The Heather chair at MHM.
It's a fixed-grip double.
Rather than dig the bottom ramp out - it goes pretty steeply uphill just after load - they dig it out *just enough* to clear the bottom of the chair plus a bit for your legs. It ends up looking like a kicker in the terrain park. Seriously.
I've never figured out why, other than sheer laziness they don't just clear it good so just the actual load zone has a ramp - but as long as I can remember, that's the way it's always been. (But they can sure call out "Keep your tips up", and get angry at anyone who loses a ski etc. - all day long. I guess that's less work than just digging it out, eh?)
The liftie can bump the chair for you - which is nice, you don't get slammed in the legs as hard, if you don't catch the chair yourself.
But some lifties bump it way harder than others - which produces a BIG swing, and that ramp is pretty close to the bottom of the chair.
It's the second swing that gets you, not the initial load swing.
I had this happen, one day - and my right ski gets a little sideways and suddenly the shovel is simply getting drug really hard, me along with it. It becomes really clear, really fast, that I'm super unlikely to maintain my seat on the chair and I decide I'm bailing while I can. I simply roll out of the chair and hit the deck. The chair just clears me and I know there's another not too far back. I pop up and get out of the way of the chair behind. My partner was rather startled - but "whatevs!"
The liftie, who was likely craving cheetos and not paying the slightest attention to much of anything doesn't even notice that anything has happened - nada. I ski back around the liftie shack and get ready to cut in line.
Liftie starts to say I need to go through the gates - and I say - "Dude I just fell out of the chair and you didn't notice jack." Everyone else, I think, saw the whole thing happen and no one says a thing. I catch a chair a few back from my original and go on with life.
To this day, I'm not sure if I'm the "gaper" here or not.
I wasn't impressed with my getting drug and pulled out of the chair. But I thought the roll-out, duck, and recovery were pretty sweet ... and I didn't cause any delay in the chair for my mishap - no stop or slow-down for me!
Now if they'd just dig that damn ramp out a bit better.
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