Tom,

A lot depends on the soil your putting the poles in. Paul Fox hit the nail on the head. Dig down below frost to set your pad, set the pole on the pad and backfil with a material that water passes through. When the frost penetrates it doesn't have anything to grip.

I live in frigid northern Michigan where winter can and often gets pretty nasty. Up until a few years ago (until local counties acceptance of the national codes) most footers went down only 24"...They never moved around because most of this area is sand....Maybe it's a regional thing, but most of the local builders still swear by that old method...I personally subscribe to the 48" (below frostline method), but in the middle of sub zero January when your vehicle gets stuck, you can go to the side of the road and dig up some loose sand for your tires to bite on. Granted the snow pack insulates it to some degree, but we got snow late this year, where there wasn't sand the frost went deep, where it was you could be digging in short order.

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