 Poster: A snowHead
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| paulio wrote: |
| Unfortunately I dress to the same side as my leading foot when snowboarding. |
That's ok the T-bars no where near the middle of your forehead 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Whitegold wrote: |
The perfect lift, which is enjoyable in warm or cold weather, has not yet been invented.
Ropetows are gash.
Buttons offer little rest.
Tbars are irritating.
Chairs without covers get cold.
Chairs with covers don't offer total protection.
Gondolas mean walking.
Buckets are tragic.
Trams mean standing next to smelly people with bad breath. |
I would disagree with this. The perfect lift has been invented by the name of telemix and Montgenevre has two new ones. A mixture of comfy chairs and cabins all moving quickly up the mountain. when its fine you can enjoy the chair. When its freezing or you are with young children you can opt for the cabin.
Drag lifts can be ok for short distances but the really steep ones or those that go round bends aren't great with young children....there is always the worry they will lose concentration and fall off half way up and you will have to trudge through deep snow back to the piste.
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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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The real problem with drag lifts not the problems riding them it is that they cut a line up the mountain that interfers with your freedom to slide down where every you want to. 
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| snowymum wrote: |
| Whitegold wrote: |
The perfect lift, which is enjoyable in warm or cold weather, has not yet been invented.
Ropetows are gash.
Buttons offer little rest.
Tbars are irritating.
Chairs without covers get cold.
Chairs with covers don't offer total protection.
Gondolas mean walking.
Buckets are tragic.
Trams mean standing next to smelly people with bad breath. |
I would disagree with this. The perfect lift has been invented by the name of telemix and Montgenevre has two new ones. A mixture of comfy chairs and cabins all moving quickly up the mountain. when its fine you can enjoy the chair. When its freezing or you are with young children you can opt for the cabin.
Drag lifts can be ok for short distances but the really steep ones or those that go round bends aren't great with young children....there is always the worry they will lose concentration and fall off half way up and you will have to trudge through deep snow back to the piste. |
Chondolas have been around for years.
You still have to take your skis off and on for the cabin. It's a PITA.
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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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It's nothing to do with 'not being comfortable on them,' it really doesn't take long to get used to them. However, they're slow and tiring, difficult to chat to mates, boring, and if you're alone the lifty will usually try to palm some incompetent off on you, who will do they're best to sabotage both you're ride.
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I actually quite like T-bars - def. prefer them to pomas - and don't usually have problems with them. It is preferable to be on it in twos though as being on one, especially a steeper one alone can sometimes become quite literally a bit of a drag.
(The main thing I find really is to make sure that one accepts that there is the odd person with whom one is just "T-Bar incompatible" albeit because of too much of a height difference or because they subconciously or not so subconciously hog the T-Bar and pull it away(or feel like you do that) etc... and just takes care to avoid going up with them).
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The other thing I've been reminded of is that in my experience T bars are one of the best reasons out there for wearing one of the H things. I've been clouted over the bonce by T bars more times than any other type of lift and they are the lift type I have ridden least  I look over my shoulder for it and the pole usually clouts me around the back of my head - Ouch!
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The best short cuts are to be found by using drag lifts in Paradiski 
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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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Quite like em -at their best when restricting access to interesting terrain for "hipster" snowboarders who have no clue how to ride them. Equally a pain in the back bottom for similar reasons e.g. snowboarders who won't share T bars, frequent stops for t'idiots who won't let go, slow, quite boring unless you feel a pressing need to be a dick and practice tele lunges, flatspins etc.
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brian
brian
Guest
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I'm sensing there's a lot of not wanting to ride lifts and even ski alone going on here. I really like the solo ski thing myself. I spend day after day at work having to deal with the human race, it's nice escaping them and dealing with just snow on occasions.
In fairness though, I have ski buddies these days and although I still have to have my own me ski time, ski buddies definitely have their place in the bar of an evening.
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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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| brian wrote: |
| rob@rar wrote: |
I prefer to sit and have a rest, look around at the scenery, maybe take a photo, chat to friends or strangers
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You can do all that on a t-bar *and* have a wee cuddle (given suitable companion).  |
I denied that story at the time. Nothing but scurrilous nonsense!
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You know it makes sense.
