mypandapoles-blog

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We use solid bamboo, which is not only a sustainable product, but has a higher tensile strength than aluminum. When cut to the length of a ski pole, the species of bamboo that we use provides the perfect combination of rigidity and flexibility so it will not snap or kink. All poles are custom, hand crafted, and delivered to you, ready to hit the slopes. Choose your bamboo ski poles by visiting us at Pandapoles.com

[mypandapoles-blog]

The ski pole that integrates tradition and progression for a unique, functional design that resonates with the mountain and nature, yet shreds other poles to pieces with its durability. These handy helpers will ensure you can perfect your technique and improve your balance and stability. We offer a wide range of ski poles to suit everyone. Customize your length, grips, straps according to your requirement. For more information, visit us at Pandapoles.com

[mypandapoles-blog]

Welcome to Panda Chief Theatre!

New #Panda_Vid! WHOA! After an almost 9 month hiatus, the Panda Chief returns to his post, as chief cinematographer and storyteller of Panda Poles...  

Video

In the world of skiing, names come and go. New faces arrive on the scene, just to be replaced by the next commoditized player in the game. Whether it’s the gear, the fads, the media, the companies, or the people involved, there is a continual flux of energy and attention within and around the snowsports industry.

But for one small stubborn brand--a brand which seems to be firmly rooted in the past, yet grasping for the hopes of tomorrow--the pace is much more akin to the rhythm of nature. And in order to explore the vibrational intricacies of such a company and it’s melodic pace, we must return to its roots, and explore its underbelly.

Hello, and welcome to Panda Chief Theater. I am your host--Panda Chief TanSnowMan. In this stunning new series we will go into the Panda Vid Archives, dusting off some of our most noteworthy treasures from the past. We will dig up the remains of our Youtube and Vimeo libraries, replete with almost 200 original feature edits. Many of these edits are off limits for us to talk about in this series, as they were filmed in the forbidden territories of the US Forest Service. But you are welcome to explore the archives and discover them for yourselves in the links provided below.

To kick off this series, we are going to return to the very first Panda Vid ever created. Filmed in December of 2010, this edit features myself, my business partners, and my roommates shreddin’ hard at The Bird (which is by the way private property).

#TribeUP "Panda Chief Theatre"!

[mypandapoles-blog]

Bamboo Ski Poles Grips-

We use solid bamboo, which is not only a sustainable product, but has a higher tensile strength than aluminum. When cut to the length of a ski pole, the species of bamboo that we use provides the perfect combination of rigidity and flexibility so it will not snap or kink. All poles are custom, handcrafted, and delivered to you, ready to hit the slopes. Choose your bamboo ski poles by visiting us at Pandapoles.com

[mypandapoles-blog]

We use solid bamboo, which is not only a sustainable product, but has a higher tensile strength than aluminum. When cut to the length of a ski pole, the species of bamboo that we use provides the perfect combination of rigidity and flexibility so it will not snap or kink. All poles are custom, hand crafted, and delivered to you, ready to hit the slopes. Choose your bamboo ski poles by visiting us at Pandapoles.com

[mypandapoles-blog]

The ski pole that integrates tradition and progression for a unique, functional design that resonates with the mountain and nature, yet shreds other poles to pieces with its durability. These handy helpers will ensure you can perfect your technique and improve your balance and stability. We offer a wide range of ski poles to suit everyone. Customize your length, grips, straps according to your requirement. For more information, visit us at Pandapoles.com

[mypandapoles-blog]

Best Ski Poles-

Ski poles play an important role in skiing, helping you keep your balance and start your turns. Next time you hit the slopes you want to be equipped with the best ski pole. We start with one of the best, most unique ski pole materials available ~ bamboo, and let you choose the basket and grip color. Shop the best ski poles from Pandapoles.com

[mypandapoles-blog]

PANDA POLES REVIEW BY MOUNTAIN WAGON

I’m weird about poles. I’ll cop to that right now. I’ve got strong, strong feelings about what is basically a fancy stick.

As previously explained, I think two segment poles are stupid – despite it being what I normally ski with.

To recap a prior diatribe – two segment poles don’t get short enough to fit in your pack for mountaineering type stuff which makes their collapse-ability pretty useless (and I can count the number of people I’ve seen adjust their poles mid-trip for side-hilling or whatever on one hand), but they still come with all the drawbacks of multi-segment poles. My argument is that you should probably have two sets of poles – a set of three segment poles for mountaineering stuff and a set of fixed length poles for days when you don’t need to toss your poles in your pack. Fixed length poles are stronger, lighter and cheaper if you break them.

Ever since I wrote that piece, I’ve been looking for a set of fixed length poles that were reasonably priced and ideally – brought something new to the table.

