Lets talk chairlifts

[AJM]

As I sit here delaying the inevitable housework I got to thinking "Am I the only one who has to have a certain position on a chairlift"??
My spot is the outside left, not the right and certainly not in the middle !
I wriggle and shuffle my way in the lift line until I'm positioned just right to the amusement of whoever I'm skiing with
If I dont get my preferred spot I get quite anxious as the unload approaches ... perhaps I've witnessed too much carnage as people try to unload !!

 

[snoWYmonkey]

I am oblivious to it, any seat will do, though many of my adult students need a specific spot or won't even load certain exposed chairs.

However I have minor unloading anxiety and always ask which way people are going if I have to cut across.

I don't love standing up in trams. I get claustrophobic if the windows are not open on gondolas.

Why the far left @AJM

 

[marzNC]

When I take semi-private lessons, I find that some instructors have a preference of where to sit on the lift. Others don't care.

When I'm skiing with the same small group for a while, I prefer that we stick to the same arrangement. For instance, if the group is 4 people and the chairlift is a quad, then we know who is going to be on the far left, middle left, middle right, and far right. It's easier to tell if everyone is ready that way.

When riding with strangers, I'd rather be on the side. Don't care whether it's right or left. That's partially because I ski at some resorts where locals don't like to put the bar down. Depending on the situation, I may not ask to put the bar down and simply hook my arm around the armrest for the ride.

 

[Knitjenious]

Omg I totally get this! I think this year or maybe last was the first year that I didn't feel like I HAD to be on the outside. My teen still really can't deal with being in the middle and strongly prefers the outside right (vs left)

 

[AJM]

Why the far left @AJM

I have absolutely no idea I'm the same on T bars, I have to be on the left .... maybe I do some sort of OCD after all !!

 

[AJM]

Omg I totally get this! I think this year or maybe last was the first year that I didn't feel like I HAD to be on the outside. My teen still really can't deal with being in the middle and strongly prefers the outside right (vs left)

So pleased I'm not alone x

 

[AltaEgo]

Normally I don’t care where I sit. But there is this one triple that has a really short run out and if you don’t hustle the chair will clip you as it swings around the bull wheel, it’s the only chair where I won’t take the inside position if we are riding three of us on it.

 

[diymom]

My youngest has been coping with anxiety since the early teen years and prefers not to sit next to strangers, so I have become programmed to keeping an eye on where we might end up on the chair so any shuffles can happen before the gate with them on the outside and me being the human buffer zone.

Personally I don't care as long as there's a bar. If no bar I prefer an outside seat since I don't want my "casual" placement of my arm behind the chair to seem like I'm pulling a teen movie theater move.

 

[snoWYmonkey]

@diymom I don't blame her. As a 12 year old, on a two person a super creepy older man tried to kiss me and claimed he knew my grandfather which totally bewildered me at the moment. It was quite freaky as I had nowhere to go physically to escape the situation. I of course turned my head away. It did not leave me with any PTSD but it was so incredibly wrong.

 

[skibum4ever]

I have always had a strong preference for being on the outside right. I find it easier to make a hard right turn, or to swing far outside when turning left.

 

[AJM]

Normally I don’t care where I sit. But there is this one triple that has a really short run out and if you don’t hustle the chair will clip you as it swings around the bull wheel, it’s the only chair where I won’t take the inside position if we are riding three of us on it.

Hubby got clipped last year, really windy day and it was blowing straight down the lift line so when it was time to unload you couldnt because the wind was blowing you back against the chair, wind dropped for a second and he went to ski off but the chair by now had caught up with him and whammo down he went .... it was a bit funny to be honest.

 

[skinnyfootskis]

As I sit here delaying the inevitable housework I got to thinking "Am I the only one who has to have a certain position on a chairlift"??
My spot is the outside left, not the right and certainly not in the middle !
I wriggle and shuffle my way in the lift line until I'm positioned just right to the amusement of whoever I'm skiing with
If I dont get my preferred spot I get quite anxious as the unload approaches ... perhaps I've witnessed too much carnage as people try to unload !!

