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Ski Lifts We Hate

MilkyWookiee

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I could write a book! If I had to pick one, rope tow. But any other drag lift is not my jam. I've actually only ridden a T bar once, and grew up on the puma disks before okemo switched back to magic carpets in their learning areas.

I also have to give an honorable mention to the lift at the base of the Jackson gore area at Okemo. This should not be a detachable lift. It gets people up quickly, but then we end up with a massive line at the bubble to the top of JG. I would rather sit on the first chair longer and spend less time standing in line. And with the addition of the stupid conveyors on the A/B quads at the base, kids aren't actually learning how to load a conventional fixed grip chair anymore. This leads me to chapter 2: a tangent on why sachem is the best trail to learn on at Okemo.
 

jthree

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm also afraid of heights so chairs without a safety bar are not a favorite. When I'm west of NE I find myself asking to drop the bar (if there is one). I'm so used to it being there on most VT lifts I see.

There are chairs without safety bars???!!!
 

SkiBam

Angel Diva
Thinking about it, I realize I hate big trams - with (how many?) maybe 100 people all crammed in. Everyone holding their skis. It's horrible for small people. What I did in 4 Vallées (where there seemed to be way too many of these) was, very quietly, wriggle my way to the window. Cuz I'm small, sometimes the big guys around me didn't even notice. Once by a window, I was (sort of) ok. But really, standing in the middle of one of these, with people jammed in on all sides, is my idea of hell.
 

MilkyWookiee

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thinking about it, I realize I hate big trams - with (how many?) maybe 100 people all crammed in.

Ugh this reminded me of an open gondola style lift at Mountain Creek in new Jersey. You have to take your skis off, and hold them, and cram in with 7 other people. But there's no seats, and it's completely open so it also doesn't help you warm up. Oh and also, it's the only lift that runs from the base to the summit on the main peak!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
There are chairs without safety bars???!!!
The chairlifts at Alta didn't have safety bars until 2011. During the 2010-11 season I did the Adult Mountain workshop one afternoon with a woman from Australia. She was doing a day trip from Park City. She'd never ridden a lift without a safety bar and was pretty nervous.

Most Alta locals were annoyed when safety bars were installed. Many don't put them down, even families with kids.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I not much of a fan of old slow lifts with wood slat seats. Although it's less of an issue since I use Hot Buns to stay dry and warm, especially when it's snowing. Also provides a little padding.
 

santacruz skier

Angel Diva
The chairlifts at Alta didn't have safety bars until 2011. During the 2010-11 season I did the Adult Mountain workshop one afternoon with a woman from Australia. She was doing a day trip from Park City. She'd never ridden a lift without a safety bar and was pretty nervous.

Most Alta locals were annoyed when safety bars were installed. Many don't put them down, even families with kids.
What about the one in Taos?
 

SallyCat

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Oddly, my least favorite lift is the chair at the teeny-tiny, beginner-oriented Quechee ski hill in VT. When you get to the top, you have about one ski length of flat snow before the ramp drops sharply downward. You have to pay attention and stand up at exactly the right time, with little margin for error; if you're late, you have to jump, and there are a lot of yard sales as newer skiers figure out the timing. With little kids, you have to literally pick them up off the chair and ski down a few yards until you're out of the chair's path.

On the opposite end of that spectrum, I wasn't a fan of Suicide Six's main chair last year; the flat-ish exit-ramp design dictated that unless you assertively pushed off the chair, there was a pretty good chance it would smack you in the head, back, or arse before you could move far enough away. There were some pretty bad injuries including a broken pelvis, back injuries, and the like among the less fortunate.

I hate surface lifts on account of my feet always hurting when I ski, so it's minor torture.
 

MilkyWookiee

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Anybody else really not a fan of lifts with midstations? The only one I've ridden is the one at Massanutten and I've never unloaded on it, but it always feels weird to me
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Anybody else really not a fan of lifts with midstations? The only one I've ridden is the one at Massanutten and I've never unloaded on it, but it always feels weird to me
I have no problem with mid-stations because I appreciate their value for the flexibility they provide. In particular, the mid-station unload option on Lift 5 at Massanutten means that advanced beginners or cautious intermediates can unload there and still ride with their parent, child, or friend who likes to ski from the top. For a small hill like Mnut, having a lift that makes it possible to spend an hour with a mixed-ability group is a definite bonus.

The mid-station loading option at Alta on the Collins lift is useful in the spring when the lower mountain is too soft because of warm temps. Also meant I could take a friend up Wildcat and then up Collins so she could finish on the easier blues on the Sugarloaf side instead of having to navigate Corkscrew at the end of the day. Always odd for first-time riders who think they could unload at the turn at mid-station.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
There are chairs without safety bars???!!!
love21.jpg

Yes. Old ones out west are not that infrequent.

I disliked riding Chair 1 at Loveland, which was put in in 1957. I think the image above is this lift. Notice that the two people on the lift are clinging to the side bars for security. It was a slow double, a very long ride, and had no bar. I wondered how a parent would deal with a five year old child on that chair.

Last year they replaced this lift with a high speed quad, which I'm sure has a bar.
 
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liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Oh, it was a triple with no bar, not a double. Here are actual pictures of it.
lift-1-2.jpg


lift-1.jpg

CTosOiXVEAADImH.jpg

Dunno what this double lift is above, but it has no bar and it's at Loveland.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
One of the chairs open during late, late season at Mammoth doesn't have a safety bar. Goes up to the top of the ridge and over some big rocks. At least for that terrain there is the option of riding up a gondola instead.
 

mountainwest

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I wouldn't say hate, but learning to ride a poma lift for the very first time on Poma 1 here was very challenging. And of course it was a crowded Saturday and I fell on my face on the first two attempts. Poma 2 is much easier to get on, but was closed the first time I went due to being still buried in snow.
btb_trailmap_light.jpg
Some of the cables have more tension than others, and I cannot for the life of me pull them hard enough in time to get them under me before the steep ascent begins. I now know which ones to avoid and send my husband in front of me when I see one coming.
 

Abbi

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
There are chairs without safety bars???!!!

Yeah ...... I'm not a fan! Some people seem to like to ride with the bar up if there is one. (I'm always hoping for a footbar to give my legs a rest. When I ask to have the bar down I mention it is a VT state law requiring the bar to be lowered. That usually gets a reaction, but it's true!
"Vermont is the only state that requires chairlift users to ride the lift with the restraint bar lowered. While most states do not require restraint bars, both major manufacturers of chairlifts in the United States offer restraint bars as standard equipment.Nov 15, 2017
NSAA Ski Lift Safety Fact Sheet - National Ski Areas Association


https://www.nsaa.org › media › Lift_Safety_Fact_Sheet_2017"
 

jthree

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
OK, those pictures are totally freaking me out just looking at them. If this is what out west skiing is like I'm staying over here on the icecoast.
 

SallyCat

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
OK, those pictures are totally freaking me out just looking at them. If this is what out west skiing is like I'm staying over here on the icecoast.

Ha, don't worry! On my first trip out west not long ago I learned to sit in the outside seat and wrap my arm around the outside bar of the chair all super-casual, like I wasn't terrified of plummeting to my death!
 

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