PoleClinometer® Sizing Solutions
The standard PoleClinometer slope meter kit fits 14mm, 16mm, or 18mm pole shaft diameters. That covers ALMOST every ski pole made today. Think you have an odd size? Don’t fret; we now have solutions to fit ANY pole shaft diameter, and we’ll send ’em to you free of charge if you need ’em. Just buy the regular kit to start (odds are that’s all you’ll need) and use the included “wrap ruler” to measure your pole.
If the candy-stripe line lands under one of the green bands, you’re all set. Just use the corresponding sticker size from the standard kit.
If the candy-stripe line lands under one of the orange bands, then you’ll need our XL PoleClinometer kit. Just contact us. If you’ve already purchased the standard kit, we’ll send you an XL kit free of charge to replace it.
If the candy-stripe line lands outside the orange or green bands, you might need our SIZER (and possibly our XL kit too if you’re above 18mm diameter) in order to fit your pole. If you’re close to one of the bands, you can try the corresponding sticker size and see how it fits. If it doesn’t work out, or if you’re not even close, just contact us and we’ll send you what you need free of charge — including a replacement PoleClinometer sticker if you sullied yours trying.
Sticker Fit
Once you’ve installed your sticker, here’s what to look for.
This is the goal. If the marks look like this where the edges of your sticker meet, then you’re golden. Note that it doesn’t have to look exactly like this. A gap or overlap of up to 2mm is just fine, and a small offset (<1mm) is OK too. If you’re off by any more than that, see below.
A big gap between the sticker edges means your ski pole shaft is too large for the sticker. Measure the gap with a metric ruler. If it’s less than 2mm, then you’re fine; go skiing! If it’s around 6 or 7 mm, then try the next size up sticker. If it’s anything else, then you have an odd sized ski pole shaft diameter. Please re-measure your pole diameter if possible (ideally using the wrap-ruler that came with your kit) and contact us; we’ll send you what you need to make it fit.
A big overlap of the sticker edges means your ski pole shaft is too small for the sticker. Measure the overlap if you can with a metric ruler. If it’s less than 2mm, then you’re fine; go skiing! If it’s around 6 or 7mm, then try the next size down sticker. If it’s anything else, then you have an odd sized or under-sized pole shaft diameter. Please re-measure your pole diameter if possible (ideally using the wrap-ruler that came with your kit) and contact us; we’ll send you what you need to make it fit.
A significant offset just means your sticker’s not aligned quite right. Don’t fret; you can peel it off and try again. But first, measure the offset¹ with a metric ruler. A 1mm offset will result in about 2° of error with a 14mm PoleClinometer, or about 1.5° of error with an 18mm PoleClinometer². It should be pretty easy for you to achieve less than 0.5mm offset (i.e. <1° error) if you align your sticker carefully. You decide how much error-due-to-offset you’re willing to tolerate, keeping in mind that overall precision is typically around 2-3° for most people.
¹ by “offset” here I mean the vertical distance between two points that should line up where the sticker edges meet.
² Error due to sticker alignment offset when sighting cross-slope is calculated as follows:
error ≅ arcsin [ offset ÷ (2 × pole shaft diameter ) ]
Error due to sticker alignment offset when sighting down-slope is much less.
Pre-Measure
Would you like to measure your pole diameter without the wrap ruler? Don’t have a precision caliper handy? Try this trick.