Me too. I like the outsides. I don't care for some lifts that make your skis smack down...I just feel others with longer skis take off/up before I am even ready to stand.its probably a bad habit but I noticed that I hold and push the chair sometimes too.

 

[skinnyfootskis]

@diymom I don't blame her. As a 12 year old, on a two person a super creepy older man tried to kiss me and claimed he knew my grandfather which totally bewildered me at the moment. It was quite freaky as I had nowhere to go physically to escape the situation. I of course turned my head away. It did not leave me with any PTSD but it was so incredibly wrong.

I had an older teen, young twenty something guy say kiss me or ill jump. Needless to say I hung on tight......yup he jumped. I was about 15 when that happened. We were not too high but my chair went bouncing.

 

[TiffAlt]

I prefer to be on the extreme right if I had to choose, but only because I'm kind of "deaf" on the right side on ski days. "Deaf" because I wear a bluetooth noise-cancelling earbud in my right ear that handles all my texts, calls and tells me the current time (among other things) so I can be truly hands free. The deafness is a trade off, but one I can put up with if I never have to take out my phone.

 

[TiffAlt]

@diymom I don't blame her. As a 12 year old, on a two person a super creepy older man tried to kiss me and claimed he knew my grandfather which totally bewildered me at the moment. It was quite freaky as I had nowhere to go physically to escape the situation. I of course turned my head away. It did not leave me with any PTSD but it was so incredibly wrong.

I had an older teen, young twenty something guy say kiss me or ill jump. Needless to say I hung on tight......yup he jumped. I was about 15 when that happened. We were not too high but my chair went bouncing.

This is just sooooo inappropriate. OMG

 

[newbieM]

Who knew riding the lift was like working in tech?! IYKYK. Those are horrifying stories I’m usually paranoid about situations but never thought of a lift.

on a lighter note I prefer any of the outsides because I usually ski alone so I ride with strangers and they are so unpredictable in the direction they take after getting off so I prefer to be able to take off to the far right or left depending on side.

 

[AJM]

@diymom I don't blame her. As a 12 year old, on a two person a super creepy older man tried to kiss me and claimed he knew my grandfather which totally bewildered me at the moment. It was quite freaky as I had nowhere to go physically to escape the situation. I of course turned my head away. It did not leave me with any PTSD but it was so incredibly wrong.

So very wrong

 

[AJM]

I prefer to be on the extreme right if I had to choose, but only because I'm kind of "deaf" on the right side on ski days. "Deaf" because I wear a bluetooth noise-cancelling earbud in my right ear that handles all my texts, calls and tells me the current time (among other things) so I can be truly hands free. The deafness is a trade off, but one I can put up with if I never have to take out my phone.

I ride the T Bars with a snowboarding friend who has to go on the left as she is deaf in her left ear and as we like to chat, a lot, on the way up its the only time I ride the T Bar on the right. For some reason I cant get off when I'm on the right so she gives me a push !!

 

[Jenny]

I prefer outsides when we’re at big resorts, but usually here at home it doesn’t matter as much. It's the height of the chair mostly, but sometimes the ones out west freak me out with the rocks.

Fun story - when I was learning and my friend was new-ish we could ride the chair together but had to be on a certain side in order to successfully disembark the chair. If we got it backwards it kind of looked like a fight - lots of flailing and such. A friend of ours happened to be watching us get off one time when we were on the wrong side and almost fell over he was laughing so hard. We just slid up to him and said that since no one fell and they didn’t have to stop the lift that it was a successful dismount.

 

[BlueSkies]

Usually don't care where I sit. But there is the occasional chair where I prefer the end. As I am short, I use the armrest to push off some chairs and also prefer the end if there is no bar.