 Poster: A snowHead
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Following on from the thread about the different kinds of ski lift and the mention of drag lifts brought back memories of our last trip to Sauze Doulx.
On the third day I persuaded my wife that we should ski over to Sansicario and the trip would involve a couple of draglifts. We duly got to the bottom of one which had a sign stating that this was for expert skiers as the incline was in places 60 degrees and it also had a sharpish bend in it.
I actually failed to read this the first time around, I got it the second, and the third as each time my wife fell off at various points.
Of course, being the gentleman that I am and not being prepared for the grief if I didn't, I jumped off as well.Of course, getting off is only the beginning as you then somehow have to get back to the piste and ski back down to the bottom for another try.
In our case it was third time lucky.
The only problem was that on our return, we found that the only way back was down the black run that ran along side the "black" draglift.
Having managed to get her down that in about 40 minutes, her nerve had gone but we had to then do another less evil draglift to get us back to the Sauze side.
We worked out that the success rate was improved by me carrying her poles, thereby giving her less to worry about.The last draglift of the day had another goody in store.
When she alighted off that one, the snow to the side was waist deep so trying to walk was impossible.We both had our initiation to trying to ski on soft deep snow.How the hell do you turn in that stuff.
I eventually pointed my skis straight forward, lent back a bit and kept going straight.
The second worst has to be the T bar in Schladming that acted like an anchor under caught under somebodys jacket on getting to the top.Not my wifes, thank god !
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The Voie Lactee (milky way or Via Lattea) has some horrible drags.
In Montgenevre the Belier drag is awful, i fell off it this year. Its like being ripped up the mountain, managed to holdf on for about 50m before i fell off. It was relatively easy to get back to the piste.
Other ones in the area which look awful are Crete and 3 Fourneous, which I havent tried because they are extremely steep and have sudden bends.
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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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The downhill one in ischgl is horrible "E5"
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There's a T-bar in Zermatt along a glacier, I think, which links you back over to Cervinia. We couldn't bear the queues for the cable-car so took the T-bar. It's pretty exposed to the wind and I think my hands/bollocks nearly froze off  . And of course, for the longest, coldest T-bar, I get stuck with my sister who's alot shorter than me so the backs of my legs got a battering:x
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The first time I came across a T-Bar was on a free ski week-end in Saalbach/Hinterglemm provided by a holiday company, as at the time we had a group of about 40 people skiing, so we quite often got free trips to look at resorts. I'd only skied for 2 weeks and we were skiing with a resort guide, who I think was actually a ski instructor. As a first T-bar it looked daunting, but give it a go I thought.
It was very steep, or seemed so at the time, and it was sheet ice all the way with steep banks at either side. The inevitable happened and I fell off, but with the steep banks I couldn't get off the track and started sliding down. I was desparately trying to stop the slide using my skis but just went faster and faster. The next thing I saw was a pair of ski boots just before my head hit them. It all went a bit hazy after that, but when I came to I was hurtling down the track head first with skiers coming up the lift whizzing past me. Fortunately I eventually stopped at the bottom of the lift and the ski guide arrived to see if I was ok.
He gave the lift operators a real roasting and made them shut the lift until they had sent a piste basher up to make it safe, then he made me get back on the T-bar with him and we got up ok. If he hadn't done that I'm not sure I would have got on a T-bar again, but now I don't have a problem with them.
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La Masse, nr Les Menuires, 3V - it accesses a loverly black, which is an utter cinch compared to negotiating the drag lift that accesses it. 1, 2, then 3 vicious and violent tugs (I'm still talking about the lift) and up, hopefully, you go.
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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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There used to be a real nut-cracker Poma coming up from Samoens to Flaine.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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There was one in BKK, more years ago than I care to remember, that just went on and on and on and..... It wasn't steep or difficult but you lost the will to live before you got to the top !! 
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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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You know it makes sense.
