 Poster: A snowHead
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Just back (literally!) from a fantastic 3 days in the Italian alps (2 in Pila and one in Gressoney).
One thing that really bugs me about lifts is:
1. Why do the "lifties" not insist that 4 people go on (if there is a 4 man chair), 6 people go on (if there is a 6 man chair), etc, etc...; especially when there is a huge queue. We were waiting at a 4 man chair in Pila over the weekend and 5 of the chairs went up with only one person in them and the queues were enormous.
I didn't pay for a lift pass to spend more time than is necessary waiting in queues.
2. Why do people, when they go through the barrier (the one that takes the lift pass, not the one just before you actually go on the chair) - why do people wait there for their friends, people they are skiing with, etc - I mean we are all going to meet at the top anyway. Considering that these areas are usually quite icy (lots of people on skis, boards, moving backwards and forwards, etc) accidents are very common.
Rant over...!
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 25-03-08 18:42; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I agree -
Also, why don't they do what they do in the States, and have a "singles" line - often the quickest way to get to the top when it's crowded
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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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I've seen singles lines in Europe, St Anton comes to mind, they are a good idea. On waiting for your friends, what's the problem? If I'm waiting I can move to one side until they move up the line. It's the only time I talk to my friends as once at the top I want to ski! Also some lifts take ages so it can be a boring journey without some conversation.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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And whilst we`re all being grumpy old gits -why don`t people queue in an orderly fashion in Europe ?
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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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Thirded. Although, as a frequent solitary skier (the memsahib chooses a less gnarly itinerary) being able to slip through groups of amiable ditherers is no problem. A singles line would be even better.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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pppft, man up the lot of you!! 
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The pass through then tw@t about waiting for friends / family / AOB is particularly irritating and seems more common in Italy than elsewhere...
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people who wait for there friends at the top of the lift near where people depart. When it is busy, it isn't pleasent to have dodge lots of skiiers putting on gloves etc.
Cant they just wait a little bit further away from the lift. This can cause lots of accidents when people out of control come off the lifts.
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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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jb1970, SO agree, on both counts.
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In N.America, when it's anything like busy, a liftie polices the line to ensure that all chairs and bubbles are full. Even without this, people are very couteous in queues, ensuring that any merging is done alternately and so on. It is very satisfactory when you're in the queue, and very unsatisfactory in Europe watching a 6 person chair set off with 2 people on it; I start ranting, to the embarassment of the kids (hooray). On the other hand, there is a sort of hideous voluntary conformity about the USA and to a lesser extent Canada (in general, not just on the slopes) which gets my back up. I guess I want it both ways.
I found St Anton to be much better this year both for queue jumping and filling up chairs than in the past, despite it being a half term week. Can't imagine why.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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jb1970, Much as I love Italy, and Italians, expecting decent queuing behaviour from them or the French is probably a waste of your emotional energy...
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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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I dont think I've had problems with the French or Italians, just with enormously tall Dutch people on long skis, who seem able to trample the lift queues like they were ants - if there's a line of them at the front, you can guarantee their friend will be at the back - but not for long 
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Yeah love the idea of filling up the lifts but then again it depends who they plonk on beside you! Best solution is to ski off pist away from the resort in a snow cat
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You know it makes sense.
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I always wait for my OH, so I've got someone to cling onto with my eyes shut when the lift sways - I'm scared of heights, so am a bit nervy with lifts - therefore I prefer to go on with someone I know, and not have a small child to deal with - sorry. Also don't like inconsiderate people who smoke on lifts.
1 chair I was about to go on was semi empty, thanks to numpty boarder who got on too early, and took up about 3 seats. Small child dived to the ground, I got rugby tackled out of way by lifty. Child and I got on next lift alone. Quite scary, confirmed to me why I don't like getting on chairs without OH or group from ski school!
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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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IMHO Part of the problem is the way lift queue areas funnel people in odd ways. I mean you go through the ticket barrier with your wife and kids, but then the space opens out and some folks surge forward filling in the tiniest gap there might be between you and your family in their haste to be at the front. By the time you reach the chair barriers it's nigh on impossible to be with the folk you started with unless you 'mark time' occasionally.
But what's the big deal anyway? You're on holiday right?, relax, chill out. I'm happy to let a few aggravated souls push past me if it means I can have a nice ride up next to my wife rather than some stranger. And you can hardly blame families with kids for wanting to ride together.
Not much tolerance being shown on this thread I'm afraid. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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What hacked me off a couple of weeks ago was the thoughtless idiots who pushed through in between me and my not so steady 2 year old in the queue for the nursery drag lift. One such idiot was an instructer with ESF!!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
my not so steady 2 year old
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2 YEAR OLD?!?
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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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What's a lift queue? 
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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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| Tim Sawyer wrote: |
| Quote: |
my not so steady 2 year old
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2 YEAR OLD?!? |
It is what children usually become around 33 months after conception, and remain so for about the next 12 months 
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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uktrailmonster, Yes, 2 year old. Actually she has turned 3 since we got back.
