Chairlift technique

A snowHead

little tiger posted the following advice on another thread:

A snowHead

Hurtle, I ski with my backpack as well a dakine helipro small sized one with food extra jumper and a shovel...it depends on the lift. sometimes I unclip and swing it around so its on my front for the lift or just risk it. I strangely never had your concern about the clips but I do know what you mean...just make sure they are all clipped on and secured and you should be fine!

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

I always place my hand on the thigh of the person to my right and push off. this helps me stand up and also ensures I am first onto the off ramp.

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Frosty the Snowman, Laughing

the_aliasskier,

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You should take your backpack off, wear it on your chest.

or, before you think about de-lifting, check you're not attached to the chair!

Some lifties won't let you on if you've got a backpack on.

But with regards getting off a chair lift; I carry poles in one hand, stand up and push off with the other, and try to move away from the midline quickly. I used to avoid sharing chairs with boarders if I could, especially on chairs serving easy pistes.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Hurtle, Get yourself a new backpack, you will get well fed up keep taking it on and off for the chairs, if you get a small one with no straps not only will you be able to leave it on, on the chair (if you are careful) but also it will discourage taking too much stuff, plus it will not mess up your balance.
The BCA stash 16 lt with hydrator and just big enough for a shovel, is good.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Hurtle, Its a good pack Very Happy

hmm yeh well I mean the ones used for securing the board and stuff in the outer pocket just leave them in there and for the waist straps wrap the dangling ends around so its all secure (hope you get what I mean) so its secure and then make sure the cross carry strap at the top is closed... other than that I have quite happily just kept the waist strap on - undone the chest strap and swivelled it onto the front as doctor_eeyore, says some lifties will not let you but others are less bothered...with a full pack though my nerves on a small chair are falling off just before getting to the top Shocked

After all it is free

Hurtle - from my limited experience, most problems with beginners seem to be with them trying to get off the chair too quickly, rather than too late. One of the tips I was taught last year was to get the beginners with me to wait until their skis touched the snow, count to three with them and then stand up. That way the skis have properly settled before anyone tries to stand up on them.

100% success rate. Ok. 99.99%. I'm ignoring the Timmy "incident"... rolling eyes

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I have the BCA Stash 16 litre. I don't often bother taking it off unless the chairlift is very cramped - some of the older ones are, but all the modern 4- and 6-pack chairs I use have plenty of room for a compact backpack. I don't think I've ever been told by a liftie to remove my pack, but making sure you have no loose straps and clips is very sensible (as I know to my embarrassment).

For getting off chairs I just stand up - is anything else needed?

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

PhillipStanton, I am glad you have said this. One of the problems I have often encountered with newbie skiers is a kind of 'pre-dismount panic', where they keep trying to wriggle to the very front of the chair and reach their feet down to the snow before they need to. Is pointless and doesn't help, plus actually is more likely to wobble the chair around needlessly when everyone else is trying to get ready to dismount.

I have always told any newbies skiing with me to wait...wait...wait... let skis hit the floor, and then wait...wait...wait... and just stand up. No fuss needed.

The irony is they often seem to think I am being deliberately thrill-seeking by not rushing to leap off the chair the minute I have passed the last lift pylon.

D

If sharing the lift with children always explain that should they plant a pole between your skis when they get off then you will beat them to death with a large aluminium snow shovel.

You know it makes sense.

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

Hurtle, I think the technique for getting on and off chairlifts depends a bit if the lift is "high-speed" - in which case it slows down considerably at both pick up and set down - or old-fashioned.

The old fashioned ones sometimes arrive in a bit of a hurry so I tend to turn and try and take some of the impact of the seat off with my free hand.

