Lift Line Stupidity

[SumJongGuy]

One of the other guys started a game where if another liftie was loading onto the chair we would stomp on the back of his binding as the chair came around. The first time he did that I didn’t know whether to shit or go blind- got my boot back in in time to load though.

Ya, the place I worked in high school would occasionally open up private for employees only and run one main lift self serve Christmas eve and New Year's. All kinds of shenanigans like that occurred, along with a lot of drinking..

[~mikey b]

I always try to sneak on the lift without the lift ops seeing me. One time I came in hot trying to load without being seen and I completely ate shit at the load board then got pummeled and shoved into the snow by the chair. The op just stood there gaping at me as I got rammed into the snow and then let the next chair hit me. I deserved it.

[BobMc]

Being as it’s not polyass I clicked on Goldengate’s post, shoulda known... Tell us more of this poma lift at Alta!

[Bunion 2020]

Quote Originally Posted by SumJongGuy View Post
OK how about fessing up about our own lift line stupidity???

Not liftline but lift unload.

Tripping balls on Boomers and went to get off the top of the Lost Prospector chair (RIP) at PCMR. I went to stand up and was aware enough to understand that my backpack was stuck under the seat pad. I rode the bullwheel with panash and tripped the safety bar, freed my pack and skied away.

[Ted Striker]

Did the same at Red Mountain years ago, but was stone cold sober, and managed to unclip fast enough that only my pack went for a spin.

The truly embarrassing part was that I was riding with one of the owners.

[Brownski]

I always try to sneak on the lift without the lift ops seeing me. One time I came in hot trying to load without being seen and I completely ate shit at the load board then got pummeled and shoved into the snow by the chair. The op just stood there gaping at me as I got rammed into the snow and then let the next chair hit me. I deserved it.

This is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. I would have stopped the lift after one chair strike though.

[Brownski]

Not liftline but lift unload.

Tripping balls on Boomers and went to get off the top of the Lost Prospector chair (RIP) at PCMR. I went to stand up and was aware enough to understand that my backpack was stuck under the seat pad. I rode the bullwheel with panash and tripped the safety bar, freed my pack and skied away.

Where I worked they called this a hanger and they really tried to put the fear of god into us regarding hangers- even encouraged us to keep a knife handy to cut somebody down if they looked like they might be choking. I spent the whole winter waiting for a hanger but never got to see one.

[robnow]

We have a tbar to access the backcountry gate on blackcomb. Its fucking hilarious. Snowboarders falling, skiings trying to sit on the T and falling. Seems like since Epic started its gotten funnier and funnier (unless you are in a rush). If you snowboard and can't get two people on a tbar you should kill yourself.

I think Blais was the first one I saw doing the ole spot the single on the T and quick 180 to slide right in. Makes for such a fun transfer from Glacier Chair straight off the lift into a double cliff and 180 onto the T. Do peeps still do this?

[~mikey b]

This is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about. I would have stopped the lift after one chair strike though.

oh no

he let a few chairs hit me

[nortonwhis]

I think Blais was the first one I saw doing the ole spot the single on the T and quick 180 to slide right in. Makes for such a fun transfer from Glacier Chair straight off the lift into a double cliff and 180 onto the T. Do peeps still do this?

I don't think horstman even opened last year, but hopefully we'll keep that tradition alive this year. Blackcomb is much worse without Horstman running f'sure.

[L82thegate]

Circa 1965 I was in line for a rope tow. A kid slides up and cuts the line. Guy in front of me plants a pole firmly into his wooden ski's, splits one of them in half, and says that's what ya get. Problem solved.

[old goat]

Circa 1965 I was in line for a rope tow. A kid slides up and cuts the line. Guy in front of me plants a pole firmly into his wooden ski's, splits one of them in half, and says that's what ya get. Problem solved.

Guy cuts a huge line on the old Germania chair, right in front of me and some young punk I was singled up with. The guy takes off on High T with young punk in hot pursuit. The punk shouldered him head first into the trees. I didn't stick around to see if any damage done. Well done, young feller.

[SumJongGuy]

Guy cuts a huge line on the old Germania chair, right in front of me and some young punk I was singled up with. The guy takes off on High T with young punk in hot pursuit. The punk shouldered him head first into the trees. I didn't stick around to see if any damage done. Well done, young feller.

So your Hippocratic oath has a powder day exemption?? Outstanding!!