Ordhan, She started skiing last year when she was 1 (almost 2) albeit with strap on ski's. At 11 months she stuck to the sledge due to lack of standing up ability 
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Yeah,
Gets my goat up as well. I must confess however, that when I'm skiing with kids under 9 or so I want them on the same lift as me and won't split the group. Single lane in Soldeu, Andorra as well and it worked brilliantly for filling out the odd place or two that may be free in lift. Better still, private lessons also got lift priority.
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Two things particularly annoy me.
1. When we as a couple are waiting for a 4-man or 6-man chair, and we shuffle over so that other groups obviously waiting can sit next to us, then they shuffle up to the barrier, and then the barrier opens....and they don't get on the lift. So we get stuck sitting at the end with the chair dangling at an angle and the lift is half full or less. Why don't they get on? I have no idea. And if they weren't going to get on, why did they shuffle up to the barrier and block it for everybody else including people in the singles line?
2. When one person from a group of 3 or 4 gets in front of you in the queue, then waves all their mates through. They all barge through trampling over your skis in the process. Why can't the one person stand to the side and wait for all his/her mates instead?
Grr!
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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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thefatcontroller, we're neither of us lardy, but it is still uncomfortable!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I had an entertaining chairlift experience last week, on one of those with a moving carpet thingy. Got on the carpet, hopped off at the other end, scooted forward onto the green bit indicating that you should wait there for the chair. As you do, all fine so far.
Skier next to me hangs back about a metre rather than getting on the green bit - fair enough, not a problem. But then she sits down on the outside chair! Leaving NO SEAT for me!! Yikes. Much shuffling about and trying to hop out of the way on my back foot, resulting in me falling over in a heap. Offending skier meanwhile manages to fall off the chair, lifty hits the stop button and surveys the carnage.
Hilarious.
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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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| docsquid wrote: |
1. When we as a couple are waiting for a 4-man or 6-man chair, and we shuffle over so that other groups obviously waiting can sit next to us, then they shuffle up to the barrier, and then the barrier opens....and they don't get on the lift. So we get stuck sitting at the end with the chair dangling at an angle and the lift is half full or less. Why don't they get on? I have no idea. And if they weren't going to get on, why did they shuffle up to the barrier and block it for everybody else including people in the singles line?
Grr! |
That one gets me too!!!
As I often ski by myself, I was victim of BOTH situations: sitting on the outside of a chair when I could sit in the middle, or not able to get on a chair that's half empty.
I do frequently spoil the fun of those who PURPOSELY hang back at the barrier so they get to ride the chair "in privacy". By quickly scooting around them to the other (now empty) side the previous couples vacated, I most likely manage to get on the chair they hope to hog for themselves!
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You know it makes sense.
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Lizzard, funny one is the kind where the magic carpet continues rather than having a green mat bit at the end... what you do is shuffle forwards a bit and watch the other 5 people copy you... and then shuffle forwards a bit more for a laugh, and then watch everyone realise they're about to go over the end so rapidly all shuffle backwards again 
Issue I had dismounting was the guy to my right that hooked an edge getting off, skiied over both of my skis, and proceeded to wipe out the 70yr+ woman who was to my left, who had just happily slid away from the chair. Nobody hurt, just a pile of people and skis and poles and even the liftie wondering WTF!
Worst of all was the ****face that used all his momentum to force me through the closed gate shouting "oi! through you go mate!", so that he could catch up and line up with his friends that were just about ready for the next chair. The queue was totally empty apart from the 5 of us. So I feigned injury, and relaxedly picked up my poles, let 3 chairs go by and told the guy where to go.
For the 8man chairs, they feed them as 2 separate 4 man chairs, so if there are groups of friends fannying about, it's only half the chair thats affected. Maybe 6man chairs should be similarly split. If it weren't for younger children that need to be accompanied, I'd have fenced each queue such that you get N ticket turnstiles each with a unique lane all the way to the chair, rather than a free for all, so everyone it virtually forced to ride the chair with whomever is in the other lanes, regardless.
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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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Poster: A snowHead
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boredsurfin, have ridden an 8er solo, but it was midweek of the 1st week of the season in Lech, so no queue whatsoever on either half. They do feel impressively spacious, sort of like the stretch limo of chairlifts.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Can we include people who let their kids play on the baggage reclaim carousel here?
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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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Hoppo, whitenoise has been known to ride the carousel singing before, not sure if that's better or worse than the kids
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I think I shall buy 'L' plates for VT!! Maybe then people will give me a wide berth on a chair lift.
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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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Megamum, just don't sit on the end seat when there is evidently someone else to your right!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I agree with the original rant. But anyone who is having problems with inconsiderate queing is obviously not using their poles correctly! 
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| docsquid wrote: |
When one person from a group of 3 or 4 gets in front of you in the queue, then waves all their mates through. They all barge through trampling over your skis in the process. Why can't the one person stand to the side and wait for all his/her mates instead?
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Yes, certainly, but people doing that was what jb1970's second gripe was about. Don't see it myself.
There are some singles lanes in Engelberg this year (I got stuck in one for ages with people pouring past, filling up all the seats. Good for them, but I wasn't expecting it!)
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ahh the singles line.. a truly great invention... when you have to go back and pick up the ski pole my mates missus dropped whilst chatting to my wife about wether white ski pants are cool half way up the chair lift ..
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