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Any bad experiences on T-Bars?

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Is there anything more annoying than those god forsaken things, it's all right when your with another skier but whenever I get to one everyone in the line is 5'6" and with me being over 6' I'm left on my own, I once could not get it behind me correctly and was left grabbing onto it with both arms! Mad

Give me a button lift or, better yet, a chairlift anyday. Smile
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Buttock height compatibility is certainly a pre-requisite.
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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?
There's certainly an easily-underestimated amount of skill required to have a comfortable ride on a t-bar. At least they don't freeze the passenger to the same extent as an open chairlift.
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Try standing on the back of your partners ski just as you grab the T-bar. I did that once in Saalbach, and after she'd picked herself up, I got a very icy stare snowHead
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
It's a mis-guided notion that they are easier to use on your own, you need two people to balance it. Thing is, you need to know how to ride them. I was given good advice by my instructor in Zermatt - push your co-rider with your shoulder, this brings your skis away from your co-rider's (sorry, don't know how this relates to boards) and once your inside boots stop colliding life is much easier. Of course, a stranger who doesn't speak your language might not appreciate the reason for the push Confused

My very first T-bar ride (1988 Waidring village) was a hoot. 12 of us in the ski school going up in pairs. Half way up one couple fell off but were unable to clear the path. The liftie didn't notice the problem until another four of us had been towed into the mayhem. Then skis off, we had to struggle through deep powder & trees to get back to the piste. snowHead Laughing snowHead
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Can't stand them...always ride alone, as whenever I've tried to duet I end up falling off!! The balance thing is easily sorted by pushing down on the empty bar.

Ever been dragged up a T-bar with the point stuck in your inner thigh? I have...I don't recommend it! Fantastic bruise though!
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Saas Fee has the mother of all t-bars on the glacier. 11 pylons about 10 minutes transit time. The pain in your thighs is considerable by the time you get to the end - creative swearing can be used to get you through the final 200 yards... Twisted Evil
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
That's how snowboarders go up all the time snowHead
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Ian Hopkinson wrote:
Saas Fee has the mother of all t-bars on the glacier. 11 pylons about 10 minutes transit time. The pain in your thighs is considerable by the time you get to the end - creative swearing can be used to get you through the final 200 yards... Twisted Evil


Shocked

I went on a T-Bar (thankfully with another skier!) which took about 8 minutes in Kitzbuhel but that was mainly due to it stopping quite alot, my legs felt like they would drop any second! Sad

Thank god I'm going to Fernie next year, nearly all chairlifts! Smile
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Should the title of this thread not read "Any GOOD experiences on T-Bars?" !!! Crying or Very sad
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
As I have already said in another thread - being on a T-bar in high winds when the cable comes off the runner is a very strange feeling. Dared not turn round just in case I caught an edge but was expecting to reverse over another skier and bust my knees at any moment.

Good T-bar experiences ...... once saw a young Austrian ski racer mount a T-bar by skiing uphill just ahead of the T-bar then dropping back gently to perch on the empty place next to his friend. Cool
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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.
I publicly apologise to Mr H for teaching him a few new choice words whilst we went up the Mother of All T-Bars in Saas Fee. Embarassed
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 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
Sharon Hopkinson, good to see Ian's let you have access to the computer Wink
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
I had to bite his ankle though! Twisted Evil
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Have to say, never been on a T-bar &, judging by this thread, never want to be. I'd rather walk!!
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Peter B wrote:
Try standing on the back of your partners ski just as you grab the T-bar. I did that once in Saalbach, and after she'd picked herself up, I got a very icy stare snowHead


............ and a few choice words if I remember correctly PB - Not watching what you are up to is the real reason this happened - I have witnesses even though they were 14 &11 years old - they'll back me up or Ali will!!!! It was a Paddington stare actually!! --- and you tripped me up at the top of the chuffing thing by standing on my ski's too even though you'd never admit it.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Heres a little story I told before in a previous life, but think deserves another airing. snowHead

Its my first weeks skiiing. About middle of the week, and we're just getting able to get about a bit. The class by now down from about 17 to 8. Fairly gentle drag up, but its snowing quite heavily, so theres all sorts of loose sticky stuff about, which really doesnt help learner skiers. Me and Debbie possibly about the bestest of the group. We go first up on the Tee bar together. Several stops on hte way up, people falling off all over the place. Get to the top, I go off to the left, and presumably push the tee bar to the right. Debs fails to get off (probly should have left first) The right side sticky out bit of the tee somehow hooks behind her left knee and down she goes. But the tee bar is still there, and it drags her forwards. It now catches in the back between the ski and her ankle. drag, drag, drag and up up up. Her legs and back bottom are now off the ground. still it goes on, shes totally off the ground hanging from an ankle. Shocked

