I broke myself today.

[jonnythan]

http://www.ogle1.com/images/2004/Kaylie's%201st%20Ski%20Trip/ski%20buddies.jpg

That's the best picture I could find of one. That's a little one. The idea is that there's a pole attached to the overhead wire by a big spring. The bottom of the pole is curved and has a small round "seat." You grab the thing, place the roung seat under your legs, and it pulls you forward. The big spring is so that it doesn't lift you off the ground as the terrain changes under you, but it also has the effect of launching you a little bit right at the beginning.

A detatchable one has an especially large "launch" at the beginning. All sorts of fun.

 

[jonnythan]

http://www.williamsskiarea.com/1l.JPG That's a good pic of someone riding one..

 

[jonnythan]

The other funny thing about Poma's is that they're usually on the bunny hills. They're notoriously hard to ride, especially for snowboarders.

 

[SueMermaid]

I have been guilty in the past of watching beginner skiers being launched off the poma at Killington for a half hour at a time. I know, I am evil. But it's real live entertainment.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Sorry to hear about your accident. I've broken both my clavicle and have seperated my shoulder, never managed to break my scapula. The shoulder was far more painful, and the recovery took far longer than the broken clavicle. Your youth is in your favor and you should mend.


I have to agree with you about Poma lifts, truely an invention of the devil, T-bars aren't much better. Especially when a Parent (taller) and child (shorter) share a T-Bar, the bar ends up behind the parents knees.

Maybe a stationary bike to stay fit?

Good Luck, and becareful of the meds.


Tobin

 

[TwoBitTxn]

Best wishes on a rapid and full recovery.

Yall just keep giving me reasons to leave the skiing to you.

TwoBit

 

[jonnythan]

You guys are awesome. Thanks, everyone. It really is appreciated, you have no idea.

The oxycodone is actually making me feel a little nauseas, so I'm going to try to get onto regular tylenol as soon as possible.

And Sue.. I know I've said it before, but you're a pretty special woman

 

[Marek K]

Sorry to hijack, but:
Forgive my snowboarder ignorance, but what exactly is a poma life, no less a detachable one, and how do they work?

Just trying to get a picture of this thing here…

Um, that's skier here, not snowboarder. Please don't confuse the two.

Oh, you poor poor expat from a warmer climate... I'll go through part of this for you, and jonnythan is going to have to explain the rest.

Skiers and snowboarders can skip over this post.

A poma lift is a type of surface ski lift... it has a steel cable going uphill above your head on towers, and you get pulled uphill on your skis, by a bar attached to the cable with an 8" platter on the end that you straddle (sounds funner than it is). A variation is a T-bar, which has a crossbar on the end which two skiers can gat pulled up on.

OK so far? OK. The steel cable doesn't stop. With both types of surface lifts, the bars are attached onto the steel cable with nylon (?) rope (?) wound onto strong retraction reels at the top, attached to the cable... that lets the rope and the bar deploy out of the reel when you're getting on at the bottom -- no other way you'd be able to get on. The reel's deployment then lets you gently get up to speed of the cable. At the top, you get off of and let go of the bar (a trick in itself), and the reel pulls the bar up so it doesn't drag on the snow on the way down.

I'm attaching a photo of what looks like a poma here in Poland.

These types of drag or surface lifts are definitely old technology, dating from before chair lifts.

On the other hand, detachable lifts usually (always, I though until now) refer to chair lifts. They allow much faster uphill transportation speeds, while still allowing people to get on and off. The primary transport cable moves a a very high constant speed; and the chairs detach at the bottom and top, move at a crawl in the stations so that poeple can get on and off; then clamp back onto the high-speed cable for the trip up and down.

This is the first time I've ever heard of a detachable surface lift. I was just wondering why... surface lifts already moved pretty fast; any faster and I'd think there'd be a real safety risk.

Surface lifts are a lot cheaper than chair lifts... but they've almost disappeared from the scene, certainly in the States. You can still find them in areas of Europe, and not just here in Eastern Europe!

Jonnythan, care to explain that detachable poma?

--Marek

 

[TekDiveGirl]

Sorry to hear about your wreck. Hope you heal up soon.

But - betcha wish you were nicer to the chicks now so you had one there to take care of you huh! <eg>

Just kidding... take good care of yourself cutie... hope you heal up soon... those new big tanks are waiting...



Kimber

 

[jonnythan]

That's a poma. Detatchable ones act just like high speed detatchable lifts. When the bar gets back into the lift station, it's disconnected from the main lift line so it can be stopped to let you get situated on it. Once you are, the lift operator tugs a handle that attaches it back to the moving lift line. Obviously the thing goes from stopped to fast instantaneously. Since the bar is attached to the line with a two foot long spring, it extends quite a bit while you start moving, and the spring recoil launches you pretty far