How NOT to ride the T-bar!!!

[Kimmyt]

So The Boy and I were riding at Mont Saint Anne and were taking one of the T-bars. He was on his board and I was on my skis. Now, we've both ridden T-bars numerous times and are really comfortable on them. We've even ridden them in the skier/boarder combo as well as the two of us skiing. Anyway, basically we were facing each other, his frontside toward me so we could chat.

So about halfway up the t-bar he hits a rut and swerves but regains his balance. Then all of a sudden my skis wiggle and I'm all "Hmmm my ski isn't moving very far, in fact it kinda feels like it got gummy all of a sudden..."

So I mess with my left ski a bit, lifting it slightly and feeling all the weird tension then putting it back down.

A few minutes of this and we realized we're connected. And not spiritually, if you know what I mean. Basically his binding strap had flopped near my ski and caught on the brake lever of it.

Long story sort of short, we reached the top and were still connected, and tumbled off the t-bar into a tangle of equipment and bodies.

Luckily there was no one behind us on the lift so we didn't embaress ourselves too much. Except for the liftie, who watched us fiddle with our gear for the full ten minutes it took us to get the board and ski unattached. I swear those things were almost welded together.

So, lesson learned. Don't ride a t-bar with a snowboarder, and if you do make sure their backside is towards you so that their binding strap doesn't take you down!!

Trying to get the two unattached...

Still trying...

Seriously? Maybe we WERE meant for each other!

 

[CMCM]

This is toooo funny! I'm surprised there are still T-bars out there....I haven't seen one where I ski for a good 10+ years,and I haven't even been on one myself for over 20 years! Glad you didn't get hurt! I always beware of snowboarders, especially the ones who don't seem to know what they are doing. If I'm on a lift with one, I like to make sure they aren't seated too close because of how wildly they tend to hop off the lift with the board going all over the place.

 

[Jilly]

T-bar on the north side or west end by S?? A lot of areas still have T-bars and will run them on crowded days. kimmyt might have had to be waiting up to 30 minutes to get on a Quad. So alot people ride the T-bar to just get up and get going.

But I'll remember to make that boarder face away. I suppose with a Flow binding doesn't matter though.

 

[Robyn]

T-Bars I think are more popular in advanced areas that might get wind issues since it's a surface lift it would be less dangerous in wind gusts. We have a T-Bar at Breck and a Poma at Copper.

 

[michpc]

glad you didn't fall down while ON the T bar! I haven't ridden one in ages, but I have semi-traumatizing memories of riding them when learning to ski.

 

[altagirl]

I remember going skiing with a guy I was dating like 10 years ago in Switzerland. He was a mess on skis and got so nervous about the T-bar that about half way up he managed to run over my skis with his skis and then pushed me right off the darn thing while trying to get untangled. Ugh.

 

[Kimmyt]

This happened at Mont Saint Anne, is the north side kind of the back side? Because it was on that one. I thought MSA actually had quite a few T-bars. There wasn't much open and we skiied down a run that dumped us to the T-bar. I normally quite like T-bars because they can go faster than the regular (not high speed) lifts, and that day there was no one on it probably because so few trails were open. That's the only incident I've ever had with a t-bar, although later in the trip I almost lost it on the T-bar at Smuggler's Notch trying to get back to my car, it was one of those awkward wooden ones and it kept stopping and everytime it did it would slide out from under my butt and hit me in the back. Once I actually had to wrap my arms around it to prevent myself from falling off!

This trip must not have been my week for using t-bars. Heh. Or maybe I'm just not as good at them as I think!

 

[Jilly]

There's 2 on the north/back side. One is almost next to the quad. But you don't see the quad from it till you're further up. There is a run between them. I'm so used to riding T-bar at our local hill. They got a quad this fall. Haven't been out yet to ride it.

 

[Kiragirl]

I avoid boarders on ANY lift; if it seems like I may be coupled with em I'll hang back on the line and wait. unless there will be space between us on a chair.

 

[SkiBam]

Gosh, I'm so old I remember rope tows. Talk about a hard way to get up the hill.

I'm also so short that I've had many "interesting" t-bar rides. If my partner is tall, they might have the bar at their knees while I have it at my waist.

Other fun lift to ride is the poma. There's one that serves the top of Lake Louise that's quite scary. If the rider isn't very heavy, they tend to almost get lifted off the ground (that would be me!).

 

[Jilly]

SkiBam, ever ride the T-bar, North side of Tremblant? Run is now called Bonzai. Long before the Duncan chair!!

Speaking of Poma/platter lifts. There was, maybe still there, at Tignes. You're going along in a straight line, then all of sudden it takes a 90 degree turn! Follows a ridge line too! Or there used to be the JET Poma at Jay. Lifted you right off the snow and travelled really fast!

 

[SkiBam]

I never skied a t-bar at Tremblant. They were before my time there, I guess. Ski the Banzai often - interesting that that was once a t-bar.

I remember well the Jet T-bar at Jay - yeah, talk about getting lifted off the ground! (Perhaps it was a poma before or after its t-bar days, but I remember it as a t-bar.) Now it's just a boring chairlift - where's the excitement in that? (Well, unless you're that poor guy at Vail!)

Among recent lift adventures occurred last Friday when my 7-year-old granddaughter and I fell off the chair at Morin-Heights during loading. Nothing harmed but our pride! (The liftee claimed it was his fault and I like to believe that.)

 

[Greeley]

Also be carefull with the elastic cords that cinch up the bottom of your jacket. I was on the T-bar at Breck a few years ago and the t-bar got caught through the elastic cord on my jacket. I was 'attached' to the t-bar and didn't come loose until I ran into the 'unload before this point' sign.