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| maggi wrote: |
| just can't pull the bl**dy thing down with my non existent muscles (particularly) in my left arm. |
Don't pull down... push sideways, pretty much like sliding off a chair sideways.
Try the Ptarmigan tow on Cairngorm (and probably others, but for some reason only the Ptarmigan ran the 5th of June ) Its quite different from just about any tow I seen in the Alps...
You don't have to 'dismount' while weighing on the bar there as you get off when the box/line goes around the bullwheel... (now there is the added thing they quite appreciate it if you guide the line back in the box... but thats not all that hard really)
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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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I think a lot of people make the mistake of going up T-bars alone. It is much easier if you go up with someone who is confident, particularly for Boarders. I took quite a few learner boarders up T-bars this year, good way of q skipping if it's busy  , and they all said it was much easier holding on to me than going up alone. It can be quite hard work if you are supporting someone else but at least it gets you up the hill quicker than waiting for everyone to go up singly.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Megamum wrote: |
| The other thing I've been reminded of is that in my experience T bars are one of the best reasons out there for wearing one of the H things. I've been clouted over the bonce by T bars more times than any other type of lift and they are the lift type I have ridden least I look over my shoulder for it and the pole usually clouts me around the back of my head - Ouch! |
Pay more attention, you'll be causing an accident next and then blaming it on either a) snowboarders, or b) rude, surly foreigners.....
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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queen b.
Drag lifts are a third rate, effectively outdated, method of uplift.
Cheap and cheerful they have their place, that is, being ripped up to install a proper lift, to be re-located elsewhere hopefully to access some marginal terrain you would otherwise have to hike to.
They're loved by people who think it's somehow "pukka" to be able to ride one, and those that feel that they "deserve" to have certain sections of the mountain reserved for themselves, keeping the less able out.
To me they're a bit like preparing wood for the stove. Like a hand saw they get the job done, but most times I'm going to be using a more advanced method. Life is better as a result.
Yes I can ride them. No, I often choose not too, if there's an alternative, like most others.
The fact that you "only" ski is also a very, very big part of why the question was asked, even allowing for the admission. 
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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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it is a bit like sitting on a pebbly beach or one with nice sand, both a great to spend the day in the sun and sea, but given the choice .....
BCjohnny, so you will not be boarding in Scotland this year
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I prefer drag lifts, it is a lot easier to carry stuff than on chairs. I don't need to sit down and often can't get my feet onto the footrest on a chair.
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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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brian,
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*and* have a wee cuddle
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Ah, so true. There's one rather tall person of my acquaintance with whom I - as a vertically challenged person - can only ride comfortably when he puts his arm round me.
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Pomas and T bars are a treat for me. Apart from the local hills with chair lifts, nearly everywhere else is killer rope tows that need a climbing harness and nutcracker to ride.
I love them - don't have to make inane conversation with some investment banker from Sydney on the way up, after a bit of practice it's easy to hang on with knees and roll a smoke, they keep the gapers off the decent terrain, and they can run in much worse weather conditions than chair lifts. Rope tows on the other hand just break fingers and getting a pulley in the knee sucks.
Also they cost a lot less to put in, so passes are cheaper which = less work + more riding. What's not to like. Just takes a bit of practice and staying relaxed. Must be easy as on skis.
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I hate T-bars.
On my first ski trip (many years ago) I some how got one boot and ski caught in the T when dismounting. I was then being draged by my left leg untill my right boot got caught in fencing. The lifty hit the stop button but by then I was been pulled apart by both legs. The pain was unbelieveable  ! Have not been on a T-bar since. That was 24 years ago!
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queen bodecia, I don't have any issues with riding any lift alone, though having spent so much solo time learning on the beginner slopes I hugely appreciate ski companions for the skiing bit. In fact although they are supposedly harder to ride solo I suspect I would have fewer issues riding a T bar solo than with a companion, for one thing only one set of skis to worry about - mine! Not whether I am going to hit or get in the way of the second pair. I have heard it said that it makes it harder to hold the bar straight but, as I've said, I am a 'hold on to the bar with the outer hand' rider anyway, so that might not be an issue. So far I haven't tried a solo ride on one I've always gone up with someone more experienced who has taken charge of the bar at the dismount place.