The first time I ever went on an express chair (1988 Meribel) I didn't know that it was going to slow down at the top as well, so expecting to be thrown off as usual I ended up nearly sitting down but saved myself with my right hand - dislocating my middle finger - skied out of the way slowly whimpering and put it back. It hurt for months afterwards especially if squashed against adjacent fingers - in my job, this was a particular problem when examining ladies Shocked

A snowHead

brian

The best one used to be the old Hillend chairlift top station. There was no downramp and obviously no nice slidy snow, just a carpet. So both skiers had to waddle off to the side, naturally both pushing the chair in the way of their companion. Frequent carnage ensued wink

They've spoiled it now by building in a dendix downramp.

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

PhillipStanton,

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

brian, I'd forgotten about that. What rubbish!! Laughing

You'll need to Register first of course.

A friend at work suffered an incident when disembarking from a chairlift last season. I'm still not clear on how she managed it but I think her skis got crossed and somehow caught up with someone else's. She ended up under the chair. The result was a bloodwagon ride home with a fractured tibia and lots of ligament damage to the knee. She is still hobbling around with a really bad limp despite months of treatment. I don't think she'll be skiing again any time soon Sad

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Hurtle, the other thing you need to do if wearing a backpack is MIND YOUR HEAD! The backpack ensures that you sit further forward on the seat, which may mean that you are in the "flight path" of the safety bar.

After all it is free

Crikey, one of the reasons I started this thread (apart from taking the opportunity to pose my own backpack question) was that I thought it might be helpful for inexperienced skiers. I never thought of people rolling out horror stories with which to scare them!

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

I suspect a large fraction of Skiing accidents happen getting off the lift, I like the "count to three" idea but not so sure about the "hand on the thigh" technique. I take back the get a new backpack comment the heli pro small is nice pac.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

There are other ways of getting off a chairlift, this for example:

snow reports

Hurtle,

Hurtle, Heli pro is a great pack, but some of the straps need shortening or stowing inside. I wear mine on 90% of the chairs I go on, sometimes sitting down at an initial oblique angle. The main problem is that it puts my head and helmet an inch or two further forwards leading to a CLONK as the bar goes down sometimes.

You know it makes sense.

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

A snowHead

Thinking back to when I was a complete beginner all problems getting off a chair lift were due to

1) A degree of apprehension about the unknown

2) Reading comments like the above(not getting away quick enough so hit by the chair lift as it swings back round, falling over and getting smacked in the head, the embarassment of missing your stop, straps caught, etc) hence many beginners hurry the dismount and create problems.

3) A lack of skiing ability, some of the dismount areas will look extremely steep for some total beginners even though they are very short run-offs.

A snowHead

brian, Now be serious for a mo. I am REAlly worried about taking my very wriggly, extremely vertically challenged son on a chairlift when we go to Italy. Do you think a trip to Hillend would be worthwhile to try it out?

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

pam w,

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Great thread Hurtle, er..... I think Puzzled

Given that I've never ridden a chair with skis on, is there ever any problems associated with wind catching your skis or even board as you sit there or are they not big enough for that. I understand some lifts are ridden for quite some time and I guess it could get windy, are you likely to lose a ski in the middle of a lift and not be able to retrieve it for any reason, or will bindings always cope with a tugg from a gust of wind.? My childrens skis are never that firmly attached to their boots are can be quite easy to tweek off.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Megamum, I've never known wind to be a problem on a chairlift. The only exception is after too much of the excellent lentil salad at Bel Air in Courchevel! wink

You'll need to Register first of course.

Elizabeth B,

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

rob@rar, If you come over to Montalbert peak season on a Tuesday night you can take part in the chairlift rescue demonstration as per your picture (of course the chair is full for the demo) also includes a demo of Zipwiring from pylon to chair Very Happy

After all it is free

I have never had a problem with the wind apart from getting cold. Skis coming off on the lift is fairly rare and is generally, either; the skis not being not on properly, or people knocking their skis together for some reason, usually to drop snow on people below which is funny, dropping a ski on them is not.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Help!!

Chairlift technique

snowHeads Forum Index >>> Bend ze Knees