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Has anyone here been to any pole factories? Just Curious. I went to UCS Spirit in Nevada, and Steve Chapplle gave my coach and I a tour so I could see how they were made! It was pretty cool!

There are 4 in the US. Gill Athletics in Champaign, IL, ESSX in Forth Wort, TX, Altius in Dallas, TX (or thereabouts), and UCS Spirit in Carson City, NV.

I've been to all but Altius. Everyone was super nice. I would encourage any vaulters who ever get a chance to set up a tour and check things out.

I went to the Gill factory. It was really cool to see how things are done.

Gill and Essx. Very different factories, very similar process with slight variations and equipment. Both companies are very friendly about giving tours, as I'm sure Steve at UCS and Paul at Altius would be. I think it's important to understand how the pole is built and the various strategies and engineering plans for doing so, because there is a close correlation with what they expect the poles to respond like with how people jump.

I visited Altius a couple of weeks ago when I went to purchase some poles. Paul and Carl were very helpful - first they spent some time first asking some questions and discussing pole vault technique and philosphy with my vaulter, then took us into their shop and went through the entire pole-making process. Also, showed us how they measure the flex and tested one of the poles we purchased.

Not only that, they allowed us to take my vaulter to an indoor vault site and practice with the Altius club vaulters for the evening! There were at least 3 (maybe 4) current or former Texas HS state champs at the practice - a great experience for my boy. Carl and Paul spent quite a bit of time individually with my boy talking about all aspects of the vault, and watched and critiqued him vault along with the others that were there.

What a great experience! I've used Altius poles for the last 4-5 years and found them a great buy.

I do wish I had asked for a copy of the flex numbers/pole length chart they use to measure their poles while we were there...

As far as I know, there are only six sets of pole making equipment in the world: the four in the US that Becca mentioned, one in europe that makes the Nordic poles, and another set that is not being used somewhere in the U.S. That's not very many. There is also a very limited number of technicians who are capapble of making decent poles. It is more of an art than a science. You couldn't just buy that extra set of equipment and some raw fiberglass and start making poles. If you did, it would be bad news for the poor souls who bought your first few designs.

DecaRag wrote:I do wish I had asked for a copy of the flex numbers/pole length chart they use to measure their poles while we were there...

Normally I would laugh, because that information is top secret, but Altius's is online. I don't know if this is up to date or not.

http://www.nwpolevault.com/pages/flex_chart.html

rainbowgirl28 wrote:

DecaRag wrote:I do wish I had asked for a copy of the flex numbers/pole length chart they use to measure their poles while we were there...

Normally I would laugh, because that information is top secret, but Altius's is online. I don't know if this is up to date or not.

http://www.nwpolevault.com/pages/flex_chart.html

Thanks Becca! Just what I needed. I'll check it out against the poles I have and see if there are any discrepencies.

DecaRag wrote:Thanks Becca! Just what I needed. I'll check it out against the poles I have and see if there are any discrepencies.

I think they changed their flex charts within the past 10 years, because my high school has a 14'170 that is rated a 180 on those charts.

They now offer 12'9" poles which are not on those charts.

Tim McMichael wrote:As far as I know, there are only six sets of pole making equipment in the world: the four in the US that Becca mentioned, one in europe that makes the Nordic poles, and another set that is not being used somewhere in the U.S. That's not very many. There is also a very limited number of technicians who are capapble of making decent poles. It is more of an art than a science. You couldn't just buy that extra set of equipment and some raw fiberglass and start making poles. If you did, it would be bad news for the poor souls who bought your first few designs.

I assume these guys in South Africa are making their own poles http://www.saltuspoles.co.za/

There's also a german brand called Lancet I think...there used to be a video of the pole production on the web... I believe there's a british manufacturer of beginner poles...can't remember the name though.

rainbowgirl28 wrote:

DecaRag wrote:Thanks Becca! Just what I needed. I'll check it out against the poles I have and see if there are any discrepencies.

I think they changed their flex charts within the past 10 years, because my high school has a 14'170 that is rated a 180 on those charts.

They now offer 12'9" poles which are not on those charts.

Noticed that they list 13'1" poles - I have several 13'3" poles but no 13'1" ones...