Whack, as her back and head smack into the wooden fence designed to stop the tee bars swinging round and round and getting tangled in the winding gear. Up and over she goes, and by now shes dangling under the big winding wheel, about to do a 180 degree turn and start going back down the hill. Just as she comes out the far side of the wheel, the ski hits a bit of the frame, and the binding releases. Plop. Down goes Debbie onto her head, and crumples to a heap in the snow. At last, they stop the drag. Me and another in our class (a nice nursey from London, whose name has gone for the moment) go to pick her up. Shes all trembly and shaking and crying. We try to comfort her, expecting Teach to be up soon to check her out and know what to do, etc. But no Teach. wait around getting cold for about 20 mins. Debs is getting over it, but still in a bit of a state. Teach turns up eventually. Shes been sorting out a disaster further down the drag. An other girlie in group (dim giggly blond thing, with a tight white slightly see through all in one skisuit, probly from Essex) has fell from the drag and broken her ankle. or leg. So teech was sorting that out.
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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?
A quick saftey tip for future!!! ski straight pass these deadly man/womantraps at all costs accepting last resort only! desighed by local's for their amusment,please note webcam direct to all bars in resort!!
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T-Bars are a nightmare when your skiing with small children Sad

With the child's skis between yours, child resting against your knees, it seems fine for the first km or so, assuming the child gets the idea of keeping their skis in line with yours. The trouble is your usually on the T-Bar on your own (plus child) in these cases, so you have to grip tightly to stop the Bar slipping. By the end of a day's skiing where may kms of T-Bars are involved, your arms feel like their about to fall off. This is not helped by the resorts that think building a T-Bar up a virtually vertical slope is a good idea. Perhaps a black, red, blue grading system for T-Bars would be good. I wonder how many black and red T-Bar would get rapidly replaced by chair-lifts Question
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
beanie wrote:


............ and a few choice words if I remember correctly PB - Not watching what you are up to is the real reason this happened - I have witnesses even though they were 14 &11 years old - they'll back me up or Ali will!!!! It was a Paddington stare actually!! --- and you tripped me up at the top of the chuffing thing by standing on my ski's too even though you'd never admit it.


I deny all responsibility whatsoever, and the evidence of a minor is inadmissible Exclamation Laughing



Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Tue 17-02-04 16:51; edited 1 time in total
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Again, a story I've told elsewhere....

At Birg (bottom of Schilthorn run, Murren) there is an especially evil T-bar, as it is nbear vertical and is the only way back up from several blue runs, without skiing a black down into the village. It's not in anyway suitable for beginners. Still you always get them....usually British rolling eyes
The other problem is that parts of the run are not visible from the lift station.

The first pair has nearly reached the top when they came off, sliding vertically, back down the track. They wiped out the next 4 pairs, before the lift attendant stopped the T-bar. Still they slid down, taking out another couple. I jumped out of the way, while my buddie held onto the T. I just avoided being taken out, and managed to get back onto the lift, before waiting 20 mins for it to restart Crying or Very sad
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
It's atrade off, whenever buttocks height is not compatible. I usually take one of those with either one of my sons..so the bar is right behind my knees, or mid tight.
I endure and manage.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I've never had a bad experience with a T-bag. In fact, I've even shared them from time to time with no discomfort.
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Never experienced one and not exactly looking forward to it, from all experiences above. Thanks Exclamation
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I used them for the first time at Aviemore and just about managed but most of the ones I used were not very steep.
I can never understand why they dont use poma's which are much easier.
These days I always check on the lift situation before booking to a resort as I really dont fancy getting stuck in one where you have to use them.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Pomas are easier, but only have half the uplift capacity of a T-bar.
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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.
For anyone interested, the invention of the T bar is attributed to Ernest Constam, a Zurich engineer who originally designed something called a 'J bar'. It all happened in Davos in 1934 (the J bar), converted to a T bar two years later.

I visited an Austrian resort some years back where every single lift was a T bar. It was somewhere near Salzburg, and for some reason its name has completed vanished from my mind. Not sure if it was part of the tourist industry or the torture industry.

Question: is anyone anywhere still building them? I think Elizabeth's right, that the capacity is greater than a Poma, but not double because a Poma runs at higher speed.
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 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
Our instructor at Saas Fee seemed to think the t-bar was an entirely reasonable way of moving around the mountain; chair lifts, on the other hand, he thought were the work of the devil...

