 Poster: A snowHead
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A new system is currently on trial in Courchevel that could increase child-safety on chairlifts. It comprises a magnetic orange waistcoat, which also offers back protection and high visibility on the pistes. Children started to test the system on the Pralong chairlift this week. The lift itself has been equipped with magnetic disks in the backrests of the chairs. When a child gets on the magnets are activated. Once the chair reaches the top, the magnets are demagnetised, so the child can ski off the lift as normal....Called Magnestick, the system has been developed to prevent small children from slipping through the drop down bar or falling off the lift.
ESF Courchevel 1850 are equipping children all this winter to fully test the prototype system, which will be further developed following user feedback. There are also plans to trial the system in La Tania and Meribel.
From: http://www.tignesnet.com/whats_new_article.php?id_whats_new=2938&id_back=1
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The uses of this kind of equipment would seem to be endless - I am sure snowheads could come up with some suitable applications. 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I wonder if they wipe your credit cards...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The first ski lift I used involved an umbilical cord, but I knew the French would come up with something more sensible.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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They could have powerful magnetic piste markers. If the piste was becoming a bit crowded, they could switch them on, and let the kids stay stuck to the poles for a while. You could have "park and drink" benches, outside mountain restaurants. Any adult or teenager skiing out of control could be required to wear one.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Hoppo wrote: |
| I wonder if they wipe your credit cards... |
Or your lift pass 
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Brilliant, anything that stops the little wrigglers frightening the life out of me when I am given one arbitairily to share a lift with gets my vote 
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Hehehe, they'll be skiing around like a swarm of 3 foot tall fridge magnets.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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How many extra lift stoppages will this lead to, as the mechanism decides it doesn't want to work this time and doesn't de-magnetise at the top... How many little kids have fallen on top of you as you pass under chair-lifts anyway... 
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If they it works without hitches, I think it'll be a good thing. When my children were smaller I used to occasionally feel uncomfortable when I had 2 of them by myself on a chairlift.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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It is an interesting notion that you could be saddled with sharing a chairlift with a strange child who might wriggle thus endangering themselves whilst on the lift. Would they really put a child on a lift with an unrelated adult and if so would you be expected to have any form of repsonsibility for that child whilst on the lift?
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You know it makes sense.
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Megamum, Yes they do, and Yes you are. (in roughly that order) 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Megamum, Happens to us in Les Arcs and La Plagne the whole time. As you approach a lift and a group of kids in a lesson are there, you are often asked to take one up with you. I don't have an issue as it is better to have 1 kid to many adults as opposed to many kids and 1 or none adults.
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Poster: A snowHead
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gwaelod, Handy too, in case you want to drop something to check snow depths on the way up 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Megamum, happened to me in Tignes on the beginners' chairlift - not good when you are terrified you'll fall getting off the lift yourself even if the kid DOESN'T instigate it by grabbing you and wobbling, or decides to dart across in front of you. Was quite proud of myself at one point though - gave a load of French kids a telling off in French, for congregating right by the lift exit to wait for their instructor, rather than moving a bit further away - the fact I'd nearly run into them really made my French language flow well!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Megamum, yes, this is absolutely standard procedure. I would refuse to take one with me if I was on a snowboard, but someone has to take the little ones up. They can be very sweet sometimes. But not always. A woman I met on a chalet holiday, a very strong skier but not a very big or strong woman, got given a 4 year old strop-merchant, who absolutely did not want to get on the lift at all, and as the chair took off, she wriggled down, to get out, leaving my friend grabbing her by the collar, and screaming. Two lifties came and could just reach her skis, at full arm stretch, and got her down. One time, with my brother in law, on a very deserted lift, we were given two little lads to take up. At the top, in quite poor visibility, we wondered how long the others would be - the instructor had to wait for more adults, and there weren't many around. She had told us they were to sit, at the top, and wait for her. We told them to do so, but our French was a bit limited for extended discussions with 5 year olds and they were fairly unimpressed. One was too frisky and desperate to be off, and we were reluctant to leave them - they were only about 5. We waited for a while, keen to be off ourselves. Eventually a family of four came along and brought the others up. It's part of the scene, I suppose.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Happened to me a couple times, but in all honesty they either just stay silent staring at their skis or amuse me with the crap they say
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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anyone know what lift it is on? been in courch this week and havent clocked it yet. good idea i recon
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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gwaelod, thanks for pointing that out, way too much champagne this morning... 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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We've had to accompany a couple of kids up, usually from a ski school group - they put one or two on with a couple of adults. Usually I amuse myself by finding out my French is just about up to a conversation with a 7 year old!
