@ster, not a true story or particularly believable so just terrible as in bad.
I thought it was quite a laugh, yes not “The Third Man” and pretty ropey but a laugh nevertheless.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Hmmm, in the interest of pedantry, , that's not what I was brought up with, although obvs one allows for language evolution and drift,
johnE wrote:
This terminology is a trifle confusing.
To me the list goes like this:
...
Multi person drag - where the 5 or 7 of you get on the drag at the same time. It then belts up the hill at high speed, stops at the top and you dismount in an undignified heap. (sometimes called a sling shot) never seen one of these
...
Telecabine - called cable cars in the UK, as in London Cable Car. These like the dismountable chairlifts except there are cabins that you climb into. They take anything from 4 to 16 people. These are installed in places where increased capacity is required or to allow easy beginner or pedestrian access. They can go higher above than chairlifts. Since they are unpopular with experienced skiers they are sometimes mixed on the same cable as dismountable chairs.
I'd say brits would call this a "gondola" or "bubble"
Dual Mono Cable or DMC - like the cable car but using two cables to support the cabine. These are bigger than cable cars and more stable in high winds. They are staning room only.
I wouldn't differentiate this from a "Cable Car", which is a
Telepherique - one or two big cabins taking upto over a hundred people at a time. the cabin is supported on one (or two) cables and hauled by another. They have been around a long time (the first one up the Aiguille du Midi 100 years ago). You wait at the station untill ones arrives then pile in. Little children get bashed around the head a lot. They go quite fast once they get moving. Confusingly wikkipedia gives the following alternative names for them: aerial tramway, aerial tram, sky tram, aerial cablecar, aerial cableway, or seilbahn. Which I think most Brits would call a cable car, and IME north americans call a "tram"
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?
Forgot rope tow. Which can also provide adventures, especially when the height varies.
@under a new name, I wasn't sure what people meant by a "gondola". If pushed I would have guessed at a telepherique, which I have heard refered to as "freaks" by some people.
A DMC is very unlike a telepherique. In fact it resembles a telecabine much more and unless you are a nerd you probably wouldn't notice that it is not a telecabine in that you pile in while it continues to move, doesn't have a driver etc.
Quote:
Multi person drag - where the 5 or 7 of you get on the drag at the same time. It then belts up the hill at high speed, stops at the top and you dismount in an undignified heap. (sometimes called a sling shot) never seen one of these Shocked
@johnE, interesting, I'm trying to think if I've ever seen your DMC system. I seem to recall "DMC" being used for other, (ordinary) twin cable car systems.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@under a new name, THREAD DRIFT ALERT….
Multi person drag…..never seen one? Here it is….cheesy music mandatory apparently
@under a new name, Thanks for that link. It is fascinating. I never realised that Alpe h'Huez was such an old resort or that the Grandes Rousses lift had so many incarnations. The current one appears to be almost 40 years old and still doing its job.
The Funitel and funiculars have replaced the tecnology for really mass movement.
The Les Suches lift at La Thule is also a DMC, but I never noticed when I was on it.
Sorry about the extreme topic drift
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@johnE,
Quote:
Sorry about the extreme topic drift
What else would we be doing on such a miserable day ?
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.
@under a new name, OK drift accepted until it builds up too much and avalanches under its own weight…
@valais2, I've been on it and it is not as scary as it looks. It is only a couple metres off the ground. Suprisingly, the stools are very close together so they have a good throughput.
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I wondered if rope tow was multi person drag but wow that’s nuts. Imagine if someone in the middle makes the classic mistake of pointing one ski outwards, it starts to widen going up… so much more carnage than a T bar!
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I think the worst 'drag' lift I experienced was around The Millenium in Val D'Isere. The Cema lift (the 'escape from Pissailas' Lift in Le Fornet) was condemned at short notice and the solution was a piste basher with 2 long ropes with knots in, the idea was to drag about 20 folks up at the time. Dominoes just doesn't do it justice!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
A variation on the 'piste basher with 2 long ropes'.
In ~1996 I joined a guided group of about 15 on a '7 Valleys tour' which was off the back of Tignes, about 1km on a cross-country track, minibus to Les Arcs, and finish for a pickup in (I assume) Arcs 2000. I was on a snowboard, and checked at the time of booking that it would be OK on a board. When we met the guides on the day, they were not impressed.
When we got to Les Arcs, after an alcoholic lunch (my first intro to both a grolle and tartiflette) the guides were not over conscientious about keeping the group together. When we got to the bottom of the last lift to get over to Arcs 2000, a few minutes before shutting, we were one punter down. This was before common use of mobile phones. The missing person did get found, but by the time they rejoined us the lifts were well shut. Next was a ~10 exchange of views between the guides (who were based from Tignes) and the lifties about whether they'd reopen the lift for us - the outcome was 'No'. Instead they got a skidoo, dangled 2 ropes behind, with 4 or 5 people holding onto each rope, and pegged it round the mountain. Given they had to do 2 trips, and wanted to go home, it was not slow. I'm pretty certain we went at 50-60 km/h, which is ~15 m/s, and I think a normal drag goes at ~2.5 m/s. This was the only time I've been on any form of drag with both feet attached to the board, as it was clear they'd but no time to recover by dabbing a foot down
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?
