Ski Lifts We Hate

[marzNC]

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.

Please don't take skiing out west off of your list of things to do someday because there are some ski areas that still have lifts with no safety bars. While there are a few lifts without bars left at destination resorts like those on Ikon or Epic, most of the lifts have safety bars and footrests. The scale of skiing in the Rockies is quite different, as is the opportunity to ski on snow without much possibility of rain from Jan thru April.

For comparison, consider that Killington has 1500 acres, of which 600 acres has snowmaking. Keystone has the same amount of snowmaking terrain, but about 3100 acres total. Squaw/Alpine has 6000 acres.

 

[Abbi]

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.

That chair caught me, only a glancing blow, thank gawd! I'm with you on that mention!

 

[jthree]

Please don't take skiing out west off of your list of things to do someday because there are some ski areas that still have lifts with no safety bars. While there are a few lifts without bars left at destination resorts like those on Ikon or Epic, most of the lifts have safety bars and footrests. The scale of skiing in the Rockies is quite different, as is the opportunity to ski on snow without much possibility of rain from Jan thru April.

For comparison, consider that Killington has 1500 acres, of which 600 acres has snowmaking. Keystone has the same amount of snowmaking terrain, but about 3100 acres total. Squaw/Alpine has 6000 acres.

You're right, I was being a bit melodramatic. I've skied out west once in my life (family trip to Vail when I was a teen) and would love to go back some day. I've got limited vacation time (and a husband who poo-poos downhill skiing) so it's all just hypothetical for now. So I can make fun of crazy things like no safety rails!

 

[marzNC]

You're right, I was being a bit melodramatic. I've skied out west once in my life (family trip to Vail when I was a teen) and would love to go back some day. I've got limited vacation time (and a husband who poo-poos downhill skiing) so it's all just hypothetical for now. So I can make fun of crazy things like no safety rails!

Been there. My husband is a non-skier. When I was working, I skied very little. Living in North Carolina I always flew out west. Didn't start skiing regularly until after I got my daughter hooked. By then I'd retired early to be a more relaxed older parent. I spoiled her early with spring break trips to Alta. That's where I first skied out west at the invitation of a classmate when I was in middle school. Didn't start exploring beyond Alta until relatively recently.

 

[Skibie]

France: some very old ski lifts, wooden 2 seaters...
Austria: 8 seasters with heathing and hoods :-)

 

[jthree]

Been there. My husband is a non-skier. When I was working, I skied very little. Living in North Carolina I always flew out west. Didn't start skiing regularly until after I got my daughter hooked. By then I'd retired early to be a more relaxed older parent. I spoiled her early with spring break trips to Alta. That's where I first skied out west at the invitation of a classmate when I was in middle school. Didn't start exploring beyond Alta until relatively recently.

Yep, getting the girl to like skiing is my secret weapon. ;-)

 

[Blondeinabmw]

E-Chair at Breckenridge is the Devil. Before you even get on the lift, getting to it can be a struggle later in the day. Its the more advanced avenue to get from Peak 8 to Peak 9, but for most people the easiest way that involves the least amount of skating/poling on flat stuff. Consequently, it gets a big range of abilities going down into a narrow valley where multiple double black trails converge. There are skidded off patches and giant, angry upside down canoe bumps at times that hide in the shady spots.

Then there's the lift itself. It is an old two-seater lift that comes down a pretty steep pitch and swings around at a rather high rate of speed. The liftie is supposed to catch the chair, pull it down a bit and hold it until you sit in it. The problem is that they sometimes miss. My brother was smacked in the hip with the chair and it pushed him sideways on his board where he landed on his other hip. To make matters worse, it then swings again to try to hit you in the head if it didn't kill you the first time.

I rode it once with a ski instructor and the liftie didn't catch the chair properly. It hit me in the lower back and launched me forward. I am not sure where it hit the instructor, but he landed on top of me. Thank god we had helmets on.

I've also seen it launch kids into the frozen creek bed even after they sit on it successfully - it has that big of a bounce.

Satan in a ski lift.

 

[Liquid Yellow]

T-bars. I hate them. There is one at St Anton (Austria) which is so steep it is petrifying; if you fell off you'd be in all sorts of trouble in very steep terrain. I hung on like grim death and was shaking when I got to the top.

Not fond of Poma lifts, especially the really long ones with steep dog-legs. I also don't really like the huge 130-person cable cars as I don't like being packed in, and I hate the scrum at the top when it gets there.

Generally the European lift systems are good and in many resorts they're excellent. The conveyer-belt lifts are commonplace and don't bother me at all - they are high-speed quads or 6 or even 8-packs.

Val d'Isere/Tignes are gradually replacing all their slow chairlifts.

 

[CarverJill]

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.

They installed bars on chair 23 last year!

