 Poster: A snowHead
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The T bar at Mont Fort in Verbier.
My daughter (aged 12) and her brother were riding the T in front of my wife and I.
As they got to the top my son exited right but my daughter was suddenly on her back being dragged up and along a steep 20ft snow bank...screaming in fear.
The T had somehow got hooked on her backpack and there was nothing she could do. To make it worse she had the chest-strap on the pack done up and this was dragged under her chin and beginning to strangle her.
There was nothing I could do...we were still on the approaching up-slope.
The T was going faster and steeper than my son could keep up with.
To make it worse the top-of-lift man was in his hut which is at least 100 yards further on and up (the lift doest not turn around at the exit point).
Thankfully he saw our arms waving etc etc and stopped the lift (he could not have seen what was going on yet), my son climbed up the bank and unhooked his sister, who by then was very shaken and tearful, but luckily not hurt.
So learn this lesson...undo the chest strap on your backpack...it might not have saved the hook-up but it might have made it easier to get unhooked and it certainly would have stopped the potentail strangulation.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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...second suggestion would be not to take a backpack.
...third would be that when riding lifts, put it on your front.
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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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(but glad to hear she is OK)
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rungsp, Very frightening. IMHO one of the things that makes buttons and T bars unsafe is the regular lack of supervision at the off ramp.
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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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scary! But I don't understand how the heck the T bar could get in such a situation! Not trying to pick fault, just hoping to educate myself to ensure it doesn't happen to me or my kids!
When I'm on a T bar I make sure I decide and agree with the other person who is releasing the T bar. Then at the exit point, 1st person leaves the T bar, the agreed "dropper" then pulls T bar out from under their back bottom, and still holding it let's it either
a) swing into the huge snow pile put there for such a purpose
b) in Scotland holds onto it whilst it goes around the final wheel, then allow it to slide back into the holder.
Did maybe both your kids try and exit it at the same time allowing it to try and recoil back into the holder?
Regards,
Greg
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rungsp, Firstly , horrifying and I hope you all (especially your daughter) have recovered.
Secondly ( and lease excuse and correct if I am wrong) , I thought every installation (including Ts/Pomas) in Verbier/Mont Fort/Printze had signs instructing back-packs to be removed and/or worn lose in front of body ?? 
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gregh, The "hook" of the T bar could ride up and snag one of the shoulder straps from underneath. Not probably, but then not many accidents are. I dont know many folks that are overly happy on T Bars. I know that my 2 kids together would be a recipe for disaster.
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You may be right about the signs, I hadn't noticed.
You can be 100% sure that they will be worn loose/in front from now on.
Foxy...she had to wear a backpack because her pockets are not big enough for shovel & probe, let alone drink and chocolate bar etc.
How she got hooked? Not exactly sure, he left first and I guess she just didn't properly "throw" the T away and it slid accross her back and hooked under a shoulder strap.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I try to avoid drag's and T-bar's anyway. Being a lazy sod, I prefer to give the old legs and feet a rest 
rungsp, that's a horrible story. I nearly mangled myself on a long drag in Chamonix at xmas, and give them an even wider berth than I did before.
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| rungsp wrote: |
| ... I guess she just didn't properly "throw" the T away and it slid accross her back and hooked under a shoulder strap. |
You have to 'throw' them away? I've never ridden a T bar... and I don't think I want to 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Most drags and T-bars have a fail safe trigger that when crossed automatically stops the lift, I thought. Can't say I've checked out every lift I've been on, but I've seen people not get off quickly enough before in several places, and the lift has stopped immediately.
Should be a cut-off device of that sort on all drags and T-bars really.
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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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I'd agree with that PG, there wasn't one there though.
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ugh, awful story.
On her first day in La Plagne this season, my mother missed the 'get off here' sign and held on while the T-bar lifted her off the ground and catapulted her a few yards (I saw the 'bombhole' where she fell, a fair distance away). Fortunately, she just stood up, got back to the piste and continued skiing...worried that the liftie would try to charge her for the cable she broke while flying!
That T bar was particularly jerky, which is why she was concentrating on not letting go...
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You know it makes sense.
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Has anyone else ever lost a top to the t-bar? The one at SSV used to do so quite regularly to various punters when I worked there....Then of course it waves it around above your head very frustratingly as you wait for it to cycle back round to you....
aj xx
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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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I've had a very similar experience on a T-bar, whilst accompanying a younger and smaller person. Told them not to worry, and that If they got away first, then I would sort out the bar. They duly jumped left out of the way and it was at this point that it suddenly dawned that when we got on, my end of the bar had gone through the 'drawstring' loop on my jacket. Too late !
Despite my frantic efforts to un hook, I was pulled upwards off the ground, thankfully the liftie spotted this and stopped the lift. I was left dangling horizontally face down about 3 foot off the ground. 
Too far to reach the ground, but thanfully not too high.
Took what seemed like ages before somebody unhooked me. And all I could hear was laughter.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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A friend of mine got launched off a chairlift once, most impressive it was too.
Just as he was about to get off the chair the person next to him accidently knocked him back onto the seat, of course the chair carried on and was just about to round the wheel as he got himself back up and jumped off the thing. I had my back to him as I'd just got off and could only see my friends looking back at us wide eyed, next thing I know he's sailing past me at shoulder height, lands it, and stops in front of us to a cheer from all who saw it.
