Can't get youtube as I am on a client site at the mo, but guessing it's the video of the Biollay chair in Courchevel 1850 which broke down a few days ago and a number of people had to be lowered down in a snowstorm?
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?
I think it's very reassurring to know it can be done!
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
We've seen school groups acting as guinea pigs for chairlift rescue practice here. They always seem to be having a ball; might be a bit different for some fatter/heavier/more hysterical customers and I'd not enjoy having to send a small child down in a harness assuring him that I'd be following soon! You could get mighty cold too, waiting for them to sort out whether the chair can be re-started or whether they have to start calling in the rescue teams.
After all it is free
After all it is free
Last season in Montalbert a rescue demo from the chairlift was done each Wednesday evening as part of the resorts entertainment events. Same as above video but in the dark/twilight and evacuating 3 chairs. Best bit was the pisteur 'Zip wiring' from one chair to the next
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One of the reasons I feel much safer on Pomas !
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I was winched of a chair about ten years ago in Bernex. Wasnt as professional as that one, lots of tangled ropes to unknot first but they got us down in the end. Worst part is squeezing under the seat bar and then hoping they've got your weight when you drop.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
What happens if you are not near a pylon?
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.
Quote:
Worst part is squeezing under the seat bar and then hoping they've got your weight when you drop
mm, yes. I think I'd trust to their professionalism, but that would be an antsy moment. What's much more common, and no fun at all, is being up there for a long time when the chair is stopped for safety reasons in high winds. It's only happened to me for a few minutes, but friends got stuck for a long time. All teenagers/adults and dressed for skiing, but they were perishing cold by the time they got off.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
OH MY GOD thats made me go wobbly, please tell me that its rare, I am off on Saturday, think I would have to be punched and knocked out before being rescued how could they all be smiling? I would be terrified!
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Last Christmas there was a Helicopter winching people out of the Bubbles that go to the La Plagne glacier, they got a cup of chocholate and a one day lift pass free of charge...
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
feefee, I think it looks awesome! My now 10, then 8, happily chucked herself off that bungee thing in Courch 1850 so she'd be fine with this, not so sure about the five year old though
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Shimmy Alcott, I cant think of anything worse! I have kittens when it stops momentarily! so wish I didnt feel like it, but I love skiing so have to be prepared, hip flask of brandy/port and rescue remedy
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?
feefee, I dont like lifts, dont much like bubbles, but I feel differently about the chairs - probably as the views are so awesome. Id much rather be rescued than freeze my little tootsies off. Its reassuring to me to see how efficient they were. Just dont get me started on aeroplanes.
Last year a friend and I went for a walk, found a lovely mountain hut, forgot the time and missed the gondola back down, started to walk and along came a piste basher, we waved him down, gestured that the lift had shut, so he took us back to the village, it was pretty scary as he carried on pisteing first, but wow it was brilliant, my 11 yr old has never forgiven me
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Shimmy Alcott, I'm ok with planes now, again rescue remedy! but I put my fingers in my ears on take off/landing, seems to help!
I should think its a good reason to make room for a foil space blanket and a pair of iron filings hand warmers in your pockets.
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Wed 4-01-12 19:29; edited 1 time in total
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
I was stuck on a chair in a blizzard in Les Deux Alpes a couple of years ago as the mountain was being closed around us. I was with a friend and we were less than 50m from the top, our children were a couple of chairs in front and had got off. There was no-one behind us either as we were the last ones to get on. It must have been about 20 minutes before they got it going again and I've never been as cold in my life, the kids were sheltering behind the lifties hut. When they finally got it going we then had to ski down to the only lift running to take us down the mountain.
After all it is free
After all it is free
I assume that the resorts have a system for checking that all lifts are empty before they switch them off? In Switzerland they used to tip the seats up and when they met a turned up seat they knew the lift was empty.
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Megamum, yep. or sack on the last chair, etc. Many detachable chairs and gondolas are brought in and stored in the end station over night too.
Cool vid. Abseiling bit looks fun (but probably not in a blizzard).
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Megamum, a man was left on a lift in meribel, some years ago now. the lad had failed to check all the chairs round. He was one of a party of medics, in a chalet, and they all thought he was out with one of the others, during the evening. When he didn't get back they raised the alarm and he was found in the early hours of the morning. He was OK, fit young man, etc etc. But imagine the feeling as the darkness falls and the lights of all those cosy tartiflette factories in the valley start to twinkle......
Actually, I ry to avoid those "last lift up" tricks. My brother in law used to drive my sister mad, doing it with the kids, who were quite competent but little, and had always had more than enough before they got back - it tends to get cold v quickly.
I like to leave some time in hand to get where I'm going without a panic. I did a "last run" with someone else on a course with me in tignes, some time ago. Vis was horrible. A young girl, apparently alone, arrived at the top of one of those lifts you can go down on, and was turned away by the lifties as it was shutting. We stayed with her all the way down - she was very slow and it got very cold. She was pathetically grateful and very pretty, so my companion probably felt like Sir Galahad.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
What happens if you are over a ravine?
( I don't really want to know! Honest!)
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.
