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Rucksacks

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I've just picked up on the 'where do you keep your camera' thread, that when wearing a rucksack it's compulsory(?)/advisable to take it off on ski lifts (chairs) - for understandable reasons. Not having used one before, but now the proud owner of a Deuter AC Lite 20 (very fetching in powder blue), I'd like to know how best to carry it on chairs. I have enough trouble getting off chairs at the top and need lots of concentration not to fall off or over, and to hang onto my poles and avoid fellow chair sitters. Anyone got some advice?
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Follow my wife's policy - keep it on someone elses back (mine in Yvonne's case!)
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It depends on the rucksac. A reasonably small one (Mine is 25Litres) shouldn't give you problems with chairlifts. The only time I have ever taken mine of for a lift was if I wanted to get at something inside it. It has never got caught on anything, but if it did, I would just shrug out of it without any hesitation.

I have never known anybody else I have skied with to take off any rucksac they have been wearing either. Including a couple of other snowHead
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Quote:

It depends on the rucksac

It also depends on the chairlifts, some are very unbalanced if you are shoved even a little forward. I take mine off on almost all lifts. Nothing to do with chairlifts, but one thing to watch out for is that some of the narrow high backed rucksacks, otherwise very good, can make contact with a helmet. Mine is fine in normal ski positions but not in a schuss - or rather, it's OK in a schuss as long as I look at the ground instead of watching where I am going (which tilts the head back in relation to the spine, obviously). It was a disconcerting discovery and I stood up smartish. So maybe if you wear a helmet it would be worth trying out rucksacks before buying, to check you can get into a schuss position...
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I've only got a small camelbak rucksack, which I never take off on lifts. I did find however that I was getting a bad back from not sitting comfortably on the lift (especially when it's full of everyone else's sandwiches Mad ).
My usual way of getting off lifts is to perch as far forward as I can to get off relatively late and not have to use my thighs to stand up and therefore in getting into this position I can check I'm not caught on anything.
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Quote:

schuss position

Puzzled

A tuck?
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Quote:

I have enough trouble getting off chairs at the top and need lots of concentration not to fall off or over, and to hang onto my poles and avoid fellow chair sitters. Anyone got some advice?

I think the advice of keeping it on someone else's back is an excellent one! Smile

When I do carry a rucksack, I collect all the loose straps and stuff them into my one hand (usually right hand) and carry BOTH poles in my other hand half way down the shaft. That way, I get to "pole" with my left hand (both poles) and that helps me to stand up from the chair.

If I'm sitting at the end of the chair, it's easier because I can just jab my elbow at the vertical peice of the chair and propel me forward off the chair.
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Megamum wrote:
Quote:

schuss position

Puzzled

A tuck?


Yes.

Schussing is when you head in a straight line down the piste, usually in the tuck position.
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Martin Nicholas wrote:
Follow my wife's policy - keep it on someone elses back (mine in Yvonne's case!)


Thats exactly my policy too Toofy Grin
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noggy, I always where a rucksack. I usually leave it on, but alternatively I might wear it backwards (i.e. straps over my shoulders but with the pack at my front) as that keeps me evenly balanced and leaves my hands free.
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Thanks all. Conflicting advice, but useful nonetheless! If I wear it at the front, I wonder if I'll be able to lower the bar! Embarassed We'll see!
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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.
Sometimes you are asked by the lift staff to remove it though.
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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
It is quite often a requirement in Canadian resorts to take your rucksack off when on the lift and we have been asked to do so by lifties. As to how best to hold it/dismount - that's the OH's job wink but I think he tends to just cradle it whilst seated and then loop it over one shoulder to ski off. Which probably defeats the point of taking the rucksack off Madeye-Smiley
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Depends on what is in it.... a pretty full pack of 16ltrs upwards will force you onto the front of the chair and then it is a question of if you are comfortable there. If the queue is small and the chairs are not fully loaded, I'll wear it and take up more seating room....but if a 4-6 man is loaded fully..as it should be if a large queue, I'll have the pack over one shoulder, so I can whip it off when sitting down. And in the case of a fully loaded chair, the lifties will probably want/tell you to take it off.

It only takes a few seconds to attend to a pack anyway. I carry 20 ltrs and pack to about 15ltrs max...if I can.

Dakine make some of the best day packs for ease of use and comfort..with out too many dangly bits to get caught up, IMV
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I only wear a small pack (16 litres) and have never been asked to remove it. I occasionally take it off if it is a very small chairlift, but most modern chairs seem to have enough room for a small pack and still be able to sit comfortably. Care can be needed when pulling the bar down as the pack will force you a bit further forward, and may leave your head in the path of the bar as you lower it.

