 Poster: A snowHead
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We took the time at the weekend to tow our caravan from Leeds to Aviemore, to start exercising our Season pass.
The tough journey and freezing fog on the slopes on Saturday was more than compensated by a glorious Sunday of fresh Cairngorm powder an sunshine.
For the final run, before heading back to Leeds we headed up the Coire Cas Tee-bar. To our horror, 2/3 of the way up the run a member (teenage) of G*****w Ski Race club pushed our 9-year old off the tee-bar, in order that she might ride up the rest of the way by herself! Even after he fell off, she didn't apologise, and he had call after her for his glove : she was sat on it! Turns out she already tried to kick my 13 year old off the lift, but she wasn't budging, so the lout moved on to pick on someone smaller.
Gloriously, the lift packed in almost immediately, and the culprit got a bollocking from the guy in charge, but we were left wondering:
Is this attitude common? Should we revert to Glensee: the snow was crap but the skiiers were nice? Why in the hell would she not apologise, or stop to see the little guy was OK, or even try the stunt in the first place?
We then learnt she was banned from that lift (hence she has to try to cadge a lift on the way)...so why does t he G*****w Ski Race club bring the slob on the slope in the first place??
Luckily the little chap is made of tough stuff, but its a tricky bar to ride, and he did well to repeatedly take the lift. I'm still p****d that she was on the slope at all, never mind setting upon my lad.
As a boarder myself, I always wondered why skiers carried sharp sticks with them every where. I've now educated my son in the proper use of ski sticks, or skewers, as we now call them.
Strax
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sounds as if they've been to Tignes and learned their bad habits from the french kids race teams.
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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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Race brat acts as if superior skiing ability gives her special rights over the general public shocker!! Common story world over.
Seriously any half decent coach should be down on this like a ton of bricks, I'd suggest a strongly worded email and not being so coy about the name of the offending club.
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+1 on the follow up with the club / coaches, I'm sure they would take some action. Also copy the letter to snowsport Scotland.
This would not necessarily be a centre-specific issue - the "home" racers on Cairngorm are generally well marshalled - a few cheeky we tykes now and then but nothing more than high spirits and certainly nothing like what you describe.
You'll get the names of the club officers also on the Snowsport Scotland website (and probably a club liaison contact or whatever for Snowsport Scotland itself).
Also, make Col on cairngorm aware if you havent already, so Patrol and the lifties will know to keep an eye on anyone from this particular group.
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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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barry, 9 year old lad falls off T-bar lift? Write to Snowsport Scotland demanding action?
I bet you're a riot at parties....
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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The other thing teenage boarders like to do is press their board down on your back binding in lift queues to release your boot |
Use your ski boot to press down on the toes of his soft snowboard boot or smash his bindings, I can guarantee the culprit will not do it again.
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The Voice of Reason,
9 year old pushed off t-bar by a racer likely subsidised by snowsport scotland and certainly wearing their branding, yes I think they need to know about it. Knowing some of the local coaches, they absoulutely want to hear about it so they can stop anything like this
what would you do if your wean was dumped off the lift?
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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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You have to consider this is just one side of a story. Why am I telling this? Because until now I never heard of anything like this. In general racers (even those low level kids) are pretty nice people when it comes to interaction with others on ski place. Sure they ski line, sure they ski fast etc., but it sounds pretty unbelievable for me, that someone would just go and push some kid off the lift... especially half way up the lift.
I'm not saying it's not possible, but it's a bit hard to jump on this, when you hear just one side of story, and even this from offended parent, who was not even riding same lift.
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barry, If I didn't get an immediate satisfactory response from the governing body, I'd be taking it up with UK Sport demanding funding levels be cut, Sport Scotland demanding administrative change, and the A team requesting that they hunt the guilty child down and knee cap her so she can never ski again.....
You clown.....
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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OP learned that the individual was banned from the lift so sounds like form to me
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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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The Voice of Reason, guess you're the gimp at parties then eh
You fanny...
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In general racers (even those low level kids) are pretty nice people when it comes to interaction with others on ski place.
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not in Tignes in the autumn they aren't. Pushing and shoving in every queue and jumping on T bars with only one occupant are par for the course.
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You know it makes sense.
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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 maybe we are seeing the difference here between Scotland and France? French teenagers especially (and yes i am generalising, of course) seem to regard everyone else as just in their way. They dont understand that without lift passes paid for by foreigners their lift system would not exist.
But they are teenagers. I was one once. There were only a couple of things on my mind most of the time, and ski lift etiquette most assuredly was not one of them 
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Poster: A snowHead
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primoz, Everyone's seen race kids jumping onto already occupied T bars in transit because they are so special they don't have to queue like everyone else. Ditto queuejumping behaviour. Now if they are skilful enough to do the upload without disturbing the occupant e.g. a 15 stone male then I don't have a particular problem but its pretty clear to me from the OP that the girl tried this and as a result bounced the occupant off. So that is unacceptable.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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fatbob, don't mind them using spare capacity on T-bars so long as the racer is jumping on with one of their team/fellow racers and the racer already on the bar isn't deliberately going up as a single to give their mates a chance of hopping on halfway up. Bit of a rant unrelated to the OP/thread but it's infuriating seeing people not take space on t-bars and particularly chairlifts so they can all go up with their friends instead, particularly when they make this decision right at the front of the queue. It's frequent to see one person on a six-man chair when there's a 45-min queue behind. If you're desperate to go with your friends/family, step aside and let others take the free space available.