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Fergus, I remember that one all too well - I too couldn't be bothered with the cable car so took the T ... are there actually two there one after the other to get you back to plateau Rosa? it/they were the longest coldest most boring drags I have ever been on by a factor of about 100 .... I've never seen anything else come close to the length of it/them!
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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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Serre Che has replaced many of it's viscious drags, but there are still one or two to surprise you.
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Poster: A snowHead
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My kids can ride pretty much any drag lift except the Eagle at Lecht and Butcharts at Glenshee. Both Poma's lift them off their feet for 50-100m. They sit there on the end of the button with feet and skis dangling and spinning around. They have no control over which way they are facing or when they are going to land ! Success rate is less than 25% and we only use them if we really really have too.
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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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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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don't know if this counts, but in about 1977 i was going up a t-bar with my sister in aviemore, and a bloke on his own in front of us fell, grabbed the t-bar, got dragged along, let go again and then the t-bar flew back at hin and the end stuck in his eye.claret everywhere and the pair or us absolutely terrified of t-bars from then on. thank god theres no t-bars in the alps. button tows seem much less aggressive.
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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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sequoiaboard, There a good few t-bars left in the Alps
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I remeber a T bar up quite a steep slope in Kitzbhul- me and my friend (who is about 2-3 times the size of me) fell off about 7 or 8 times before we were ok.
Zermatt - Trifti
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sequoiaboard, there are quite a few T bars in some parts of the alps. Austria in particular don't seem to have heard of button lifts 
I can't say I was too keen on the one up from the bottom of pistes 6 & 7 in Zell am Ziller this year. 1230m long, a rise of 309m (so an average of 1 in 4), but two downhill sections within that (so the uphill parts are rather steeper than 1 in 4).
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actually the worst T bar experience I've had was only three weeks ago. I decided it would be cool to go up with our youngest between my legs and our eldest along side me. Frosty the small one managed to get a ski twisted under him, I just leant down for a moment to get his ski back under us before it popped off and the next thing I knew I was attached to the T bar by one only one leg, and was on my backside, in the meantime our youngest son was sliding back down the hill, all very embarrassing as its only just steeper than the magic carpet in the kinder cub and this was made worse by my 6 year old looking down on me and saying "wot you doin dad, skiing on yer head???" Still don't quite know what happened 
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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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Hold on hold on...please tell me someone here as skied down to the Swiss border whilst in Livigno ??...basically you go to the top of the Carosello and instead of turning left to ski down through the forest back down to the village you turn right and ski all the way down...it's a beautiful run.....but the 30 minute drag lift back up is an experience NEVER EVER to be repeated.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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One of the worst/funniest I've done was the one that used to be at Birg at the bottom of the Schilthorn (Engertal). It was quite steep, and used by beginners sometimes. I once witnessed someone fall off and slide back down taking out the next 10 pairs of people. Fortunately no one was hurt too much, but I know at least one person who nearly wet themselves laughing!
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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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| Fergus wrote: |
| There's a T-bar in Zermatt along a glacier, I think, which links you back over to Cervinia. We couldn't bear the queues for the cable-car so took the T-bar. It's pretty exposed to the wind and I think my hands/bollocks nearly froze off . And of course, for the longest, coldest T-bar, I get stuck with my sister who's alot shorter than me so the backs of my legs got a battering:x |
God I hate that t-bar..
I'm a boarder and 'don't do T's / Pomas' - still we were having a nice lunch in Zermatt and then the weather turned, leg it back up the mountain only for the KM cable car to be closed. Oh Sugar said I (well something like that!!), now time for the t-bar...grr.. grr.. ok lets give it a go ok 100 yds up..getting trickier..help..oh sugar I'm going sideways..edge...edge and sugar I've fallen over and ripped the T off the bottom of the upright.
