Child chairlift safety device

A snowHead

Rather than the current safety devices to stop children falling off chairlifts, one of the group I'm skiing with suggested that children could wear helmets that are big enough to stop them sliding out under the bar. Any thoughts? Should we try and patent the idea? It would negate the need for the additional safety features, like the bar between the legs, that make them uncomfortable for adults.

Of course, this might just be a windup.

A snowHead

It's A Knockout style animal heads

Here come the Belgians....

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

How big are we talking here???

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Photoshop up an advert, publish it in two weeks time.

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A good way to get a neck injury I'd say!

Both the extra weight of the helmet and the pull if it did indeed stop said ankle biter sliding out..

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I have always wondered about child safety on lifts. It freaks me out every time the kids go on the lift and when we went to baqueria only one lift in the whole resort had a safety device. That then got me thinking how often do kids fall off the lifts and given the through put of the lift system it has to be a really rare event.

I still think that the child stop is really important and I think it such an easy add on to all the lifts it should be mandatory. Why is it not a thing?

After all it is free

Who cares? They bounce when they are that age wink

@sugarmoma666, This must be a wind up.

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So what's better? A child falling off a chair lift or dangling from the chairlift from their helmet strap?

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My youngest had a chairlift incident in Les Gets when she was 7, she's 22 now so lived to tell the tale Very Happy

Beeing quite small for her age and having a love for speed and absolutely no fear she decided once to try and launch herself from a chairlift as it hit the landing ramp area to try and get an advantage heading down. She mis-judged it rather badly and instead of flying off down the piste she landed and suddenly went backwards under the chair and onto a net! The landing area was quite a peak, she jumped to early...

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You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I have a picture of my daughter on her first chairlift, aged 3, in shorts and t-shirt (not child cruelty, it was Summer...). It was an old style 2 man non-detachable chairlift (the one to the top of Mont Cherie in Les Gets, 22 years ago). She looks so vulnerable, nothing at all to stop her just sliding off the seat. I remember holding onto her very tightly!
Somehow they don't seem quite as vulnerable when they are all padded out in ski gear?

A snowHead

A snowHead

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@sugarmoma666, you propose trading the slightly uncomfortable (it's never bothered me) wedgie bar, for supersize helmets? What about the parent sitting between 2 kids, does their head get squashed?! Laughing

Or maybe the idea is that the helmet is clattered by the bar as it comes over, folding the kids in half so they are jammed under the bar and there's no space to fall out? That would avoid the strangulation-on-falling issue. I like it, the idea has legs... wink

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Presumably the parachute rip cord would be tied to the chin strap, so no manual intervention is required to deploy the chute?

After all it is free

This whole line of thought is ridiculous - do you know how long it takes for a parachute to deploy sufficiently to arrest a fall?

What we need is something quick deploying and durable - let's take inspiration from another extreme sport - Zorbing. If the child were encased in a clear-plastic inflatable bubble, we would have a much higher success rate! Granted there maybe be some unintended consequences in mountainous terrain...

@mgrolf, either that or could attach the parachute static line to the chair lift itself, as a more robust anchor point, although remembering to detach it when arriving. This may of course slow down en-bussing and de-bussing from each chair, but everyone will understand. I mean think of the children!

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Anything is a small price to pay relative to the abomination that is the Kid-Stop so called because of its contraceptive effect on the knackers.

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I remember listening to a SH tell the story of hanging onto her son who had slipped under the bar, hanging onto him over high ground and then dropping him, exhausted over lower ground. He broke his leg.

Terrifying listen.

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Perhaps instead of the ginormous helmets there can be a motion detection device that immediate inflates a space hopper under the child, so not only will they be safe, they can have a lot of fun on the descent back down

When using the automatic self belaying system at indoor climbing walls the wearing of helmets is banned. Apparently they can get caught and stangle the poor climber.

You know it makes sense.

@Whitters, +1

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@TheYeti, I take your point and I was going to suggest some sort of inertial reel system as back up to the parachute if the distance to fall is too low to deploy the parachute, similar to those that can be used was escaping high rise buildings. Although then you would either need to have a quick release to prevent the child being dragged along the ground by the still moving chair or to be able to (automatically?) stop the chair when this system was deployed. But this maybe put paid to that

A snowHead

Massive helmet? Nah - but a quick release clamp that goes over the safety bar and acts like a portable version of the nut cracker on the kids side of the chairlift could work.

A snowHead

Where can I get one of these for my next trip to Japan?

The "pizza box" lift in Niseko scared the beejeezus out of me!
A tiny one person flat "seat" with no backrest, no safety bar of any kind, no footrest....not fun!

Help!!

Child chairlift safety device

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