Andy Mapple & Handle Size

A skier of mine recently e-mailed me that he skies with a 1.183 diameter handle.  The largest diameter I have carried in the past is a 1.125.  This season I will have diameters ranging from .888 to 1.183.  This leads me to a question I often get asked by skiers..."What diameter handle should I use?".

Andy Mapple has a new website MappleSkis.com.  Other websites to carry his name are TeamMapple.com and AndyMapple.com.  I have a page from his AndyMapple.com website that I printed out and saved titled, Handle Size - June 23, 2002.  It states, "I use a 1.092" x 12" handle" (back when I hooked up with Andy he used a 1.062" x 12" made by Custom Grip).  He talked about it not making any sense for different size guys to be using the same handle; "Their hands are just too different in size".  Andy said, "If I get too small a handle I get very sore hands, where as if I get too large a handle...it doesn't fit in my fingers.  Finding the right comfort level in your grip will greatly improve your pulling power".

                                                                                                        Brenda