 

[snoWYmonkey]

While not terribly frightening, the "pizza boxes" at small ski areas in Japan took a little getting used to this past spring on my 50th birthday trip. NO safety bar, and NO back rest to speak of. Just a one person, pizza box sized "seat" with a bar to grab on to on one side. This particular one, also had no downward pitch for off loading, requiring a very determined sideways skate skiing maneuver to avoid getting hit by chair after standing up. Thankfully, it would not hurt much as there is not much to each chair. It also explains why young school children are taught to skate ski so early in their alpine skiing progression on snow.

 

[Jenny]

They installed bars on chair 23 last year!

*shuddering* I did NOT like chair 23!

There was one at Snowbird that was distressing because it let you off at what felt like not quite the top of the hill, so I felt like I’d be sliding backwards once I got off.

 

[Kiragirl]

Has anyone written the 'chondala' at Sunday River ME? Do people stall or wait to get a chair or gondola?

 

[Kiragirl]

While not terribly frightening, the "pizza boxes" at small ski areas in Japan took a little getting used to this past spring on my 50th birthday trip. NO safety bar, and NO back rest to speak of. Just a one person, pizza box sized "seat" with a bar to grab on to on one side. This particular one, also had no downward pitch for off loading, requiring a very determined sideways skate skiing maneuver to avoid getting hit by chair after standing up. Thankfully, it would not hurt much as there is not much to each chair. It also explains why young school children are taught to skate ski so early in their alpine skiing progression on snow.

View attachment 11227

Wo, would not like that!

 

[MissySki]

Has anyone written the 'chondala' at Sunday River ME? Do people stall or wait to get a chair or gondola?

There are separate lines for the gondola and chairs, so this isn’t an issue as they load in different areas. I personally avoid this lift, but only because it’s a more crowded base area. The only time I’ve taken a gondola vs the chair there is to have dinner at the Peak lodge one night, it’s great then!

 

[marzNC]

Has anyone written the 'chondala' at Sunday River ME? Do people stall or wait to get a chair or gondola?

I've done both just to see how it goes when I've been at SR in mid-Dec. It's easier to take pictures from the gondola. With the separate lines, the wait is often about the same. Can be a little quicker to get in the line for the chair.

Sunday River chondola base, Dec 2014


Of course have to take off skis for the gondola. That turned out to cause me a problem one morning. It was early season. I'd skied the day before. Didn't clean up my skis that well because I drove several hours from NH to Bethel after skiing. When I got to the top of the gondola, I couldn't get into my bindings. Not even close. Had to ride back down. The tech doing rentals was very helpful. Turned out that there was ice inside the binding. Didn't take too long for the ice to melt with the skis indoors. Lesson learned.

 

[Kiragirl]

There are separate lines for the gondola and chairs, so this isn’t an issue as they load in different areas. I personally avoid this lift, but only because it’s a more crowded base area. The only time I’ve taken a gondola vs the chair there is to have dinner at the Peak lodge one night, it’s great then!

Ah, thx, good to know.

 

[volklgirl]

I detest surface lifts of all kinds, but the only chair ever that freaked me out was the cross-peak double at Whitecap in Wisconsin. Imagine dangling 150+ feet over a valley on an ancient double chair with a molded hard plastic seat and no safety bar! It was both terrifying and exhilarating. You'll find it between Eagles Nest and Thunder Mt.:

When were there last year, we found out they have blocked the midstation ramp so you can no longer ride across the valley. Their explanation for the closure was that the only way to perfrom a rescue on that chair was to bring in a helicopter, and they had no interest in doing that.

 

[FoxyRoxy]

What is a poma?

Oh, I wish I were so young!

 

[jskis190]

Ah yes, the platter lift to the top. I'm small and truly felt like I was going to be lifted off the ground. We encountered some horrible pomas and t bars at 4 Vallées in Switzerland this year. (Avoided that part of the terrain for the rest of our stay.)

Also - Lake Louise had a very scary one that takes you to the top of the back bowls. Did not like that one either.

I did this lift last spring. The first trip up was fine. The second trip, I didn't think I could hold on. There must be a problem with the individual pomas, since everyone in our party experienced difficulty on random rides up.
If a chair lift doesn't have a safety bar I make sure I am on the outside so I can hang onto the bar. I am slowly getting to be more pushy about lowering the safety bar if I am riding as a single.

 

[elemmac]

T-bars. I hate them. There is one at St Anton (Austria) which is so steep it is petrifying; if you fell off you'd be in all sorts of trouble in very steep terrain. I hung on like grim death and was shaking when I got to the top.

I'm going to guess you're talking about the one off of the Valluga? If not...I can't imagine a steeper T-bar exists.

Video of my husband's cousin on that lift (snowboarder that opted to ride it like he was waterskiing with this arms out in front getting pulled, I have NO idea how he stayed on for that long). Fast forward to 2:15 for the T-bar shot, and keep in mind that the speed is around 10x real-time (I don't recall exactly what I put it at).