Not my own experience but my friend James and a mate of his were in the queue for the famous chairlift in Georgia which had a catastrophic failure and ran backwards uncontrolled.woth multiple casualties.
James was a ski instructor with decent first aid training and as I recall his mate was a medic of some sort...they got stuck in helping the.many who were injured.
Uf they had been there just a minute.or two earlier they'd have been on the lift...
I've seen quite a lot of these dual cable gondolas now. I appreciate that the mechanics are a bit different in that there are 2 cables, but in a sense it operates just like a gondola (telecabine) or detachable chair, with the cabin detaching from the cable to load people then accelerating to the speed of the cables before clamping on.
Also clearly a difference between that and the Penkenbahn for example which operates in a completely different way. I'd still call all of the above a gondola though even though the mechanics of the Penkenbahn are far closer to a cable car (telefreak).
So to summarize from a punters point of view rather than an engineer or employee of Poma or Doppelmayer:
Cable car (telefreak...) - A cable car has 2 opposing cabins. One goes up the other goes down.
Gondola (telecabine) A gondola has a continuous loop of enclosed cabins arriving one after the other, regardless of the mechanics of how it does that.
Ski season in L2A 1999. Myself (nightwatchman) and the barman managed to get the very first gondola at opening. It was just him and I as well as 2 ski patrol guys. Up through the mid station but as we approached the top station the wind was building and it became quite sporty. About 50 meters away from the top we stopped for about 30 mins. It was pretty wild. The cabin was swinging like crazy. We were close enough that the cabin in front of us was already in the station. Even so we were pretty excited looking out the window as there was a mad amount of snow.
Eventually we got in to the station. In the lift the ski patrol guys had informed us that they were now closing the lift for the day. It was pretty clear why. The first section when you come out of the lift isn't steep until you turn left to ski under the lift itself. That first section was almost impossible to pass as chest deep drifts were piled up everywhere. We actually had to walk through them.
The light was flat but it didn't matter as it was knee deep powder all the way down on the piste. One run and done for the day. First and pretty much only tracks in the resort that day.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Not quite in the spirit of the others but I was mid way between two pylons on the Index in Flégère (Chamonix) when the gearbox jammed.
We stopped dead.
And watched the cable oscillation head towards us, then we were whipped up about 5m, down the ensuing 10m then bounced around.
I had bruises on my thighs from hitting the safety bar on the first up impulse.
Terrifying. We were about 20m off the ground. An unscheduled dismount would have been nippy.
After all it is free
After all it is free
@afterski, that's a great story.
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.
@under a new name, that's a scary story!
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Salla chair in La Plagne some years ago. Early in the day, heading initially from Bellecote towards Montchavin. Overcast and a bit foggy. At the end of the rope tow everyone was being turned back as the weather had turned unexpectedly. Skied cautiously down to the foot of Salla in about 5m visibility, and was probably one of the last to get on the lift.
Wind was getting strong, and about half way up the lift stopped. Chairs started swinging wildly. Felt like about 60 degrees to each side but was probably less! Could only see a couple of chairs ahead and behind, with no-one on them. Incredibly cold. After about 10 minutes, moved a bit further, but kept stopping as the wind gusted. Took about 30 minutes to reach the top, which by then was almost deserted. Warmed up a bit skiing back to Bellecote. Everything closed for the rest of the day.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Worst ever? Tignes Le Lac on the PSB in I think 2021. Everything closed due to snow so I had to sit drinking in the hotel bar ALL DAY!
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.
I may be wrong (it has happened), but I seem to remember a single chair(or I had no friends) in the Sauze/Sestriere area in the 80s and being stuck on it for seemed like hours (probably more like 10 minutes) in a white out. Luckily I had a wee dram of Jagermeister to keep me company!
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@Layne, took me at least a season to get my nerves back on stopped lifts
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
How about the 2010 film, Frozen (not the Disney one). Possibly the worst ski related movie ever made. http://youtube.com/v/TIrnUbOmBBQ
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
My partner swears she was lifted out / off a gondola on a rope and harness attached to a helicopter when she was a kid at a resort in Italy. She can't remember why it had stopped. Her brother and her aunt were also lifted out. Her brother swears this happened but I think they may have got their own memories and Die Hard conflated.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I thinknit was Andorra, my wife thinks itbwas Sauze Doux (that's not how to spell it, but whatever!), it was certainly a student ski club trip.
Stuck on a chairlift with clear view into an apartment where a young couple were fully engaged in the art of Bedroom Olympics!
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
@rungsp, surely that is the "best EVER chairlift stoppage experience"
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?
@rungsp, with the warmup show its a pity you and your wife weren't riding a gondola...
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@rungsp, haha I was on the Tour chair going alongside Avoriaz apartments and in one was a young lady in her birthday suit, pleasuring herself with a large toy while waving at the skiers on the lift.
Nearly fell off my perch. Another time I was grateful for the safety bar.
Uni ski trip in Val Thorens about 15 years back - had a blazing row with an ex at 2am...
Cut forward to the next day, I'm skiing with a pal and as we're going through the gates at a 4-man chair, a lone skier scoots through to join us. No prizes for guessing who it turned out to be!
Cue 5 minutes of awkward silence/small talk, extended to 20 minutes due to a stoppage
I've never been so glad to get off a lift! We made sure to go in opposite directions at the top..
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
, that's not what I was brought up with, although obvs one allows for language evolution and drift,
?
