Cheesy gadget

Ski pole clip gadgetJust a few posts ago, I was talking about people who like gadgets such as pole clips. Imagine my surprise when I a man entered the same télécabine/bubble/gondola/egg (choose your preferred word for the enclosed ski lift) as me with a very special clip on his poles.

Notice that he’s a cross-country skier (look, we all have our prejudices and mine is cross-country skiing). More on this later. Ski poles are light and narrow, making them easy to hold in one hand. I would argue that adding a clip to them merely makes them harder to hold due to the wider distance between the poles. However, this isn’t just any pole clip, is it? No: this one has the face of some champion and a motivational caption (which I’m afraid I’ve forgotten, and my phone’s old 1 megapixel camera couldn’t capture).

But let’s get back to the cross-country skier bit. I was able to extend my arm out as far as it would reach towards these poles to take this photo because the cross-country skier owner was too busy getting undressed to notice. Two layers came off his chest, leaving one long-sleeved loose layer that looked good for sweat removal (urgh). He then unzipped his tracksuit bottoms from his ankles right to his waist — like a stripper — and rolled them up into a bag with his other removed layers. The skin-tight under-layer made me want to say: “No, please put those tracksuit pants back on,” but I resisted. The only other occupant of our télécabine was a middle-aged ski instructor, who looked over at me giggling silently while this guy got his bumbag (with water bottle holder) out and velcroed it around his waist. I’m surprised this gadget man didn’t still have one of the La Clusaz piste maps clipped to one of his poles — but perhaps it’s attached to his downhill ski poles at home.

About

I'm a technical author, journalist and writer from Australia who has been living in Europe since 2000 and exploring the world from there. My passions are writing, snow sports and travel.

2 Comments on “Cheesy gadget

  1. That’s funny, Franco Phoney – the Gadget Guy! I wish I’d carried on with the skiing thing, but rollerblading down the Champs Elysées using the tourists as slalom cones comes a close second.

  2. Ooch, I own rollerblades but I fear small stones or other anomalies on the surface I’m skating on. You’re braver than I, Sab.