Board back down to the start and in somewhat of a lack of sense of humour moment I threw the t bit at the lift hut. Eventually my mates calmed me down and we gave it a second go with a mate riding alongside - he had to ride fakie so that it would work. What felt like 20 freezing cold minutes later we got to the top and I was a nervous wreck. Stopped for coffee at the restaturant with a toilet on top of the world, and then back down to red 7.
2 years on and I gave pomas a go on a recent trip to morzine..seemed ok as I'm know sliding more and trying to edge not at all. Will test this theory in st. Anton later in the year...
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Le Petit Prince in l'alpe d'Huez
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You know it makes sense.
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If that Saalbach drag is the one at the top of the Bachstaad lift oh the boredom only to be woken by a very steep run and then back to sleep! I hate drag lifts never fallen off one but I just really hate them and you always end up on it wiht someone twice your size or half your size
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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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Getting on a T-bar half way up the piste; how hard can that be?
I tried it once and I'd like to apologise once again to the boarder who was on the bar. Also sorry about the mobile phone you were on at the time, and sorry about the people you crashed into. Hope their camera equipment wasn't badly damaged!
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Poster: A snowHead
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Dazman that lift was replaced a few years ago... thankfully!!! Its now a super fast 5 or 6 person (cant remember)  lift really quick
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Somewhere above Igls, a rope pull that you had to grab hold of, virually impossible to get to top of without losing your grip on the knots !
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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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| Ordhan wrote: |
| the Bachstaad lift |
They all are, they all are...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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You lot are looking at this all the wrong way, the more ridiculous the drag lift the more hilarious the crashes at the bottom - saw a guy get catapulted a good 15 yards in Serre Chevalier once, I nearly wet myself, don't think he was quite so amused.
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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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Levart that may be same drag I was on at new year. Do the lifties do it on purpose? I was thrown so far forward off the ground that was threatened with never being able to wet myself naturally again
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Pretty much all the drag lifts at Glenshee - each one has a unique character of its own. I think the phrase "if you ski in scotland you can ski anywhere" could well be applied to the drag lifts at Glenshee. My particular favourite is Coire Fionn Poma 2 where you find yourself overtaking the poma just after the start. Good fun to watch peoples different techniques for dealing / not dealing with this.
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A quick snow plough to slow down worked for me . Glas Maol poma was a bit disapointing - hardly got any air on it yesterday. last time I was their it used to be a real bollock breaker. The Harrier poma used to be the 'best' for the take off at the beginning.
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Les Houches, last year. I had never actually seen a drag lift till then only having skied in Utah and Andorra. Tried the one on the nursery slopes at first and thought I had the hang of it, bare in mind this is by trial and error no instruction.
Then off to the slops proper, first couple lifts were ok then I skied down a red run that converged with an evil looking black and both of these used a drag that goes up through a forest back to the top. Hopped on and off I go, half way up at a kink and a severe incline I fall off. I can’t ski back down the line of snow the lift is using as it’s too narrow and the nearest piste the evil black run is about 80m wade though deep snow laden forest. It was only after 15 mins of wading through the snow I got to the edge of the run and out of the forest, my lungs were burning and I was running at about 45degC. Lucky I had a 1liter bottle of water with me I sat down in the snow hat off bottle of water took out of pocket laid it down to take off my gloves and it toppled over, I have never seen anything accelerate as quickly as it slid down the slope luckily it did not hit anyone.
Then have to ski down the black to get back on the same drag lift made it ok the second time.
The next day emboldened with fresh confidence I did exactly the same thing minus the water bottle bit.
It was not until Les Contamines this year someone pointed out to me what the red and green light are for shows the value of instruction really.
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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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FAQ
and never did get over - managed to get to the gondola just before it closed though. 
. Looking at the map it has been replaced with a chair now.....on sheet ice in a gale it was no fun, neither was the 30ft airborne initial tug either 
One of those which hurt your shins due to the angle of the slope and then felt like the button was going down your legs as you went from being kind of under the point where the arm joined the cable to it being miles out in front of you over the knoll.