every time i fell with poles and straps on, i'd tweak my thumb hella hard.
so i lost the straps. cuz i figured, i didn't want pointy metal rods attached to me if i ever took a bad fall.
then i met a guy who stabbed himself in the gut with one of his poles when he overshot a jump.
so i lost the poles altogether. and really, besides for pow riding (when i do bust em out) i've never found a reason to go back to using them. you get used to skiing without them, unless its really slushy i'm fine skating everywhere, and grabs come a lot cleaner and more solid. only downside is when you get to the front of the liftline and have to do an idiotic little penguin shuffle to load