This lift was relocated from near Chair 1 for a new expansion and terrain park.Last two towers before the summit.Unloading at tower 6.Floating return bullwheel.Lower part of the lift line.Poma sheave assembly.View up the lift line.This lift does not run off grid power but has a diesel engine.Powered by Ford Motor Company.Drive station with detachable carriers.Lift overview.
In Pennsylvania there is a hotel called Skytop Lodge that owns a small ski resort. At that ski resort there are 2 detachable platters. I learned to ride them the hard way!
The Bigrock Poma hasn’t run in years. It’s still standing, and I don’t know when it last ran. The former lift line is now listed as a Ski Machine Access Trail on the trail map.
In France I’ve ridden user activated detachable platter lifts. You activate it by shimmying your ski boots against a wand situated across the tow path which triggers the grip
Sierra-at-Tahoe owes it very existence to a detachable Poma Lift. Installed in the mid-fifties by Vern Sprock, that Poma lift was what kept the Sierra Ski Ranch in business. A great piece of machinery, it was extremely rare to be out-of-service. At the age of eight it took me a little getting used to. But it did the job.
Lift-served skiing at the present Steamboat Resort began 22 December 1961 with a Poma detachable platter lift, or “slingshot” lift as they came to known. It was installed on the Headwall beginner’s slope. I was on Christmas break from high school and was on hand to help my dad John Fetcher and other local help get the lift set up and running. Lift components arrived in various crates from France, with manuals and wiring diagrams in French. No problem as Dad was fluent in French. Once all was in order, I offered to run it opening day. I guess that makes me Steamboat’s first lift operator. I would be supplemented by others until high school resumed following Christmas break.
Detachable Pomas really don’t use a grip; there’s no gripping, clamping, squeezing, or hugging taking place. There’s a C-shaped sleeve that the (wire) rope passes through that simply puts a bind on the rope when the tow bar is released, either by the operator pulling a lanyard, or the skier/rider tripping a wand, much like a racer leaving a starting gate. We called these sleeves “buttons,” not to be confused with the button/disc/platter at the passenger end of the tow bar. When the tow bar enters the drive terminal, a ramp at the leading end of a rail lifts the arm that the button is attached to, relieving its bind on the rope. Gravity does the rest; the tow bar slides noisily into the magazine.
Detachable Pomas offer reasonably high capacity. Rope speed would max out at about 800 feet-per-minute. We would gradually notch up the motor’s controller until skiers would be falling more often than not. That was our cue to slow it down a bit.
In 1972 this lift was shortened and converted to a (slower) fixed-grip. It was replaced in 1979 by a triple chairlift.
Steamboat’s first chairlift opened 12 January 1963, offering more terrain that just a beginner’s hill. This date is used as Steamboat’s official opening date.
Lift Blog 
How many detachable platters are in the US?
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Not many.
Bigrock, ME
Echo Valley, WA ?
Hurricane Ridge, WA
Killington, VT
Loup Loup, WA
Sipapu, NM
Snowmass, CO
Wolf Creek, CO
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The echo valley platter lift is a detachable. I’ve ridden it. It demands alertness
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In Pennsylvania there is a hotel called Skytop Lodge that owns a small ski resort. At that ski resort there are 2 detachable platters. I learned to ride them the hard way!
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You can see one of them in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZYFMXRJKK0
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The Bigrock Poma hasn’t run in years. It’s still standing, and I don’t know when it last ran. The former lift line is now listed as a Ski Machine Access Trail on the trail map.
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According to Jeremy Davis’s Lost Ski Areas books, there are four operating in the Adirondacks.
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There are (2) Pomas at Hickory Ski Center in Warrensburg, NY. And a Hall T-bar.
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SMokey Mountain in Newfoundland/Labrador has two current ones, which replaced two really old ones.
https://liftblog.com/smokey-mountain-nl/
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In France I’ve ridden user activated detachable platter lifts. You activate it by shimmying your ski boots against a wand situated across the tow path which triggers the grip
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Our old Storm King was the same.
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It’s shown as craziest in the U.S. in this video:
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Sierra-at-Tahoe owes it very existence to a detachable Poma Lift. Installed in the mid-fifties by Vern Sprock, that Poma lift was what kept the Sierra Ski Ranch in business. A great piece of machinery, it was extremely rare to be out-of-service. At the age of eight it took me a little getting used to. But it did the job.
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Does this have a hydraulic drive?
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Lift-served skiing at the present Steamboat Resort began 22 December 1961 with a Poma detachable platter lift, or “slingshot” lift as they came to known. It was installed on the Headwall beginner’s slope. I was on Christmas break from high school and was on hand to help my dad John Fetcher and other local help get the lift set up and running. Lift components arrived in various crates from France, with manuals and wiring diagrams in French. No problem as Dad was fluent in French. Once all was in order, I offered to run it opening day. I guess that makes me Steamboat’s first lift operator. I would be supplemented by others until high school resumed following Christmas break.
Detachable Pomas really don’t use a grip; there’s no gripping, clamping, squeezing, or hugging taking place. There’s a C-shaped sleeve that the (wire) rope passes through that simply puts a bind on the rope when the tow bar is released, either by the operator pulling a lanyard, or the skier/rider tripping a wand, much like a racer leaving a starting gate. We called these sleeves “buttons,” not to be confused with the button/disc/platter at the passenger end of the tow bar. When the tow bar enters the drive terminal, a ramp at the leading end of a rail lifts the arm that the button is attached to, relieving its bind on the rope. Gravity does the rest; the tow bar slides noisily into the magazine.
Detachable Pomas offer reasonably high capacity. Rope speed would max out at about 800 feet-per-minute. We would gradually notch up the motor’s controller until skiers would be falling more often than not. That was our cue to slow it down a bit.
In 1972 this lift was shortened and converted to a (slower) fixed-grip. It was replaced in 1979 by a triple chairlift.
Steamboat’s first chairlift opened 12 January 1963, offering more terrain that just a beginner’s hill. This date is used as Steamboat’s official opening date.
Bill Fetcher
Steamboat Springs, CO
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