On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 16:32:02 -0500, Walt
wrote:

Ron - NY wrote:
I was on the lift one day with a ski patrol guy
and he told me there is a special way to wrap the strap around your wrist
when gripping the pole but It might not be easy to explain . He said to put
your hand through the strap and instead of just gripping the pole , to put
your hand over the strap so it's between your index finger & thumb and then
grip the pole .

The advantage of using the strap that way is you get more leverage when
you're poling across the flats. It's essential for X-C, but I'm not
sure I see the advantage for downhill.


The advantage I find is that if you let go of the pole in a fall, then
it's dangling harmlessly from your wrist, leaving your hand completely
free. Whereas if you do the instinctive thing (reach horizontally
_through_ the loop so that you only grip the pole, rather than reach
UP through the loop and then grip both the pole and the strap), then
when you let go, the pole hangs from the strap which is nestled in the
webbing of your thumb, turning the pole into a very well-braced lever,
admirably suited for tweaking your thumb or wrist.

bw