Turns out there’s not exactly a lot of innovation happening in poles for skiing powder. In fact, for a while, it looked like there was none. I mean, who’s innovating in the design of fancy sticks?

The answer my friend – is Panda Poles.

Panda Poles

Panda Poles is run by a group of skiers, and as far as I can tell, they basically decided they were going to start 100% from scratch in their design and took nothing for granted. With something simple like ski poles, you figure a company might have one feature that they use to differentiate themselves. Panda Poles on the other hand are straight up completely different.

When you buy your Panda Poles, you go onto the Panda Poles website and then configure them up the way you like. Grips, straps, shaft, baskets, everything can be tweaked to be exactly what you like.

The poles I'm reviewing today I paid for (but took advantage of a sale), so there's no paid shill thing going on here despite my overwhelming exuberance. They're 117cm and weigh a rather embarrassingly portly 692g. Oh damn. That ain't light. Exuberance tempered

Oh Damn, That ain't light

Let’s start with the simplest part of the pole – the shaft. Most poles are aluminum, some are carbon and Panda Poles are bamboo. Now, they aren’t the only bamboo poles out there, but it’s certainly different. It’s an interesting choice and actually what drew me to the poles in the first place – they look cool, and as Panda Poles point out - they're biodegradable if you break them. Without disassembling the poles to weigh the individual components, I get the impression the bamboo is responsible for a chunk of the weight of these things, and they aren’t exactly featherweights. Panda Poles offers a lighter weight bamboo option, but being someone who breaks gear at an absolutely terrifying pace, I wanted the burliest option.

Okay, now let’s look at what actually separates these from the rest of the market.

Grips

First, and the reason I ponied up for a set of these, is the grips. You can get your grips in different lengths. Yep – different lengths. They’re all tubular grips (no contouring for fingers), which initially worried me about them sliding in my hand, but the rubber of the grips is crazy tacky. In fact, as soon as I touched them, I flipped them upside down and saw an ODI logo on the underside of the grip – yep, looks like the guys at Panda Poles are re-purposing bicycle grips. Wicked idea which lets a small shop keep costs in check AND after a bunch of testing, these don’t move in your hands at all.

You can pick between a variety of colours and lengths of 6, 8, 9, or 11”. Weird eh? It’s also what makes these amazing. I got the 11” grip which lets me continuously adjust my grip up and down when I’m side-hilling while skinning. Get the 11” grip. It’s way better than the choke-up grip on poles like my Black Diamond Traverses because it’s both more secure thanks to the tacky rubber and easier to fine tune up and down since there is no variation to the diameter is continuous. 

Straps

Brace yourself for the greatest innovation in straps for backcountry ski poles I’ve ever seen. Are you braced? Like really holding on? You can order Panda Poles with NO STRAPS. Holy shit. Revolutionary. I can’t remember the last time I used the straps on any of my poles – they’re an absolute no-no when in avi terrain, which for me is always. Panda Poles – I just ticked the ‘no straps’ box. Boom. Done. Amazing.

Baskets

Up until now I’ve thought the best baskets out there were the Black Diamond ¾ Powder Baskets – they had decent float but the cut-out portion kept the baskets (if properly oriented) from causing the tips to skate when skinning up steep hard-pack.

NOW, there’s the Panda Poles baskets and I never want to use anything else again. Instead of a flexible flat disc, the Panda Poles use a rigid conical basket. You can take your pick from a few colours and diameters of 5, 7, 9, or 10cm baskets (yes, it’s infuriating that they measure their grips in inches and their baskets in centimeters) depending on where you lie on the resort to backcountry spectrum. 

Shockingly, I went for the 10cm baskets. 

Panda Poles claims this gives lower drag when the poles move through powder. I didn’t notice any difference on that front. What I did notice was two big advantages.

The first was that like the BD ¾ baskets, there’s no tip-skate when skinning steep hard pack – the rigid baskets can actually grip compacted snow themselves, so while the tip might not be gripping, your poles doesn’t go anywhere and unlike the BD baskets, you don't need to worry about the orientation of the basket.

The second big advantage I discovered is basically life changing for people who spend a lot of quality time swimming through alder on heinous bushwhacks. The conical pole basket means the poles don’t get hung up in trees or bushes. The conical shape guides the pole out before it gets jammed. I want these baskets on every set of poles I own. Zero hyperbole. They’d be amazing (especially the smaller diameter ones) in the summer, shoulder season, mid-winter, any time of year. All baskets, it turns out, should be cones.

The Down Sides

Okay, I’ve raved a lot about these things, but there’s some downsides. Downsides big enough to turn some people off of these otherwise awesome poles.

Weight

They weigh a ton.