I must admit that on some lifts, I'm well aware that being very petite, I'm a bit too small for the drop down bar to be of any benefit, and I quite often can't reach the footrest (if there is one) when sitting properly back in the chair.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Megamum wrote: |
| It is an interesting notion that you could be saddled with sharing a chairlift with a strange child who might wriggle thus endangering themselves whilst on the lift. Would they really put a child on a lift with an unrelated adult and if so would you be expected to have any form of repsonsibility for that child whilst on the lift? |
I once found myself sharing a lift with an approx 4-5 yr old French girl from a large group. She failed to get off and so I managed to grab her as she was about to be carried off back down, then had to fall back and had a rather heavy (well it felt like it) child land right on my stomach - I figured that was the safest landing for her. She didn't even know how to get off a chair lift so why the hell was she left as the last person in the group?
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Thu 27-12-07 0:51; edited 1 time in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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Seriously, the issue of getting adults to take kids up the chairlift is something that bothers me. It's fine if the adult is a competent skier, but when you're a beginner yourself it simply isn't acceptable - when i was learning on the beginner slope that has a free chairlift in Lavachet in Tignes they kept trying to get me to take responsiblity for kids - now surely it's not rocket science to work out that a wobbly adult inching towards the lift is barely capable of looking out to their own needs, let along those of a novice child. I'd be horrified if I thought a child of mine in ski school was put in the care of someone like me on a chairlift!
I'm someone who finds it hard to say NO, but in this case I felt I had to, for everyone's safety. And TOUGH if anyone thought I was being unreasonable.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
I'm someone who finds it hard to say NO, but in this case I felt I had to, for everyone's safety. And TOUGH if anyone thought I was being unreasonable.
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I think that's fair enough. I advise my nervous beginner visitors to tell people they are beginners, and avoid going up with kids if they want. However, sometimes they have a queue of kids, and the lifties just plonk one on per chair, and there's really not a lot you can do other than shove them off before you put the bar down. Then, if you are not confident, you just have to concentrate on getting yourself off safely - the lifties will sort out the kids. My sister in law, quite a nervous second weeker, in a ski lesson, fell getting off a lift last year and 8 months later is still convalescing from the knee reconstruction which was ultimately necessary. She said that a child whizzed off sideways and pushed her over. But with my sister in law everything is someone else's fault, so I would not be convinced she was really pushed.
Anyway, like lots of things, thinking and worrying about taking kids up in chair lifts doesn't really help. Just have to get on with it! They can be very sweet. One little girl last year told me her mother had organised a birthday party for her, for the following day. Clearly, somewhere in her rather rapid and breathless delivery, she had mentioned her age, but I missed it. So, my next conversational gambit "how old will you be tomorrow" had her nonplussed. She looked pityingly at me, held up 5 fingers and said very slowly and clearly "I am 5, so tomorrow I will be (add one finger) six". By that time we'd reached the top, she skied off with massive competence and confidence (she was from a ski club, not a lesson) and was obviously convinced English people couldn't either talk or count!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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The new 6-pack in Les Arcs (Derby) has a device fitted to the right-hand chair to stop small children from sliding underneath the safety bar. That's the side of chair that ski school children would be loaded. Seems like a simple way to make sure you don't lose any unattended small ones during the ride up.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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When they are fitting switches which de-activate the magnetic child-holder on arrival, they could sort out a way of automatically releasing the safety bar too, to stop people starting to faff and shuffle ages too soon. rob@rar, does that extra device mean that only littlies can ride in that seat?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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pam w, no, it folds up when someone bigger uses the seat. I'll try to get a photo of one. Also saw they had been fitted to the Grizzly lift in Les Arcs as well as the Derby.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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rob@rar, Thought I had seen them elsewhere in Les Arcs
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How much of a problem is little one's falling off chairs? I know it happend's but it also happend's with teens/adults as well.
I have done this so often now it does not bother me much, If they start to wiggle about and make me nervous I put a hand on their chest and push the little darling back into the seat.
pam w, I also use my pidgin french/german etc to say hello, It makes me laugh when they assume I can speak the lingo and speak to me all the way up when all I can do is say Pardon?
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couple of seasons ago in LDA the small child next to me on the lift sliped through the bar (thankfully we had only just got on the lift so the drop wouldnt have been huge, and I grabed one arm while the farther grabed the other arm and then pulled him back onto the chair.
On a fair few uni trips I can remember being asked to sit with a couple of young ski school children on the lift by a french instructer, Can remember a very strange conversation a couple of us had about cheese with one little french girl who must have thought the English compleatly mad!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Here is a video link from the Swiss TV how the system works.
Interesting pictures.
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kerekip, yep interesting to note it's not on all the seats but just the ski school side.
I wonder how much force is needed to break contact. I would think some kids would see it as a challenge.
Last edited by Ski the Net with snowHeads  on Sat 12-01-08 21:59; edited 1 time in total
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FAQ
That turned out to be the only time I didn't fall dismounting the lift wearing a board!!! 