 Poster: A snowHead
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Yup, all the way to the top. There's some good pics of them installing the lift on their website.
I think it's a good idea. It's a very small family owned ski field, so this is probably the only way they could afford to stick a lift in to access what looks like some insanely good terrain (there's more off the back). Also, rope tows are really easy to re-instate after avalanches, and can run in bad weather. And I think the environmental impact is a lot lower than putting in a big chairlift, and the ski area is in a pristine alpine environment.
And finally, it must be a complete b1tch to get up the top, and it's in the middle of nowhere, so it will be untracked for days after a good bit of dumpage 
They're not that hard to ride, and that one looks like it has a bit of a downhill slope to get up to speed before grabbing the rope and sticking the cracker on. They just hurt like hell if you hit the pulleys with hips or knees or get fingers/hair/loose straps caught up, and they kill gloves and jackets with rope burn.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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The environmental impact of drag lifts must be less and they're certainly less of an eyesore. I can't do rope tows at all, the rope just slips through my fingers and I end up going downhill backwards!
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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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Loving the pic of that rope tow, now that would solve the weather and visual impact problem for a Marquis Well's Tow on CairnGorm! 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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It does go to the top and opens up some lovely terrain. Definitly not for beginners. I mean the tow 
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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 runs look amazing off it, but that looks like a killer of a lift. How long does it take to get up? must be 10 minutes at least? The worst one ive seen in somewhere in the Portes Du Soleil. Maybe in Champoussin or Morgin somewhere like that, its on about a 45 degree slops and there is a bit of it where it turns at a right angle, and i mean literally! There is a chair lift right next to it which takes you to exactly the same place aswell!!!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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I think it's about 6 minutes to the top. I'll post some first hand experience in a couple of weeks.
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| hang11 wrote: |
| I'll post some first hand experience |
I recommend you use your second hand as well.
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brian,
I have always considered myself a broad minded "man of the world" but what the hell is on of those?
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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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| queen bodecia wrote: |
| 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. |
Me too, we should go skiing together some time! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Isn't it strange how different folks view things, as I said before I love the chance to go and ski and chat with other folks. I get so little time to socialise with adults that to be able to ski with other folks def. ticks all my boxes. My problem would still be a slight worry that I would be holding folks back through a lack of ability.
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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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Megamum, that's the difference. I spend all week in a studio with fifty or so other 'adults' throwing regular creative hissy fits. Going home of an evening and especially going on holiday are my opportunities to tune out from the rest of the human race and enjoy some quality me time. However, I am thankful that I now have good ski buddies. I do actually ski with them half the time and it's very nice to have some company in the evenings on a ski trip, but I've always enjoyed skiing alone more. I guess I'm just a bit too used to my own company.
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You know it makes sense.
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queen bodecia, I quite enjoy skiing on my own as well. I've never actually gone anywhere on my own but I quite often decide to do something different from who ever I'm with. i was actually more adventurous skiing on my own than with others this year when you think it would be the other way around.
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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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What I love about skiing with people is that when you're actually sliding, you're completely on your own, but every now and then you stop for everyone to catch up briefly and be friendly. And then you're off in your own little world again. Lovely. I'm also very happy to ski on my own, but that's a different experience - and quite a lot more strenuous, because I stop less. I don't mind whether I'm on my own or with others on uplift, though I prefer not to go up on a chair with a smoker.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Next season you will be able to try a new T.Bar drag in Les Arcs I have just heard. Oh joy, on a snowboard I hate them!!! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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snowcrazy, quicker turnaround for the park?
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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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| Quote: |
i was actually more adventurous skiing on my own than with others this year when you think it would be the other way around.