My set are about 100g heavier the two segment BD Traverse Poles and almost 200g heavier than the G3 Fixie. This is not an insignificant weight difference. Like I said, there’s a lighter weight bamboo available (which Panda Poles estimates would save about 50g per pair so might be worth it) which would reduce the weight penalty, but the pole baskets themselves are giant pieces of rigid plastic and I think there’s a lot of room to shave that weight down. Some cutouts, like you see on standard powder baskets, would be a start. I may take a power drill to mine to lighten them up and I’m not exactly a weight weenie. The poles don’t have a great swing weight, and reducing some of the tip mass would go a long way to fixing that.

Tech Binding Compatibility

I know what you’re asking – how can a pole be tech-binding compatible. Take a look at the grips on your touring poles – see that little ridge or lip on the underside of the top piece of the pole? That’s there to let you lock your toe-pieces when you’re skinning. Flip the pole upside down and flip up the toe-lock.

The Panda Poles don’t have molded grips like normal poles (remember, they’re re-purposed bike grips), so they don’t have a lip for locking your toe-pieces. The rubber is grippy enough to allow you flick heel lifters up and down, but it doesn’t really work for me for toe-pieces.

There’s a solution of course – and that’s to just bend down and lock your toes by hand, but it’s required that I change up how I do things and I don’t like change. At some point I may try and modify the grip to let me lock my toes with it, but it’ll be more involved than just drilling holes like for the baskets.

If in the future Panda Poles adds some cut-outs to the baskets to reduce weight, if they were to add one big enough to hook your toe-lock, that would be an appreciated solution to both problems.

Shipping

Call this a bonus con. If you live in the states, shipping is a super reasonable $10USD. If you live outside the US? Holy hell it’s expensive. Shipping to Calgary was going to cost $65USD for a set of poles that list for $75USD. I ended up shipping them to a US border town and getting someone to mule them across for me (dutifully declaring them, I swear). The result is that if you live in Canada and don’t have an easy way to pick them up in the states, the shipping basically makes them unmanageably expensive.

So, two big cons – heavy and tech-compatibility and one location dependent mega one. If you can get around the international shipping, then I don’t think the binding thing will be a deal breaker for many people but the weight? That could be a killer. I’ve reached out to Panda Poles to ask for the difference in shaft weight between the two types of bamboo to see if that actually helps appreciably, but the rest of the poles just sort of pile onto the problem

Conclusions

I love these things. They’re too heavy, I hate having to bend over to lock my toes, but I love everything else. I love that they don’t skate when I’m skinning up steep hard pack. I love that they don’t get trapped by branches when I’m bushwhacking. I love that they don’t have straps. I love that they have goofy long grips that let me tweak my hand position up and down. 

Panda Poles went back to the drawing board for a product that doesn't see a ton of innovation and has come up with something wildly different that genuinely solves problems. They also did it at a price point that is very reasonable (international shipping aside).

If you live in the states or are have a post box down there or something – add these to your pole quiver (is that a thing?).

[mypandapoles-blog]

Factors to Consider while Choosing the Ski Poles

Going out skiing on the weekend? If you are a beginner, you may wonder the purpose of a ski pole as you do not need those when you go for ice skating. People suggest they are not needed for beginners and children as they can cause injury and confusion among them. Being an essential piece of equipment, it provides you balance and rhythm, stability, traction and also adds style to your skiing. The article focuses on the factors to consider when you choose a ski stick.

Parts of a Ski Pole

Ski poles can vary in size, material, and configuration but the basic parts of the ski pole are the same. Following are the basic parts of a ski pole,

●     Handle - It acts as a grip for the skier to hold on to. It is fixed to the top of the ski pole. They are shaped to fit in a gloved hand comfortably and are made of rubber or plastic.

●     Tip - The pointed metal spike at the end of the shaft is called the tip.

●     Basket - The basket is the small, flat disk behind the tip and perpendicular to the pole.

●     Strap - An adjustable plastic or rubber loop is attached to the end of the handle of a pole which is called the strap.

●     Shaft - The main part of the body of the pole is the shaft.

Types of Poles

There are various types of ski poles that offer different functions to the users.

●     Freestyle poles are shorter, offer flexibility and have smaller grips.

●     Race poles are the best and use the most durable materials. These are shaped for speed events.

●     All mountain poles are for skiers of all ages and abilities and are available in aluminum and carbon fiber body.

Shaft Material

Shaft material is an important aspect to look for in ski poles as it defines the durability and flexibility.

●     Aluminum is common in beginner poles. It is heavier than the carbon fiber ones but is durable and cost-effective.

●     Composite poles are more durable and flexible than the aluminum ones. These are very strong and can bend a lot without breaking.

●     Carbon is common in advanced and high-end poles. The strength to weight ratio is very high. These are flexible, durable and maintain ultra-light feel.

Basket Type

The basket size depends on the terrain where you are going skiing.

●     Powder baskets are wide and large in diameter and will not sink in the soft snow.

