Ski resorts and bamboo

[Snowbird]

Tonight I got to thinking about how I use bamboo in my winter job. I patrol for Snowbird ski resort and have used bamboo in typical ways like marking hazards, holding up a rope line or closing access to an area. The more interesting ways include a perch for live explosives (bomb-boo) and even a rescue rope flipper for chair evacuations. It is strong, flexible and versatile. I then realized that I don't even know what type of bamboo I am using. We order it by the bundle of 50 already taped orange and black. They are thick walled for such a small diameter boo( .5-1", usually .75").

Does anyone here visit ski resorts and check out the bamboo? Are they all using a particular type of bamboo or is it just what's available at the time? What type is the most common to see at a ski resort?

If no one knows off hand I will see about taking a picture of one next time I am at the resort.

[ShmuBamboo]

Interesting. I was at a nursery today and there was an orchid nurseryman there buying 20 bags of 4 ft. long bundled bamboo stakes. I forget the species of the typical nursery stakes, but someone else posted the name here on the Boo Forum as a reply to an earlier post I made about planting trees here using bamboo stakes for the plastic tree savers. I would think that they would be fine for ski stuff, for marking trails and hazards, lining out lift lines, clearing snow off of lift chairs, and the like.

I ski a lot out here and most of the poles that they use are flexible plastic coated fiberglass, like for setting up slalom race courses, or for setting up ropes for lift lines. I have an old pair of really long ski poles that I have in storage that are made out of bamboo.

[Mark Meckes]

If the nodes are not very prominent and the poles have very little taper ...
... it is probably ...
Pseudosasa amabilis (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showgallery.php?cat=599) - Tonkin Cane ... AKA Arundinaria amabilis (name referred to in older publications)

This is possibly the most widely used species in the US for nursery staking and the floriculture industry.
Attribute this to a century-long history of mass marketing know-how, combined with low labor/import costs - Not that there are other suitable species or domestic sources available.
Hearsay that there has been a gradual reduction in the quality of this imported bamboo but I've never personally used imported bamboo so I wouldn't know.

This is also the species widely used for making split bamboo fly fishing rods.
Without careful processing and grading, many poles need to be sorted through to find the best suited for this purpose.

See this pictorial ... Selecting and Preparing Tonkin Cane in China (http://www.thomaspenrose.com/china.htm) by Andy Royer

I haven't found any robust stands of this bamboo growing around central Texas (yet) and think it requires more consistent rainfall to grow to a large size as I've seen it growing in East Texas and East Georgia ...

Whenever I see these poles being sold in garden centers/hardware stores I think of how fortunate I am that my own bamboo, with it's knobby nodes and branch stubs, has so much more character to work with.
There are certainly benefits to having uniform, low taper, flush noded bamboo to work with, which is why builders like working with dimensional lumber, but fortunately there are many other bamboos more pleasing to the cockeyed. :)

Mark

[Snowbird]

that could very well be it. i'd guess they harvest ours in its younger stages, since the diameter is smaller than those pictured. they cost us 20 cents per boo already wrapped. they nodes aren't even noticeable until you unwrap it to reveal slightly raised rings on a yellow culm. the taper is almost nonexistent except for about every 5th or 6th boo.

[Snowbird]

shmu,

we use the fiberglass stuff for event fence and racing. the bamboo works great for a cheap renewable resource that is safe for people to hit at speed.:)

[Mikkelsen]

Snowbird,

I live in Logan UT and am looking to find this type of bamboo in both 3/4" (4' length) and 1" (6.5' length) diameters to be used as ski poles and lurks.

Do you know if I could purchase poles from the resort? It would be great if I could hand select the widths and lengths that I need and I'm not too far away to be able to do that. Do you see many of them that are spliting or cracking?

You can contact me at eric.mikkelsen@aggiemail.usu.edu

Thanks!

-Eric