Tips for Double Poling in Cross Country Skiing

By Keith and Heather Nicol   

 The double pole technique is technically a classic skiing manoeuvre but is also important for skate skiers as well since it is used in the one skate and 2 skate or V2 and V2 alternate for our American viewers. The double pole in classic skiing tends to be used where conditions are a bit too fast for diagonal stride and is a great technique for maintaining momentum. When I teach double pole I start by showing skiers the arm position  - with elbows at roughly at 90 degrees. (See photo below).  You want the arms to be held high to start and shoulder width apart with the poles angled back. You want to feel your abdominal muscles first and then back and shoulder muscles and finally pushing with your arm and wrist.  It really helps to get your hips and torso forward at the onset of the double poling action as you can see in the first photo below. You can see by the blue lines how both my hips and torso are forward.  That way you can use your body weight to help propel you down the track. As you follow through with the poling think about finishing with your shoulder, arm and wrist muscles as seen in the second photo. Note how I extend my arm and release the poles at the end of the poling action. The following video shows many common errors that I see when I teach double poling and how to correct them- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDJPH27giUo&feature=youtu.be   Like many techniques in cross country skiing, double poling appears to be easy to do but in fact is difficult to do well. Thanks as well to our sponsors Auclair gloves and Infinity Ski Poles.