[Vt-Freeheel]

I think Blais was the first one I saw doing the ole spot the single on the T and quick 180 to slide right in. Makes for such a fun transfer from Glacier Chair straight off the lift into a double cliff and 180 onto the T. Do peeps still do this?

I was going up the High lift at CB this spring and a guy popped into the LL 1/2 way up and joined me. I thought it was pretty cool and we had a good chat as well.

[singlecross]

Not liftline but lift unload.

Tripping balls on Boomers and went to get off the top of the Lost Prospector chair (RIP) at PCMR. I went to stand up and was aware enough to understand that my backpack was stuck under the seat pad. I rode the bullwheel with panash and tripped the safety bar, freed my pack and skied away.

I had a similar, but less graceful experience on the Challenger lift at Mary Jane back in the day. I was sitting on the inside of the chair closest to the lift towers. About halfway up, I was compelled to turn around to the inside and chat with my buddies in the chair behind to tell them about the beauty of the snow crystals slowly blowing and drifting through the sunlight. In my enhanced state, it seemed an important thing to share but I didn't consider the proximity of the lift towers and promptly stuck the tip of one of my 210's through the ladder on the back of the tower, which slowly pulled me out of the chair. Mercifully, the toepiece released from the torque but not before I was out of the chair and dangling off the side by my hands with one ski. I rode/hung for a bit trying to clamber back into the chair but that seemed like too much work at the time and I finally said fuck it and let go. Dropped onto the trail below, skied down on one ski, climbed the offending lift tower ladder to retrieve my stuck and hanging ski, and went about my day. Pretty good day for a dumbass.

[AirheadD8]

I had a similar, but less graceful experience on the Challenger lift at Mary Jane back in the day. I was sitting on the inside of the chair closest to the lift towers. About halfway up, I was compelled to turn around to the inside and chat with my buddies in the chair behind to tell them about the beauty of the snow crystals slowly blowing and drifting through the sunlight. In my enhanced state, it seemed an important thing to share but I didn't consider the proximity of the lift towers and promptly stuck the tip of one of my 210's through the ladder on the back of the tower, which slowly pulled me out of the chair. Mercifully, the toepiece released from the torque but not before I was out of the chair and dangling off the side by my hands with one ski. I rode/hung for a bit trying to clamber back into the chair but that seemed like too much work at the time and I finally said fuck it and let go. Dropped onto the trail below, skied down on one ski, climbed the offending lift tower ladder to retrieve my stuck and hanging ski, and went about my day. Pretty good day for a dumbass.

[snojones]

When it comes to lift line stupidity.... You have to take your hat off to to the lift line configuration on the bottom terminal of the Pine Martin lift at Bachelor. It is the silliest bottom terminal I have ever seen! They go to all the trouble of arranging people into 4 person groups so as to fill all the chairs.

Then, all at once, everybody is hearded around a tight 180 turn and directly into the electrinic ticket stanchions. First off the 180 degree turn messes up the 4 person groups as everybody squeezes around that obstacle at differing paces. Then they hit the Stanchions and 1 out of 4 times somebody gets hung up trying to get their ticket accepted by the electronic stanchions. This 1, 2 punch usually leads loosing at least one person, who is now in the position of being the 5th person looking for a 5th seat on a 4 person chair. It is frequently very confusing and partial loaded chairs is the end result.

I have talked to lift supervisors about how effective it is to have the singles line just feed directly into the loading area. This way if there are not enough people to fill a chair you just call in singles to fill those gaps. Nobody has to spend energy putting people into groups of 4 that frequently break down rounding the turn and the gates. You just fill chairs with singles as needed at the loading area. I have skied a lot of areas and most of them use this system with great efficacy. It is self motivated, self educating, and self selecting for mostly educated skiers who know what they are doing. Beginners just avoid it. This leads to less waiting for everybody and no need for 1 or 2 staff people to work so hard to put people into groups of 4 that frequently disintegrate rounding the maze and gate. Unfortunately the Bachelor supervisors never take my advise. All that work just to end up with a mosh pit, is just stupid.

[toast2266]

I have talked to lift supervisors about how effective it is to have the singles line just feed directly into the loading area. This way if there are not enough people to fill a chair you just call in singles to fill those gaps. Nobody has to spend energy putting people into groups of 4 that frequently break down rounding the turn and the gates. You just fill chairs with singles as needed at the loading area. I have skied a lot of areas and most of them use this system with great efficacy. It is self motivated, self educating, and self selecting for mostly educated skiers who know what they are doing. Beginners just avoid it. This leads to less waiting for everybody and no need for 1 or 2 staff people to work so hard to put people into groups of 4 that frequently disintegrate rounding the maze and gate. Unfortunately the Bachelor supervisors never take my advise. All that work just to end up with a mosh pit, is just stupid.