●     Standard baskets are smaller in diameter and are light.

Sizing

The length of the ski poles is determined by positioning your elbow next to your side and bending your forearm 90 degrees for checking whether it is parallel to the surface. The ski pole has to be flipped upside down and you have to put the handle on the floor. You have to position your hand under the basket with the ski pole vertical. Your forearm will still be parallel to the ground when it is the correct size.

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What are the benefits of using kid’s ski poles?

Any hiker knows that two legs are not enough in order to ensure stability on the trail. In order to stop slipping or to hinder any accident from coming on your way, a walking stick or ski poles are needed to give yourself the stability that you need. Walking with the help of two poles can offer more stability and it can also provide workout benefits that will become beneficial to the body.

Obviously, ski poles will help lessen the impact of hiking to the leg muscles and knee joints. Because the poles would ask a person to sustain a "hands above the heart" position, circulation is then improved and heart rate is lessened. Furthermore, the "rhythm" which is created during walking with the use of poles would leads to relaxed and better breathing ability. Also, it will provide an increased stamina support. Balance is the first area that ski poles can assist in. When carrying large loads on our backs we move our center of gravity higher, essentially making us top heavy. When this high center of gravity is added to the uneven terrain found on the trail, any slight loss of balance can be amplified. Ski poles increase your base of support and enable the correction of these slight mistakes. By utilizing the arms we have four points of contact rather than two, and get the added stability that comes with this. This allows you extra pair of legs to maintain the stability. Pandapoles provides kids ski poles which will give you the perfect balance of low weight and durability

For those who are really into in winter outdoor adventures, checking for skiing and snow conditions is important.

These poles make good probes, which is a necessity, as it helps to evaluate the stability of the conditions. In this case, it is important that the ski poles are marked so that depth readings can easily be obtained. The user of ski poles must be in control of them at all times, and they must feel firm in their hands. When it comes to outdoor adventures, there are some places where costs can be cut; however, ski poles should not be one of these areas. They are very affordable, and you will find a good variety of choices in different price ranges. Picking the right pole is quite easy. Most people find ski poles to be the most comfortable when they are about waist high in length, or just a bit longer. It also depends on the terrain you most frequently hike or walk in. If the terrain is quite steep and you're trekking at an incline a shorter pole will be desired. If you’re trekking on a decline, then you would want your poles at a longer length. If you primarily walk on flat or slightly inclined terrain, then one about waist high is sufficient.

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Ski Poles- How to Pick the Right Ones for You

Anyone who is planning to take part in some serious outdoor adventures,  no matter what the season, is going to want to consider ski poles. Naturally, because one will be carrying these items on occasion, they should be lightweight, yet of good quality and reliable. The shape of ski poles is what dictates how much strength they are going to have, and this is something you will want to pay attention to if you are purchasing your first ski poles. Your poles flexibility is more important and they should have a locking device on them to make them more secure.

Ski poles help with balance and weight distribution. So what are the advantages of using them?

They provide for superior balance and footing.

They reduce the amount of stress on your joints and legs, transferring some of the weight to your arms.

They make crossing difficult sections of a trail easier and safer.

They assist in the crossing of streams.

They can be used as a third arm to move brush or branches out of the way.

They can be used to probe to check for boggy sections or other trail hazards.

For those with weak or damaged joints, poles can be particularly beneficial.

For those who are really into in winter outdoor adventures, checking for skiing and snow conditions is important. These poles make good probes, which is a necessity, as it helps to evaluate the stability of the conditions. In this case, it is important that the ski poles are marked so that depth readings can easily be obtained. The user of ski poles must be in control of them at all times, and they must feel firm in their hands. When it comes to outdoor adventures, there are some places where costs can be cut; however, ski poles should not be one of these areas. They are very affordable, and you will find a good variety of choices in different price ranges. Picking the right pole is quite easy. Most people find ski poles to be the most comfortable when they are about waist high in length, or just a bit longer. It also depends on the terrain you most frequently hike or walk in. If the terrain is quite steep and you're trekking at an incline a shorter pole will be desired. If you’re trekking on a decline, then you would want your poles at a longer length. If you primarily walk on flat or slightly inclined terrain, then one about waist high is sufficient.

[mypandapoles-blog]

When searching for a perfect ski pole to improve your ski experience look no further than Pandapoles. Our kids ski poles give you the perfect balance of low weight and durability.  We have a huge selection for you to choose from.

[mypandapoles-blog]

The ski pole that integrates tradition and progression for a unique, functional design that resonates with the mountain and nature, yet shreds other poles to pieces with its durability. These handy helpers will ensure you can perfect your technique and improve your balance and stability. We offer a wide range of ski poles to suit everyone. Customize your length, grips, straps according to your requirement. For more information, visit us at Pandapoles.