• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

A Rope Tow Story

SallyCat

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The mountain where I work closed early today and I had a message from an old friend who also recently relocated to New England. We swap stories of rural life and I was telling him about a recent rope tow adventure in my new neighborhood. It was fun to goof around writing, so I edited the story a bit and offer it here just for fun and because it's ski-related.

It is all true.

__________________
I went to my first club ski race at the little hill down the road recently. Starting around 5:30, you take a rope tow up, do two timed runs and then drink beer and watch other people finish. Then you go into the little lodge and drink more beer and chat with friends and neighbors until 10:30. It's really a perfect winter evening if you ask me.

That night was my first time on this particular rope tow, which is spectacular in it's jury-rigged, not-entirely-safe functionality. The way it requires bravery, strength, and pigskin work gloves, and yet is used by locals in a completely nonchalant manner perfectly captures New England ingenuity and stoicism.

When nobody's using it the rope droops way down to the ground, and you have to grab it and hold it up. The trick, I learned, is to never be the first one on the rope; always go behind someone so that THEY hold the rope up. (There is, evidently, a particular local woman who is famous for always drafting in behind children).

Once you grab the rope, you have to hold on like grim death, with one hand in front and the other behind you, the rear hand also holding your ski poles. You have to grip so tenaciously not because the tow is fast (it isn't) but because the hill is steep and long and since the rope often hits the ground, it tends to be snow-covered and slick.

On the way up, occasional patches of dirt poke through the snow and when you hit them, your skis half-stop and you half-pitch forward, falling; but not quite.

The top hut approaches and just as you think "ah, almost there, I'm going to make it!" the pitch steepens considerably for 30 feet and the rope slides through your hands and just BARELY creates enough friction to carry you over the pitch to the end of the tow line, where you throw the rope to the ground and ski off with a sense that you just got away with something you don't deserve.

The slalom race runs are pretty thrilling if you go all out for time, and at the bottom you think "AGAIN!" Then you look at the rope and say "Eh, maybe I'll go inside and warm up. You know, rest a bit before going up again..." And you know you won't come back out until it's time to fetch your skis and go home.

The other night a group of us stood around drinking beer from cans and watched a little fray in the rope come around at even intervals.

"Huh. Look at that." we all said.

"That would make a great tow handle" we said.

"I'm out of beer, I'm going inside" we said.

The next evening, the Events Committee sat at a meeting in the base lodge when suddenly the Operations Director came in and said: "The rope tow's down! Split in half. Did anyone notice any issues with it last night? Any fraying, for example?"

The penny dropped and eight guilty minds feigned ignorance.

But then the Ops Director said that we needed to put out a public announcement that the tow was broken. We all came to life and as one shouted "Rope tow? FRAYED NOT!" And burst into juvenile cackles of joyful laughter.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
I learned to ski on a rope tow as a child, and god, it were awful. I remember falling all the way up, then falling all the way down. It all came rushing back when I used the Ascutney rope tow. Those final 30 feet are a killer! You think you're almost to the top, and then it takes about every ounce of strength you have to make it up the final pitch. And yeah, make sure you're behind someone.
 
Last edited:

newboots

Angel Diva
This sounds like a blast! ... er, how did anyone fall in love with skiing back in the day? Without heated boots? technical jackets? merino baselayers? bubble lifts?

We can count on you @SallyCat, and your intrepid friends, to bring back the true meaning of skiing. Don’t forget your straight skis!
 

SallyCat

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@newboots it IS a blast, and you should come. I race on the Paradise Sports team ("Paradise by the Rope Tow Lights")
I say "race" but it's really a season of attrition. We aim to have the most people show up each week, so come over to Brownsville on Thursday nights!
 

newboots

Angel Diva
Maybe I will! Or bring a ringer, Mr. Blizzard. But I will need some heavy duty gloves! My lovely Hestras aren’t touching that rope!
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
Oh, I remember them well.
In fact, I don't have to "remember" - there is a small ski area about 8 miles from here that has 3 rope tows, and 3 rope tows ONLY. I went there once a few years ago, night-skiing. Did okay on the first - but ow. On the 2nd steeper one, a snowboarder was behind me and was losing it. He started tipping toeside, then heelsider, farther every time, and finally let go - and ricocheted me across the run like a slingshot. It was....not fun. Haven't been back since. I'll do t-bars in a heartbeat. No rope tows.
 

mustski

Angel Diva
Alta still has a rope tow to get up to the Alta Lodge. I almost skipped meeting for lunch because I had never used a rope tow before and it was harder than I thought it would be!
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
@vickie was a rope tow virgin until earlier this year! We had to use one at Winter Park, to get up to the gondola so we could download for the day.
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
When I was learning (as an adult), this was basically the only uphill transport at most ski areas where I lived, at least at the beginner areas. Magic carpets were still decades away. It was honestly a relief to "graduate" to chairlifts.

Then we had a kid, and we were back to rope tows - with a 3 year old between the knees. Try that out. :doh:
 

slyfox4

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I've been skiing for quite some time, and there's a tiny little mountain that has fun night skiing (but let's face it, we're there for the beer). They have a pretty janky double lift with wooden seats, and they have a rope tow. I tried to do it, albeit on a snowboard when I snowboard a few times a season, and holy guacamole I COULDN'T DO IT! I KEPT FALLING! I am positive I couldn't even do it on my skis, so much so, I avoid the rope tow when we go there on Friday nights. Glad others feel the same about rope tows!!!
 

MaineSkiLady

Angel Diva
You'd probably be okay on skis. It has to be murder on a board. And the kids I saw at this small ski hill I mentioned were riding down to the rope, grabbing it and heading uphill with both feet in bindings. Incredible.

As long as the persons fore and aft don't mess up (and there's reasonable distance between y'all), it's not too bad. In my case, I had a wobbly adult male boarder behind me who initiated the slingshot-ricochet.

T-bars on a board are fun, too, eh? Not.
 

racetiger

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I had never used a rope tow until I moved and had to go to different ski areas. The first few times were super awkward and exhausting. It took a while to build up the muscles needed to haul yourself up. I also found it is way easier to time grabbing onto it without ripping your arm off if you approach it with a decent speed. It hurts my knees though if I go on the rope too much.
 

NYC2VT

Certified Ski Diva
This sounds like a blast! ... er, how did anyone fall in love with skiing back in the day? Without heated boots? technical jackets? merino baselayers? bubble lifts?

We can count on you @SallyCat, and your intrepid friends, to bring back the true meaning of skiing. Don’t forget your straight skis!

at least in the case of my parents, they were drunk! :rotf:
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,233
Messages
497,561
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top