Similar deal at our hill - singles line merges in pretty early on. Fuckery further down the line results in empty chairs. And the way they lay out the maze means that the singles line gets super long on busy days and ends up blocking the ski run that feeds into the lift plaza. Seems like a relatively easy fix, but logic is hard.

[snojones]

When it comes to lift line stupidity.... You have to take your hat off to to the lift line configuration on Pine Martin lift at Bachelor. It is the silliest bottom terminal I have ever seen! They go to all the trouble of arranging people into 4 person groups so as to fill all the chairs.

Then, all at once, everybody is hearded around a tight 180 turn and directly into the electrinic ticket stanchions. First off the 180 degree turn messes up the 4 person groups as everybody moves around that obstacle at differing paces. Then they hit the Stanchions and 1 out of 4 times somebody gets hung up trying to get their ticket accepted by the electronic stanchions. This 1, 2 punch usually leads loosing at least one person, who is now in the position of being the 5th person looking for a 5th seat on a 4 person chair. It is frequently very confusing and partial loaded chairs is the end result.

I have talked to lift supervisors about how effective it is to have the singles line just feed directly into the loading area. This way if there are not enough people to fill a chair you just call in singles to fill those gaps. Nobody has to spend energy putting people into groups of 4 that frequently break down rounding the turn and the gates. You just fill chairs with singles as needed at the loading area. I have skied a lot of areas and most of them use this system with great efficacy. It is self motivated, self educating, and self selecting for mostly educated skier. Beginners just avoid it. This leads to less waiting for everybody and no need for 1 or 2 people to work so hard to put people into groups of 4 that frequently disintergrate rounding the maze and gate. Unfortunatly the Bachelor supervisors never take my advise. All that work just to end up with a mosh pit, is just stupid.

[EWG]

I was going up the High lift at CB this spring and a guy popped into the LL 1/2 way up and joined me. I thought it was pretty cool and we had a good chat as well.

This is fair game at CB. Especially when taking runs off the top of the high lift to the south of the chair. You come in at that halfway flat spot but you need a single so the T is pulled down. Otherwise it’s dangling too high to grab.

[Bunion 2020]

Another story from the past.

83/84 I was a lifty at PCMR new to Utah from the mid-west.

I was working to bottom of the old Ski Team double and a patroller shows up with a Rin Tin Tin beautiful huge German Shepard named Heyduke.

I have never really heard of avalanche dogs so I am standing by my control and the guy and dog slide out on to the stand here board, chair comes whipping around the bullwheel the dog gets on and the patroller gets destroyed and ends up in a heap in the snow at the end of the load ramp.

By then I had hit a stop and the dog is in the chair looking back down at us kind of WTF?

The patroller gather his shit up climbs back up and proceeds to ream me a new asshole for not slowing the chair. I silently took it and loaded him on the next chair.

About an hour later I get a phone call from some guy apologizing to me. He is a stuttering machine. He gets done and hangs up.

A couple of hours later a lift supervisor stops by for my lunch break and I tell him the story including the apology.

He tells me the guy I trashed is the Snow Safety Director and that yes he has a bad stutter unless he is REALLY pissed.

[SumJongGuy]

The dog didn't need the lift to be slowed.. that's all on the human LOL

[old goat]

Summit 6 Chair at Alpine on a storm day. Not crowded. 3 women in front of us load the chair. Lift op asks us to wait for patroller and his dog to get the next chair. The dog jumps on the chair with the 3 women, leaving the patroller behind. "No friends on powder days" says I.

[Ted Striker]

The dog jumps on the chair with the 3 women

smart dog

[goldengatestinx]

Not liftline but lift unload.

Tripping balls on Boomers and went to get off the top of the Lost Prospector chair (RIP) at PCMR. I went to stand up and was aware enough to understand that my backpack was stuck under the seat pad. I rode the bullwheel with panash and tripped the safety bar, freed my pack and skied away.

Hot lapping Campground at Snowmass years ago on a perfect corn day the waist strap buckle slid between the slats so I couldn't slide off. The ski patrol was out tanning at the top shack. I got a standing ovation for going around the wheel.