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Only afraid of the lift..... sometimes.

Yes oh yes... I know FOR SURE, that there have been instances where riding on the chair lift is a bit sketchy. Sure, when you get to the top you are very pleased that the snow that's been dumping on you is there for your riding pleasure, but damn, that whole ride up approximately 100 feet off the ground with wind tearing at your soul was not fun. I wanna hear of your near death/death experiences from this contraption so often taken for granted that gets us to riders bliss. I'll start...

1997. Smuggler's Notch VT.
Was on a trip with my High School's snowboard club and day one was spent at Smug's. Bout 8am and we had gotten 2ft of fresh over night. Who knows where the bus dropped us off at, but it wasn't at the main lodge. We were all used to riding hills in south western New York, so the mountains of Vermont were something we never even thought existed. I do know that we were supposed to be there earlier, but our bus was stuck in the parking lot of the lodge we stayed at. Me (the pres of the club), the bus driver, and the wrecker driver stood there looking awfully confused on how we would dislodge the chartered bus from the frosty parking lot and onto the road. Who knows where we hired this driver from, but we obviously went the cheaper route... sucker came unstuck and along we went. Props to you homey!

In any case, we all got in line at the first chair we came to, which ended up being an old two person chair. Looked good enough and we could see up the mountain to where the line ended, or so we thought. Just like any other large mountain, it goes to where you can see, then twice as high as that. First part was fine and the second leg of the ride takes you easily 150ft up and over a giant rock face with a freakin' chain link fence at the top so no one tries to go over the edge to death. Wind's a rippin and snow's a blowin. I seriously thought we weren't gonna make it. The worst part was the kid that happened to get on the chair with me was experiencing snowboarding for the first time. He had always been a skier and sort of knew how to get off the lift on skis. Half way up he looks at me and says, "So, how do you get off the lift on a snowboard?" I knew we were doomed. Needless to say he was lost once we started to take the first runs.

The plus side of the whole thing was that once we got to the top, there was a ski patroller in front of us and we followed him to a run that was just being opened for the first time all year and he let us take the first runs. I had never been in that deep of pow before. I knew for sure when I caught my nose in and ended up head-first in about 5+ feet having to dig myself out.

By gitCHuONe at 10/12/2007 - 7:53am | General Discussion Forum | login or register to post comments | previous forum topic | next forum topic

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last year i saw someone dangl

last year i saw someone dangle from the edge of a chair from about 25-30 feet above ground. luckily someone saw it happend and yelled for the lift worker to stop the lift. so the ski patrol got under the chair to break the ladys fall, straight up cheerleader style. dont ask me how this happend, but im glad the lift i was on stoped so i could witness the action. i was at this ski area in alabama a few years ago, got off the lift and there was hardly any snow on the ground, and lift hit me on the back of the head.

By againstme at Fri, 10/12/2007 - 12:17pm | login or register to post comments

last year i saw someone dangl

last year i saw someone dangle from the edge of a chair from about 25-30 feet above ground. luckily someone saw it happend and yelled for the lift worker to stop the lift. so the ski patrol got under the chair to break the ladys fall, straight up cheerleader style. dont ask me how this happend, but im glad the lift i was on stoped so i could witness the action. i was at this ski area in alabama a few years ago, got off the lift and there was hardly any snow on the ground, and lift hit me on the back of the head.

By againstme at Fri, 10/12/2007 - 12:17pm | login or register to post comments

videos

when you become a lift op at alot of places they show you this video on what will happen if all the worst possible scenarios go down. some hill in colorado in the 80's was taking down a lift and decided to test out all these different things. gnarliest was a roll back. they put a full load on the lift with concrete blocks and the blocks were lifterally flying like 100ft away, the chairs were all bent in half like nothing. if that happens jump, youll be better off. that and we saw if the haul rope got cut, there was a fire in the motorroom, if a tower fell over, all that crap is super gnarly. sketchy but you gotta remember its like being on a plane, it may seem bad when it does happen but the probability is really like one in 100 million or something
-support local-

By spka at Fri, 10/12/2007 - 11:25am | login or register to post comments

found it

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1734472502795274450

enjoy!!! haha
-support local-

By spka at Fri, 10/12/2007 - 11:51am | login or register to post comments

))< = >((

Skip to 5:00 for the wreckage.

By The_Wallbanger at Fri, 10/12/2007 - 12:09pm | login or register to post comments

Yes. That is creepy. I think

Yes. That is creepy. I think it was funny as hell though when all the workers start to see how far the blocks are flying and they all run away. haha.

yeAH... go on down an gitCHu ONe. suckadog.

By gitCHuONe at Fri, 10/12/2007 - 2:15pm | login or register to post comments

it takes a real man to admit the fear...

I used to ride this single chair (ski acres at snoqualmie summit) as a kid... I remember being like 7 years old, sitting on that thing for about a half-hour (but felt like many hours) on some cold silent rainy-snowy night... I was scarred for life from that one...

I'm always afraid of dem jet planes with ace dickhead hot dogger goose manz in them cutting my gondola's cable, the 6-pack chair in front of mine losing its grip and then I rocket towards it, or some ridiculous thing like that... i'll duck ropes and fall into holes and stuff like that, way more dangerous than a chairlift, but I've convinced myself otherwise...

peak chair at whistler is never an easy-going experience for me...at least it charges and the ride is quick, that thing scares me.

i feel you tho homey for rillz

By dukeofdelridge at Fri, 10/12/2007 - 11:16am | login or register to post comments

On the ground? Or in the air? Where do you have more control?

In 2005 I went to Park City to visit my friend who was working as a lifty at The Canyons (down the street from Park City Resort), and apparently like the week before we got there a single chair from a traversal lift flew the hell right off the damned cable. Luckily enough no one was on that chair, but the people right behind it had to change their long johns for sure. Needless to say, I was very hesitant about riding that lift. There was some gnarly terrain over on that side of the mountain though and no other way to get there, so I did go. I'm feelin you though when I've seen more close calls on the ground than in the air, but you are basically helpless on a metal chair. Seriously enough though, the worst is when the chair either stops or slows from some grom at the bottom (or top) having way too much trouble getting on (off) the lift, and here all the rest of us are left hanging to suffer the brute force of the weather. I believe Killington has a few gondola poles with plywood attached to them in preparation for gusts of wind to bang the car against. No bueno.

yeAH... go on down an gitCHu ONe. suckadog.

By gitCHuONe at Fri, 10/12/2007 - 12:18pm | login or register to post comments

))< = >((

I don't blame you for being afraid. People are always dying on chairlifts. Most people get chewed up in the gears at the top when their mittens freeze to the metal. Sometimes gapers will become disoriented during whiteout conditions and jump off too.

Don't even get me started on gondolas or cable-cars!

By The_Wallbanger at Fri, 10/12/2007 - 8:51am | login or register to post comments

Check

..this one from les 2 alpes this summer. Up to 140 km/h hour freak wind storm. Some freinds of mine were in one of the lifts and they have a ridiculous video of it. The lift is about 50m off the groung at points. They had to send rescue workers up the pilons, climb along the wire, then into the lift and get the people to abseil out!!

glad i wasnt there

By pablosnow at Sat, 10/13/2007 - 9:08am | login or register to post comments

no fun. no fun at all.

Yeah, that would suck. No thank you.

Here's the long version.

This is the exact thing I am talking about.

yeAH... go on down an gitCHu ONe. suckadog.

By gitCHuONe at Sat, 10/13/2007 - 4:33pm | login or register to post comments