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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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| Quote: |
No you don't throw them away (at least not in scotland). If I see people throwing them away I'l have a quiet word with them suggesting they carefully allow them to reel back in. If it it tales my head off it might be a not so quiet word . You don't just throw them away in scotland as that is a recipe for 1) the T bar wrapping itself around the cable in windy weather and causeing lift stoppages 2) taking the head off the person who has just exited the T bar (which has been me in the past!)
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Some T Bars you 'throw away' others youo dont it depends on how far away you are from the end pylon where it turns usully if the T bar goes slack at the top as with most ones in Scotland wait and allow it to slowly retun if you have to unhook it is best to throw awa. From my memory of Mont Fort it is a 'throw away one'.
I also always wear my back pack on T bars but take them off for chair lifts. On an adults back they should be out of the way of the hook and the hook has lots of other things to hook onto if not careful; when sharing with kids I always make sure they get off first.
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| Dave Horsley wrote: |
| Quote: |
You have to 'throw' them away? I've never ridden a T bar... and I don't think I want to
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No you don't throw them away (at least not in scotland). If I see people throwing them away I'l have a quiet word with them suggesting they carefully allow them to reel back in. If it it tales my head off it might be a not so quiet word  . You don't just throw them away in scotland as that is a recipe for 1) the T bar wrapping itself around the cable in windy weather and causeing lift stoppages 2) taking the head off the person who has just exited the T bar (which has been me in the past!) |
There seems to be an unwritten (until now I suppose) law in Scotland that you have to treat T bars like delicate China. I remember getting a load of abuse from some suntanned tw@t (I think he was a ski instructor) there years ago for not doing the right thing. I was so surprised that I didn't say anything, not even, "F*** off you suntanned tw@t.". I've no idea what I did wrong or what I should have done. I normally just let T bars go, which seems reasonable, but perhaps I did so in a particularly inept way.
BTW, I dislike T bars intensely.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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No wonder people don't ski in Scotland. I've never even seen a T-bar.
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| Dave Horsley wrote: |
| Quote: |
There seems to be an unwritten (until now I suppose) law in Scotland that you have to treat T bars like delicate China. I remember getting a load of abuse from some suntanned tw@t (I think he was a ski instructor) there years ago for not doing the right thing. I was so surprised that I didn't say anything, not even, "F*** off you suntanned tw@t.". I've no idea what I did wrong or what I should have done. I normally just let T bars go, which seems reasonable, but perhaps I did so in a particularly inept way.
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Its not unwritten its on a lot of the actual T bars plus on signs at the tops and bottoms of most of the T bar tows. I try and be polite when I tell people to not throw the T bars away but allow them to real back in carefully, but if you just clonked him on the head with your T bar may be he was a bit p1ssed off  . And it hurts 
If you've been skiing when it is marginal for high winds and watched what happens if someone throws away a T bar you wouldn't. They make a valiant attempt to wrap themselves around the cable, most fail but every so often one succeeds. Then the lift can be off for anywhere upto 30 minutes depending how badly wrapped around the cable it is. |
It certainly wasn't written when I was there, and unfortunately the T bar didn't hit the guy. I just let it go, like I've done on every T bar I've been on, apart from all the ones I've fallen off. The conditions were grim, sleet and wind, and my technique obviously didn't match the chap's standards. As you can see, the incident affected me deeply. It was the shittiest day's skiing I've ever had, by a million miles, in every respect.
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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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Very scary. Moral of the tale is to choose resorts which don't have the damned things. I wish that Tignes didn't use them on the glacier.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I've skied very few places with t-bars and not had a problem though could see the potential. It's tricky to stay on the things if you're riding with someone whose bum has a different altitude to your own but I think the most important things are deciding who's going to let go and expecting to need to pull to unhook it off yer back bottom.
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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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snowbunny, talking about draglifts again... cue Caspar 
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You know it makes sense.
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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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When we just HAD to make a lift connection my friend and I got wiped out and thrown off of the drag going over from Zermatt to Cervinia - we had to make the lifts at Champoluc. His harness got caught by the tee-bar and he was dragged up a before he could turn himself round and get ree. If you have ever tried to pull the drag in you will know how tough that is and takes an awful lot of strenght/luck. Anyway, we had to ski down and start again but it made a mess of his webbing as it caught him buy the leg holsters...
So this poor girl very probably would not have been able to free herself
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Poster: A snowHead
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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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rungsp, it sounds awful, and if your daughter is not put off for life, she's a brave girl. It shouldn't need a degree in engineering and 20 years experience in the Highlands, just to ride a lift.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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easiski, now that sounds like a mean t-bar.... I'm hard pressed to even see a path underneath the current Innerwengen!
eng_ch, I don't twist and turn to get off a t-bar anymore. It is much easier to grab the bar right beside you and just push it away from you (slightly steering to the side with the skis off course), after which you can gently let it go (should make the scottish happy too)
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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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Ronald, I find the curvy bit hooks round my side to far to be able to do that - in any case, it sounds to me like either way entails lengthening the cable that's under tension
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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Ronald, I find the curvy bit hooks round my side to far to be able to do that - in any case, it sounds to me like either way entails lengthening the cable that's under tension
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This thread has made me exceptionally glad that in all my time skiing, I've never even seen a t-bar! I have no problems with button drag-lifts at all, actually quite like them if the scenery is good and my legs/feet aren't hurting.
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My son Sam kept on getting hooked up on the t-bar at Sheffield. The bar turned as he came off it and the end went up under his coat and he was dragged along until someone stopped the lift - as they always did. We changed him to an all in one, and that solved the problem.
The ski club rep we skied with at Kitzbuhel wouldn't allow Sam up a t-bar alone, he has also heard of children getting caught when releasing.
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FAQ
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