Insta360’s Ski Pole Mount is a specialized adaptor designed to improve experience and performance when capturing skiing at 360°. Attached to your ski pole, the device frees both of the skier’s hands to do, well, the skiing thing. As with most Insta360 products in this line, framing is done in post with some powerful automation, so no worries about the horizon being leveled or footage being too shaky.
Winter is here, and with it comes snow in a myriad of ski locations. In a remarkable turn of events, it’s also the exact time in which the Insta360 Ski Pole Mount has been announced. The Chinese company is launching this clever yet simple mechanism to help skiers capture their action at 360° from the relative safety of keeping both hands on their ski poles.
Clever design vision
The Ski Pole Mount is carefully designed for minimal interference with the skiing experience. Simple to set up, securely attached, and adept at maintaining the center of gravity, this is a clever little contraption. But it’s the vision behind it that impresses me the most. As every filmmaker knows, the camera must be placed on a relatively level and stable attachment point. A ski pole is quite the opposite. Constantly moving, shifting angles, hitting the snow, this is no place for a camera, But 360° capture doesn’t quite work like this. When capturing 360°, the horizontal level doesn’t mean too much as the camera (or app) can automatically level it. With the field of view this wide, motion has a reduced effect, and the rather aggressive stabilization applied will probably fix what’s left of it.
Build and assembly
Attaching the Insta360 Ski Pole Mount is fairly simple. One side attaches to the ski pole, fastened by a hex key. Various diameter adapters will ensure a perfect fit. The other port will hold the selfie stick. A clamp allows it to grip both the 24.5mm and 23mm selfie sticks. Once installed and fastened to the ski pole, the selfie stick can be easily removed.
Price and availability
The Insta360 Ski Pole Mount will set you back €40 and is available on the Insta360 website. Notice that this does not include a selfie stick. In the box, you’ll find the following:
1x Ski Pole Mount
1x Hex Wrench
1x 24.5mm Selfie Stick Clamp
1x 23mm Selfie Stick Clamp
1x 14mm Ski Pole Clamp
1x 16mm Ski Pole Clamp
1x 18mm Ski Pole Clamp
1x 20mm Ski Pole Clamp
1x 22mm Ski Pole Clamp
Will you take the Insta360 Ski Pole Mount on your next skiing trip? Let us know in the comments.