Our neighbour always offers to take our kids on the practice rescues in the summer and he has great stories about scaring the new young lifties who are obliged "to be rescued", he reckons the cocky ones are a bit more humble once they've been left hanging for a while. They do take their lift rescues very seriously tho and they are all very well trained, these guys know their knots! I'd be more worried about how cold I would get rather than getting down. I was stuck in the Saulire bubble last week for 40mins and that was just beginning to get nippy when they got it running again, a chairlift doesn't bear thinking about.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
I must admit I've been worried about being close to lift closing time before now. We did it once on the only time (absolutely bloody marvellous) we went night skiing and were one of the last groups down from the bar before they turned off the lights. The closing times of the lifts don't seem to be on many of piste maps that I've looked at and in large resorts they seem to close at different times so I do try not to take a chance, esp. somewhere like Les Arcs where it was a long walk back if you missed the last Chantel back up if you were coming back from La Plagne. I've discovered that you can cover ground very quickly on skis, but somehow time speeds up if you are racing for the last lifts.
I hate the chairs stopping, the 'bounce' is terrifying, but even after they have rested I'd rather a wind didn't blow. I guess I've never had more than a 10-12 minute stop, but there are certainly warmer places to stop than the middle of the moraine chair in Val Thorens when it's blowing a hooley.
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
pam w wrote:
Megamum, a man was left on a lift in meribel, some years ago now. the lad had failed to check all the chairs round. He was one of a party of medics, in a chalet, and they all thought he was out with one of the others, during the evening. When he didn't get back they raised the alarm and he was found in the early hours of the morning. He was OK, fit young man, etc etc. But imagine the feeling as the darkness falls and the lights of all those cosy tartiflette factories in the valley start to twinkle......
Sounds like Frozen
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I don't know if they would help, but I do make sure we all carry a mountain whistle in our pockets. They are only small, but one of those 'might be useful one day' things
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Megamum wrote:
I don't know if they would help, but I do make sure we all carry a mountain whistle in our pockets. They are only small, but one of those 'might be useful one day' things
Wow...
Hope never to use that method of dismounting, I would be so scared of putting that nappy on and "letting go".
I once did "The Para Tower", dropping from a scaffold tower with a big paratrooper laughing at me, took me ages to pluck up the courage...
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?
Colin B wrote:
I was stuck on a chair in a blizzard in Les Deux Alpes a couple of years ago as the mountain was being closed around us.
I have, not a great movie but I still found it reasonably entertaining!
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
bobmcstuff wrote:
pam w wrote:
Megamum, a man was left on a lift in meribel, some years ago now. the lad had failed to check all the chairs round. He was one of a party of medics, in a chalet, and they all thought he was out with one of the others, during the evening. When he didn't get back they raised the alarm and he was found in the early hours of the morning. He was OK, fit young man, etc etc. But imagine the feeling as the darkness falls and the lights of all those cosy tartiflette factories in the valley start to twinkle......
Sounds like Frozen
I Concur! Pretty rubbish film but still not a great mental image for skiing. Would hate to get stuck on a chair :S
OH MY GOD thats made me go wobbly, please tell me that its rare, I am off on Saturday, think I would have to be punched and knocked out before being rescued how could they all be smiling? I would be terrified!
Rare yes, but perhaps not as rare as you might think! Tows break down, simple as that, depending on the fault and conditions, it might be better to get everybody off. I've seen it happen a couple of times, all handled superbly by patrol (although I have wondered how happy they migh be to send my svelte 18 stones down their string )
First time I saw it happen I was surprised they didn't get people to unclip from skis and boards and even lose ski boots before heading down - always assumed that would be safer but obviously not always, just shows I guess how good they are at doing it and how controlled it is.
Vids like that should actually put your mind at rest IMO, they do mine
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
barry, I am glad I've seen it, as it's reassuring to see how it's done, if it ever happens to me I want to be with those happy, smiley guys who were loving it!
After all it is free
After all it is free
We were on a lift which stopped in Val Thorens this Christmas in bad conditions. Could barely see the chair in front and it was snowing. Waited about 5 mins and it moved a few metres then stopped again. Got going again about 15 to 20 mins later just as we were starting to feel chilly. At the top the operator came and apologised to us and handed us a yellow ticket giving us a free drink in a choice of mountain restaurants which I thought was a nice gesture.
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I remember being stuck on a drag lift once on quite a steep section. I could get off ok, but the beginners behind me weren't too impressed - they had to wait as otherwise they would have had no choice but to unclip and walk (down or up!). Think it took about 30 mins to fix so no fun for them !
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Doss, happened to me in La Plagne during a sleet storm and all I got at the top was laughter from the lifties
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
mm, yes. I think I'd trust to their professionalism, but that would be an antsy moment. What's much more common, and no fun at all, is being up there for a long time when the chair is stopped for safety reasons in high winds. It's only happened to me for a few minutes, but friends got stuck for a long time. All teenagers/adults and dressed for skiing, but they were perishing cold by the time they got off.
They do take their lift rescues very seriously tho and they are all very well trained, these guys know their knots! I'd be more worried about how cold I would get rather than getting down. I was stuck in the Saulire bubble last week for 40mins and that was just beginning to get nippy when they got it running again, a chairlift doesn't bear thinking about.
