 Poster: A snowHead
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@tangowaggon, on all the modern lifts i’ve been on the the leg support does not go between your legs. Most have retro fit metal stubs or plastic lap restraints that go between your legs that are attached to the main waist bar
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Jake43, all new chairlifts in our area have a central bar between the legs and a small platform to rest your skis. Snowboarders simply dangle their legs/boards. These are much safer for children. Although you have to manually close them, they open automatically.
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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'm guessing the new chair will be the type where each seat gets its own 'leg' with individual left/right ski little triangle of plastic sticking out each side to rest your skis on, rather than the more traditional 'leg' between a pair of seats with a long bar each side that you rest both skis on.
Not sure why US snowboarders can't cope with them - they are designed to be better for boarders as they can just hang and not have this long bar in the way that they either need to try and hang below or lie flat above. None of the boarders I ski with in France have ever complained about the new ones.
EDIT: Like this:
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Mjit, yes they're exactly what we have. They don't seem to be an issue for snowboarders but can be a little tricky for snowbike users. But since skiers are by far the majority users, I guess that's the overriding consideration.
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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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And who cares about snowbike users?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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@pam w, we see quite a few in these parts! 
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@Mjit, that looks like one of those auto close/open safety bars
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@Old Man Of Lech, my understanding (from folk tales) is that many US resorts actively didn't install safety bars as that then transferred liability for injury to them...
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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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@Frosty the Snowman, yup, some are auto close. Heated too more often than not. You should see the panic as people can't open the bar 2 pylons before the end.
Still least it should teach people not to mess about or be prats with poles, cos once the bar comes down there's no lifting it back up to release caught poles, legs, pants etc.
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I don’t relax until that bar is down, and the bar is “between my legs” so to speak. I really don’t care if those sharing the chair with me want it down, it’s happening. If there’s a safety feature it’s there for a reason and it should be utilised.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| tangowaggon wrote: |
| Jake43 wrote: |
Interestingly Whistler has just put a 6 man chair in with the support for you feet coming down between the legs.
This makes it nearly impossible for a snowboarder to use at all so they just down use the bar any more.
Progress ?
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I've never been on a chair lift where the foot support doesnt come down between your legs, they all do, possibly some lifts somewhere that don't? |
Strange i have never had one between the legs with supports either side. I like it and deliberately scoot over were possible but hopeless for a snowboarder.
We must be in parallel universes even though I am in Filey at the mo !
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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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| Quote: |
Interestingly Whistler has just put a 6 man chair in with the support for you feet coming down between the legs.
This makes it nearly impossible for a snowboarder to use at all so they just down use the bar any more.
Progress ?
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Surely monoskiers have it even harder. They do not realease one binding when on the lift
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You know it makes sense.
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@Mjit, there's one just like that example in Val Cenis.
It's located as the principle lift serving the large nursery area. Seats are bucket type so you've no option but to drop back into them away from closing bar.
Bar closes mechanically so no option and won't let you out until it's ready.
Seems to have the advantage of full loading of even the least skilled and young, so no adult assistance to sit with them. It's a busy lift and needs to run full and will have less safety concerns/risk I guess.
You'd certainly not be able to fall off it.
Doesn't appear to have any issues that we could see using it as a family.
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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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@tangowaggon,
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I've never been on a chair lift where the foot support doesnt come down between your legs, they all do, possibly some lifts somewhere that don't?
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Whut? Granted, many chair lifts work like you describe, but it seems to me that a fair part (around half or more) still are old-fashioned lifts without anything coming between your legs.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
Whut? Granted, many chair lifts work like you describe, but it seems to me that a fair part (around half or more) still are old-fashioned lifts without anything coming between your legs.
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Agreed.
ime most have a bar that comes down between the seats with little footrests in the shape of an inverted T. The one thing I do find uncomfortable is the little hard plastic kiddy guards that are on some chairs to stop small children sliding under the safety bar.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| ski3 wrote: |
@Mjit, there's one just like that example in Val Cenis.
It's located as the principle lift serving the large nursery area. Seats are bucket type so you've no option but to drop back into them away from closing bar. |
Oh you DO have a choice. First time we hit an upgraded lift in Ischgl one of my friends decided give himself a little space, as there was nobody in the slot next to him. He decided sitting with the hard lump of plastic between the two soft, heated seats right between his cheeks wasn't that comfortable though so scooted back across 
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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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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 old chairs in the Espace Diamant all have the bars between the seat (so one can sit with a ski resting on each side, and a gap between the two) and all the new ones have the bar between the legs. Good question about monoskiers. They'd need to be skinny, shove their bums to one side and sit in a mincing sidesaddle sort of fashion with both legs the same side of the central bar. But whoever saw a fat monoboarder? And they are all used to wiggling their hips; it's the only way they get down the mountain. And as for snowbikes, tough drags are hard for them too - they are forbidden on several of the drags in the Espace Diamant. But who cares? 
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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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| SnoodlesMcFlude wrote: |
| @abc, maybe it’s because cars are already built with a large number of safety features and designed to protect the occupants. |
But surely more protection is always better, right? 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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And cars remain a lot more hazardous than chair lifts.....
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| Old Man Of Lech wrote: |
| 30+ in 20 years |
I wonder how many more people will be saved by requiring (no, take it back, just encouraging) helmets in cars.
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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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It's definitely a macho US thing to keep the safety bar up. (I'm American) I personally keep the bar down as it's one less thing to worry about, plus I"m usually riding with my kids. Though, I admit sometimes here in Europe I'll raise the bar once out of sight of the lifties...just to be a little naughty...
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We are mostly pretty illogical and inconsistent in our attitude to risk-taking. I know I am. Even for those of us who take quite a few chairlifts, the chance of serious injury is low - I would think lower than it is for cycling or even driving and much lower than the risk of injury when we're skiing in between lift rides (even without ducking under the tapes on a closed piste  ). Recreational sailing isn't generally a dangerous sport and safety precautions are constantly being upgraded. Swallows and Amazons never wore buoyancy aids and had no safety escort vessels. These days fleets of kids are increasingly wearing helmets (against being bashed on the head by the boom) and buoyancy aids are strictly required, along with built in buoyancy for dinghies. Lots of people always wear life jackets on cruisers (though I don't for the same reason I don't wear a helmet in a car) and some skippers require lifelines for all on deck - because not falling in the sea in the first place is actually far more important than being able to float for hours waiting for someone to fish you out....and dying slowly of hypothermia. I wear a lifeline at night, or if it's very rough. Though mostly we stay in port if it's very rough!
I'm not "anti" safety precautions by any means, but the panoply of special measures can give people an exagerated idea of the risks.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| pam w wrote: |
I'm not "anti" safety precautions by any means, but the panoply of special measures can give people an exagerated idea of the risks. |
And as with anything there is often a risk/benefit equation thats personal to each of us. So long, of course, that your own idea of an acceptable risk does not put others in danger?
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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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@pam w, I suppose some of us wear pyjamas at night in hotels just in case there is a fire. And my mum insisted we wore clean underwear in case we were knocked down by a car. 
Sadly according to Austrian statistics of a few years ago the biggest cause of death while skiing was heart attacks.
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Brought on by the prices in the mountain restaurants...?
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You know it makes sense.
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| Ingemar_Skidmark wrote: |
| Brought on by the prices in the mountain restaurants...? |
Maybe in some of the French mega resorts, but unlikely in Austria, and certainly not in the good value mountain restaurants in the Italian Dolomites
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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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It was speculated that it was due to overweight german men who had done no excercise all year suddenly going flat out at altitude
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