Saas Fee run a poma and a t-bar in parallel to the base station of the Felskinn cable car and a either 2 pomas and a t-bar or a poma and 2 t-bars up the nursery slope. No problems with queuing over New Year - except when the t-bars stopped for people falling off!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Whistler a couple of years back.
If you've been, you'll know the T-bars on Blackcomb glacier. The one which goes up to the hut (and let's you ski over to 7th Heaven) has a steep (and frequently icy) top section.
One of the guys I was skiing with was known as "Big Andy", he isn't the thinnest person you'll ever meet. He was sharing the T with another gentleman of similar proportion. As they were going up the steep pitch near the top, the bar broke.
Thankfully Andy has skiied in Scotland before, and knows how to ski icy pitches, and managed to get under control quickly. The other guy took out 3 or 4 Ts lower down the slope before stopping.
Neither was seriously hurt.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Here's how to get on a T bar if you're unfortunate enough to be trying to get on one while sliding around on an ironing board.

The photo is helpfully provided by the Chinese Taipei Ski Association if you need any further guidance and can read Chinese text.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Hint for boarders (yes there are some here) if you ride regular - 'dress to the right' and visa-versa. I have an acquaintance who ruptured a teste (and had to have it removed) and the blood drained from his scrote. I’ll try to get him to post the pics. Given the choice, I’d rather walk than be dragged! Then there’s adductor cramp!!!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Masque, I presume you mean male boarders? Wink
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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?
Don't try too hard to get him to post thoses pics. Please.
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Elizabeth B, I think the guy WAS a male boarder. I thought about posting the story of Lucie, who had an interesting way of riding a T-bar, and she never had any problems getting off... Shocked Embarassed
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
RichardB wrote:
Thank god I'm going to Fernie next year, nearly all chairlifts! Smile


Actually, there is one T-bar, but it's about the most forgiving one I've been on. The chairlifts are a bit slow and cold though, wrap up well. (The place badly needs some high speed or at least covered lifts).

J2R
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As a boarder I find it difficult to see how skiers can complain about T bars.

At least skiers get the bar behind both thighs/buttocks - well ok, usually.

However, one good thing about the burning pain and total awareness of the bruise that's developing is that it takes your mind off the biting blizzard and the pedestrian speed.

Yeah, I've done that T bar at the top of Zermatt too...
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
There is only one good thing about T bars which is that they can be kept going in higher wind speeds than any other lift Very Happy

That said I can still remember an accident that occured over 20 years agoon a t bar, whilst going up a particularly steep and evil drag called Salzegg near Wengen I watched as a large adult, a couple of positions in front of me came off his bar and slid down the slope before coliding with the child in front of me, fortunately the lifties saw what had happened and hit the emergency stop straight away so Idid'nt ski into them,unfortunately for the kid in front of me who was part of my class in ski school the skier who hit them broke both the kids legs just above the boot line at least one break was a compound fracture with the bone projecting out of the leg and ski pant causing the snow to turn a lovely shade of pink, luckily the rescue people got to the kid within a couple of mins and took him off, at high speed, but I can still recall the kids screams and remember having to carry on up the lift when they restarted it actually leaving a trail of blood behind my skis as I skied over the accident area, the chap who slid off got away with a severe case of shock, I've never been back on that t bar since Crying or Very sad
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Stephen Sadler, you're right, Aviemore is very keen on T-bars. I'd guess it has something to do with what Mr Orf says - they can keep going in higher winds. However, they're all fairly flat - especially those on the beginner areas above top station. In fact, perhaps everyone should go to Aviemore as a beginner, since they're a pretty good introduction to "easy" T-bars. You also learn how to ski backwards uphill, but that's another story!

Do recall some carnage on the T-bar running up past Gunbarrel this year though. More carnage on the T-bar itself than the actual gunbarrel!
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Masopa
Yes their are plenty of "easy" ones but their are some snotters as well, given the amount of time T bars are stopped because they are so difficult then pomas must rule.
Having said that I did my knee ligaments on a poma in Selva a couple of years ago when I got it stuck on my salopettes when dismounting.
Because of the slow speed my bindings didnt kick in until after I actualy heard my knee pop - not nice.
I still hate T-bars though.
Off to Breckenridge on Weds and don't expect to see many if any of them. Smile
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Bad experiences? Not exactly 'bad', but I was standing next to a snooty-looking fur-clad woman in a huge queue for the T-bar on the Les Alpes glacier one summer. When it was our turn I moved into position but she shouted at me to go back, saying that she would not take the lift with anyone else. I just had time to dive out of the way as the T-bar arrived. The liftie and I were amazed. Bl**dy Parisiennes!
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