A long time ago the strap of my pack caught on a chair as I skied away from it. At first I didn't know what was pulling me backwards as I tried to exit, but it soon yanked me sideways and down as the chair (somewhere in Val d'Isere IIRC) started it's return journey down the hill. Fairly promptly I was being dragged headfirst on my chest, trying to wriggle out of the pack. Fortunately (?) I involuntarily headbutted the safety bar (that would normally catch skiers' feet if they fail to get off the chair), the whole lift stopped and the liftie deigned to come out of his hut to shout at me. I ended up with a bruise and a lesson learned. Now I make sure there are no errant straps to get caught in the chair Embarassed
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
The only time I ever had a rucksack strap catch on to the chair was when I took it off (which I do only rarely).

The lift operator slowed the chair down and I managed to get the rucksack off, but it was a fun couple of seconds.

Of course, you can let go and then ski down faster than the chairlift, so you can wait for it at the bottom.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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My rucsac is 50L which is a little on the large size for day skiing. Its big enough to get my jacket, video camera, hydration system, helmet, poles etc in, but 30L should normally be plenty for day skiing. The advantge of a bigger rucsac is that it will compress into a smaller size. The reverse is not however true !

So far If not had any problems but if it is full ish the safety bar can get pulled down onto my head as I'm sat quite a way forward on the chair. It can also be a bit scary at the top if the bar is lifted early and I'm teetering on the edge Laughing
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
I pretty much always ski with a pack and am the kind of klutz who finds it difficult to f@rt and chew gum at the same time. It really isn't difficult though to stick it on one shoulder before you go through the gate, stick it in your lap on the way up and carry it and your poles inseperate hands as you get off.
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I try to sit at one end of the chair so that I can sit at a slight angle and press pack into the corner keeping me away from the edge.
Used to just put the pack over one shoulder but the strap got caught in the lift seat once and left me swinging in mid air.
If I can't get an end seat I'll often hold on to the seat behind my butt with one hand.
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Quote:

It really isn't difficult though to stick it on one shoulder before you go through the gate, stick it in your lap on the way up and carry it and your poles inseperate hands as you get off.

T Bar, I think you and I feel comfortable enough to walk on our skis without using poles. So it's not a big fuss to carry the two poles in one hand and the rucksack in the other. Appearently not everyone is equally comfortable moving about without the aid of poles.

My only thought is, for those who don't feel comfortable getting off the chair withouth one pole in each hand, minimize the stuff you carry so you don't have to fuzz with a rucksack. They make all those fancy big pockets in the ski jacket for a reason. Wink
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There seems to be a lot pf people in this thread that have taken their rucksack off for safety reasons and then got it stuck by a dangling strap Shocked The one thing I can guarantee when I'm wearing mine is that there are no loose straps.
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i carry a small 15 litre with a 1.5 litre water / bladder, some grubs and bits. doesn't normally cause me problems but tend to ensure no lose straps etc
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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 have a small Dakine heli pack, which is normally fine, though i find putting my helmet in the front section causes me to shift forwards quite a bit on lifts - which makes me uneasy pulling the bar up near the end. As of yet I've not been asked to take it off though.
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Quote:

i find putting my helmet in the front section causes me to shift forwards quite a bit on lifts - which makes me uneasy pulling the bar up near the end.

Why don't you carry the helmet on your head? Apart from anything else I have several times had a mighty clunk on my helmet when idiots pull the bar down too quickly without checking. Seeing some of the carnage when people fall off chairlifts, especially when a beginner boarder takes out a whole chair (being a beginner boarder I have every sympathy, by the way) wearing a helmet on a lift could also save a nasty bash from skis/boards/poles in a pile up.
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noggy, take off your rucksack or you'll be sitting slightly more forward in the seat The problem with that is someone will inevitably ram the safety bar down on your head in, repeatedly, wondering why it won't go down as it bounces off your head! Skullie
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I have never been asked to take my pack off but I leave the waist strap done-up and swing it around to the front. I still need to have a hand on it to stop it flopping down when I get off but it is much easier and I think more likely to be the undone waist strap that dangles down and catches in the seat.
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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 once jumped out of a helicopter and got my Forces issue backpack caught - not fun. Evil or Very Mad
strangely tho' have never caught my helipack on a ski lift whilst exiting !!! Laughing

there is a moral there - Royal Marines take note !
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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
The only time I have had my pack get caught in the lift is the times when the liftie has told me to take it off, if I'm wearing the pack normally it never gets caught.
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