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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 think I would also email the club concerned and complain about the incident and do as much as you can to identify the culprit. Surely the club has some disciplinary measures that they can bring to the situation, and I would think would want to do so as it can't do their reputation any good if their skiers are leaving upset public on the slopes esp. with the existence of public internet forums to spread word. I would be surprised if they didn't act and if they didn't then I think a more strongly worded complaint to their governing body would be in order. After all it could be argued that the OP has a duty of care to the miscreant and their subsequent victims to do their best to prevent them growing up thinking 'bully' behaviour is acceptable.
The above does of course assume that the story is as one sided as it sounds.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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No doubt it is a GLASGOW ski club! If so name them, there may be a member that has dual "membership" with  s. They may be able to get involved and get the GLASGOW ski club to reprimand the gobshite!
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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.
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sanman, as I said, I have skied on slopes with lots of racers at tignes and LDA and not seen them shove any but their own off a T bar. I have skied about 20 months in total, in France, in the last 8 years and never yet been barged off a lift by teenagers (of any nationality) on lifts. I did take a dislike to a gang of very grown up (in years at least) German men in Les Contamines - they were rude, loud and shoving quite unnecessarily in otherwise very well behaved, and short, lift queues. Like Sideshow_Bob get fed up with people who won't fill up a chairlift when there's a queue. I wish French resorts did singles lines.
I actually found the antics of the little racers on the T bars in Les Deux Alpes very entertaining. They sometimes rode 4 up, sometimes went backwards, sometimes barged each other off - or tried to. They were skilful enough not to bother anyone else
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primoz, As far as I'm concerned racers have priority if there is a dedicated liftline for them OR they are accompanied by an instructor and in the instruction priority line. I've never seen the general"racers have priority" concept you refer to displayed in a sign anywhere I've skied nor is in the skier's code so I don't think anyone should feel obliged to cede their liftline place to one of these little treasures.
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As far as skipping lines goes... normally racers have priority. If we like it or not. If people think it's perfectly fine to skip lines since you paid for ski instructor, then I guess it's perfectly fine for racers to skip lines. Besides, most of racers get off the hill before most of "normal" skiers even come to hill.
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Racers /race trainers have 1:1 priority when wearing bibs only, on specific lifts at CairnGorm (usually the M1 poma) beacause SNSS provided funding towards the M1. I've usually found the racers/race trainers reasonably curteous at CairnGorm bar the odd spoilt brat.
I'm afraid I'm with Barry and would email/contact the club if your child was pushed off the T-bar. Also if it happens again worth telling the lifty. It will depend who the lifty is, but I've had problems with queue jumpers who join the back of line 1 rather than line 3 and when it is politely pointed out to them that the back of the queue is 2 lines over studiously ignore the 'advise' pulled out of the queue by the lifty and given a lesson in scottish queuing.
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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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Fanny.... gimp.... clown..... it's getting badass in here - what next? Goggle fighting at high noon?.....puuleeeeeze!!!! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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Strax, think your title is generalising a little as I know there was at least 2 other clubs up at Cairngorm at the weekend and all trainees of all clubs are briefed about being ambassadors of there clubs etc and in general I would say the kids are pretty well behaved and polite. If you have a complaint then contact Glasgow Ski Racing , http://www.glasgowskiracing.org.uk/index.htm , only contact emial I can find is in the feeback link. I am sure Mark one of the head coaches would not be happy if what happened is as you say.
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brian
brian
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Weedgies, eh? 
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You know it makes sense.
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brian, 
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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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The Voice of Reason,
I have to say I'm with Barry on this one.
Racing kids do sometimes have a shocking attitude and I agree that a letter to the club concerned should be the least of Barry's actions.
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Poster: A snowHead
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OK Guys, things look like they're getting a bit lively on the thread, maybe its time to close it down a bit. I guess the general opinion is that the event was unusual, which is a reassurance. Where I can understand the racers jumping on a bar, the lack of sympathy for the wean dumped in the snow was unpleasant.
HOWEVER, on the day the Coach and the rest of the team DID express their apologies, and the Coach has contacted me seperately and off board. That is appreciated. I also understand that the teenager involved is still suffering the wrath of Parents and Club...and thats good enough for me. Probably my repeated referal to the offender as a girl hasn't helped, as it turns out it was a boy. Oops
And for the doubters of the story above, just to clarify, our whole family were on the lift (5 of us). My boy was on his own on the t-bar in front of us, because he's only 4' tall, the bar sits at the wrong height to share with anyone else.
And not to sound like a killjoy: We work with lots of kids, and many who are challenging. We love kids with spirit and life: they're often the ones who can acheive the most in play or in work, and they enjoy the risks the most, and learn the most from them. But we expect them to look after others at the same time..not leave them face down in the snow...
We'll be back in couple of weeks: weather permitting.
Strax
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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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