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I know that it adds about 5 pounds of stiffness for every three inches you move down a pole (so a 14'6 140 is the same as a 14' 150 when gripping the same place). I have heard this is relatively true for most smaller poles but changes when moving to larger poles?

Does anyone know how it changes with 16' poles? If a vaulter is gripping 15'6 on a 16' 185 how much stiffer will it be than gripping at 16' or 15'9 assuming there is no max hand hold on this pole (I am referring to a Spirit and there is no max hand hold on 4.90 poles)?

In my experience holding down 12" on a 16 foot pole adds about 10 pounds. I've gone back and forth between a 16' 180 and 15' 190 spirit and found them to be almost identical. I've never really used a 15'6 pole so I can't speak to that, but holding 15' on that same 16' 180 didn't make it feel that much softer, so I'd guess its closer to a 15'6 185. This is all empirical data, so I may be wrong, but I know that in terms of feel at the takeoff, this is accurate.