Most skiers use poles. These handy spears are key to a successful turn, and make balancing while skiing—and navigating flat areas—much easier. Like any part of the mountainous kit needed to go skiing, ...

Watch any trail race or ultramarathon and odds are you’ll find runners huffing and puffing up insanely steep climbs or tip-toeing atop razor-thin mountain ridges with poles in their hands. But despite ...