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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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We all know there is nothing funnier than someone (espcially if its a mate) who has fallen on a drag lift and is hanging on for grim death trying to make it to the top as half the mountain is shoved down the front of his jacket. There used to be a couple of really steep drags in La Plagne, hope they are still there and providing much comedy
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Slow, tiring, people fall off them even more often the chairlifts since they seem to think they can sit down when using them. A proliferation of drag lifts usually means the place is a molehill rather than a mountain
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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 don't mind button lifts so much, but T bars are annoying for me... mainly because i'm a short back bottom and my mates are mainly upwards of 6ft... meaning the t-bar sat neatly under their butt.... is halfway up my back!!!! Very uncomfortable for me!
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I don't mind buttons or drags for the most part but the one at Lake Louise is a nightmare. Have had to jump over someone sliding back down the lift path 
Megamum, stand to the side of it, not in its path, and it will not hit you in the head...
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You know it makes sense.
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| arv wrote: |
I don't mind buttons or drags for the most part but the one at Lake Louise is a nightmare. Have had to jump over someone sliding back down the lift path
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Hah I've done that too. But it keeps down tourist access to Whitehorn gullies (apart from Euros who think its perfectly normal).
Quite a lot of ski areas in N America seem to have been chucking surface lifts in recently either as a response to environmental restrictions or a cheap way to tack on expansion terrain
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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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arv, clearly I am standing in the wrong place when I get clouted, but it's not easy to judge when you are new with them, I am also worried if I stand too much to one side that I will miss getting it under my bum in time. I really envy those comfortable enough on them to let go of them, I have one hand clinging on for grim death on the centre pole and the other with my finger hooked onto the most convenient piece of molded plastic I can find on the outside of the bar to hold it still. God knows how I don't lose my poles in the process. I'm also not keen on that first 'tug' when the spring finally gets to its limit, or the steady drop backwards when it stops half way up esp. when I'm on a steep bit, though steep bits surprisingly do seem easier to ride than the flatter bits. The Minimum's take them in their stride its so embarrassing  although they have been riding the ones in Switzerland since they first started skiing.
Chair wise I am not overboard about the ones that don't have a bar to rest your skis on, like the Chantel chair in Les Arcs - long slow and legs start to ache until you get used to how to hold them whilst on it (I also kept thinking 'I hope my bindings don't give way'). Whilst in Les Arcs, the Clair Blanc chair I think it is, that serves the snow park is a bit of a slam dunk beast  Not an ideal lift, esp. for kids trying to use it.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Megamum, sounds like you need a few days skiing in Scotland.
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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 don't mind any of them, but the poma's that have a horizontal mount area of maybe 10 or 12 ft, followed closely by a sharp climb can be a bit of a pain (literally) - you basically stick the poma between your legs, hit the gate and get yanked off the snow attached only by your nuts. You think it isn't too bad, then a few seconds later the pain kicks in. (for those of you who don't have nuts to be yanked by, I can offer incontrovertible proof that a blow to the nuts is more painful than childbirth. I know loads of women who want another child, but I have never ever met one man who wants another slap in the nuts!!)
Once the pain kicks in you feel the need to sit down or fall in a heap. You realise you can't fall in a heap as everyone will laugh, so you sit down instead........ soon everyone will laugh anyway
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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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I do not like the ones that start going down hill or around a corner - most interesting on a board with one foot in and one foot out
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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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Many years back, and I'm pretty certain it's been replaced by a chair, there was one malevolent tow taking you up to "Rocher l'Aigle" (s.p.) in Montgenevre. Complete with take off ramp and scooped landing area about 15ft away.
Like a scene out of "The charge of the light brigade". A rough study put the chances of landing it around 30%. Even the poles seemed to make a laughing sound, on re-coil.
And, IIRC, if you actually landed it several steep inclines/tight turns awaited you. Not slid that much in the Alps, but that one sticks in my mind. Nice run back though.
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Megamum, realx - all the stiffening up makes it harder. Last Christmas a couple of my guests had similar problems in Saalbach. They opted to sit one run out so the rest of the group didn't have to wait, and went to sit in the nearest bar. I picked them up for the next run, and this time they had no problems at all in the lift, much more relaxed - at the top they told me they'd had a couple of tequila slammers each lol.
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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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does it go to the very top? it looks like it does, that is just ridiculous.
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FAQ