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I found that, too. I'd been rather avoiding skiing our local black run after a decent fall of snow (ie when it was unpisted) then one morning when I went up the chair on my own and saw how few tracks there were on it (it was early) I decided there was no possible excuse and if I didn't do it then, I never would. So I did. it was great, I did quite well, and was quite encouraged to overtake the only other person on it - a French guy with whom I exchanged some words at the bottom. Turned out he'd been full of trepidation too. Then I did it again, more confidently. then I went off and did another black run, always mogully, which I generally avoid. I didn't do it in any great style, but I didn't fall over and I was no worse than all the other people skiing it that morning - there weren't any good skiers around, so I felt quite cool! I had a great morning, bothering about nobody but myself. I was skiing entirely on piste, though. It was a quiet morning and on my first run down the black there were only two of us on it, and only a couple of earlier tracks. But it was all on piste, and a lot of it visible from the chair and if I'd had a bad fall I wouldn't have had to wait long for someone to come along.
I probably wouldn't have done the run if I'd been skiing with anyone else. If they were a weaker skier I'd have been reluctant to try to persuade them to do it, and if they were much stronger I'd have been worried that I'd hold them back, or be tempted to follow them down too fast. Doing it my way, at my own pace, was the best way to tackle it.
I ski on my own fairly frequently, usually only for half a day. If I ski quite hard for 3 - 4 hours, with a short coffee break, my legs have generally had enough.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
Trams mean standing next to smelly people with bad breath.
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I wonder which side of the pond Whitegold lives on?
Funny isn't it? We'd ride a cable car in a ski resort and a tram in San Francisco, whereas the locals there would ride a cable car in the city and a tram in the ski resort 
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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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Maybe the poma / tbar thing is to do with how you got started. I first put skis on in Soll in 1976 and was forced pretty much to use tbars. I remember going up with an Aussie instructor who helped me a lot in terms of position, weight etc (useful for a first year skier who wasn't having qualified instruction) and you just had to get used to them, or give up skiing. But then, that doesn't mean it's good does it. I've skied in Scotland a lot too so tbars were mandatory. Once you've been hit on the head, after letting go incorrectly, you get the idea and learn to feed it back in properly.
However these modern, detachable multi-man chairs are great aren't they. Apart from some of the 8 mans where I've found it best not to go on the inside chair (turns into you so quickly I find). But I'm getting old and a chair is a welcome break. Having said that, if you know Flaine and go up from Foret, then pomas are the only option (if you want to avoid skiing down to forum first). It's OK if they don't launch you into the air which some, despite trying to do all the right things, seem to do. Regards.
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| Quote: |
| there was clear air to see beneath my skis |
Not unusual on auto stacking pomas, though I challenge anyone to find a rival to the Harrier at the Lecht where you can spin a 720 before landing! 
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| Quote: |
There's a new high speed rope tow been installed at Roundhill over the summer. 1473m long, 626m of vertical. Accessing some amazing looking terrain. It moves about the same speed as a detachable chair. I've thought about hiking it a few times, but it would have given me a heart attack. I'm going there in a couple of weeks, have got a new climbing harness sorted today, and tied a nutcracker to it.
It's going to be a painful ride up I think But worth it.
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What a fantastically elegant solution. Cheap, simple, fast and almost no landscape or other tangible environmental impact. You would want to use a clip and a belt to ride it all the way, although with practice that is no problem. Here in the Pennines and Lake District we used rope tows for decades and they still are at Harwood Common and Allendale both by beginners and experts.
The problem with rope tows in the UK is that they get buried, can twist, tend to ice up and will eventually break. The system in NZ would probably need to be unwound each day if located here, unless the weather was really settled. That would be significant extra hassle.
The reason people don't like Tbars and Pomas is that most new skiers aren’t brought up on them and have never fully developed the techniques for riding them. They were also never designed for snowboarders. I think however that they still offer the following considerable advantages over over types of lift;
They are cheap to build, operate and repair,
can be almost as fast as a detachable chair,
tend to have no queues and therefore better skiing,
Have a much lower environmental impact,
will run in strong winds and are easily escapable in a dangerous situation
Do not require you to take skis off
Are socialable and fun !
the disadvantage is that they tend to have lower capacities,
Require pisteing and continuous snow on the track
Are prone to breakdown
require a bit of skill to ride them without much effort
Are not great for snowboarders
are currently unfashionable but could possibly make a comeback ?
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FAQ
( No I didn't fall - I landed cleanly and carried on up the hill 
).
