 cm |
| 6'2" (188 cm) | 127.5 cm | 50 in | 122.5 cm |
| 6'4" (193 cm) | 132.5 cm | 52 in | 127.5 cm |
| 6'6" (198 cm) | 135 cm | 54 in | 130 cm |
Poles are sold in both scales, which causes more confusion than it should. The inch figures on the right are what most North American resort poles are marked in, and the centimetre figures are what most touring and European poles use. They are the same pole.
Why touring poles adjust and resort poles do not
A resort skier has one pole length because they have one activity: standing on a chairlift and skiing down. A tourer has at least three. On a moderate skin track a shorter pole lets you push from a comfortable arm position instead of shrugging your shoulders for two hours. On a steep skin track you want it shorter still, which is what the extended foam grip is for: you choke down the shaft without stopping. On a sidehill you want the uphill pole short and the downhill pole long, which is the one situation where two different lengths genuinely help.
Then you transition and want full length for the descent. That is four settings in one day, which is why an adjustable pole with a lock you can operate wearing mittens is not a luxury item.
Insist on lever locks. Twist locks work when new and warm, and they slip under load once ice and grit are in the mechanism, which is precisely when you are leaning on the pole to kick-turn on a steep track. A slipping pole on a kick turn is how people fall off skin tracks.
Baskets, straps and the details that outrank length
Baskets. A small trekking basket disappears into soft snow, so the pole plants and keeps going and gives you nothing. Powder baskets are cheap, swap in a minute, and change how a pole feels off-piste more than five centimetres of length ever will.
Straps. At a resort, use them: they let you push without gripping and they stop you dropping a pole from the chair. In avalanche terrain and in trees, take your hands out of them. A pole strapped to your wrist in moving debris is an anchor, and in trees it is a shoulder injury waiting for a branch. Many touring poles use a quick-release or a minimal strap for this reason.
Grips. An extended foam grip running twenty or thirty centimetres down the shaft is the single most useful touring pole feature after the lock, because it turns every small gradient change into a hand movement rather than a stop.
Aluminium, carbon, and what fails
Aluminium bends and keeps working. Carbon is lighter and stiffer and snaps cleanly, which on a tour means walking out. Weight in a pole is genuinely felt, because it is swung thousands of times an hour and mass at the end of a lever costs more energy than mass in your pack, so the carbon argument is real. Many touring poles split the difference with a carbon upper and an aluminium lower, putting the fragile material where it takes least abuse.
Whatever the material, the failure points are the lock mechanism and the tip. Rinse salt and grit off the shafts, dry telescoping sections before storage, check the lever tension at the start of the season, and replace worn carbide tips rather than skiing on rounded ones.
Related
The pole roundup ranks the shelf by tier for both resort and touring use. If you are assembling a whole kit, the build guides price poles alongside everything else, and how to skin uphill covers how the pole is actually used on a climb, which is what the adjustment exists for.
Frequently asked questions
What length ski poles do I need?
Stand in your ski boots, turn the pole upside down and grip it just under the basket. Your forearm should be roughly level with the ground and your elbow at about 90 degrees. As a rough guide that works out to about 48 inches at 6 foot, 46 inches at 5 foot 10, 44 inches at 5 foot 6 and 42 inches at 5 foot 2, which is close to 68 percent of your standing height.
Should touring poles be shorter than resort poles?
Slightly, and more importantly they should adjust. A skin track wants a shorter pole, a descent wants full length, and a sidehill wants one of each. Setting a touring pole about 5 cm shorter than your resort length as a baseline works well, and an extended foam grip lets you choke down further without stopping to adjust.
Are longer or shorter poles better for beginners?
Slightly shorter than the formula suggests, because a new skier tends to stand upright and a long pole encourages leaning back. Once you are driving the front of the boot and skiing in a more forward stance, the standard length feels right. It is a small effect and boot fit matters far more.
Do powder skiers use longer poles?
Sometimes, by a couple of centimetres, because the pole sinks further into soft snow before it plants. Powder baskets matter far more than length here: a small summer basket disappears into soft snow and gives you nothing to push against.
Aluminium or carbon poles?
Aluminium bends under load and stays usable, which matters on a tour where a broken pole is a long walk. Carbon is lighter and stiffer and snaps cleanly. Many touring poles use an aluminium lower section and a carbon upper for exactly that reason, taking the weight saving where it is safe to take it.
Why do touring poles use lever locks instead of twist locks?
Twist locks slip under load once ice and grit get into the mechanism, and they are difficult to adjust with gloves on. A lever lock clamps mechanically, holds when cold and wet, and can be operated one-handed with a mitt on. On a touring pole this is not a preference, it is the difference between an adjustable pole and a pole that collapses on a kick turn.
How we choose: we compare published manufacturer specifications, published certification standards and verified owner reviews across retailers. We do not test equipment in person, and every figure quoted here is the manufacturer's published number unless we say otherwise. This is researched buying guidance and not professional instruction: binding release values are set by a certified technician on a calibrated jig, and avalanche terrain requires formal training and a current regional forecast that no article can replace.
