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Just witnessed something I never want to see again :(

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
First hand experience today Embarassed

Our 6 year old's first time on the mountain. She invited disaster because on her fifth chairlift of the day (three with ESF) she confidently told us she was not afraid of lifts and was an expert. I did try to tell her not to be complacent but she obviously needed a practical example as she was having none of it.

Next chairlift I guess she didn't get far forward enough in time and didn't manage to get on properly. I tried briefly to pull her up but soon realised I wouldn't succeed and let her drop the five feet or so (actual drop from feet to floor around 1-2 feet). We were maybe 5 yards out the lift embarking point. A few seconds later they stopped the lift - very fast reactions! As we were only at adult head height they just lifted her back on. She was fine but very chastened. As were we - I will have to watch her more closely in future although I am not sure what I could have done.

No harm done and I suspect it must happen a lot? Having an injury-free incident like this will only make her more careful in the future when it really matters.

She did great with her skiing though! Very Happy
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
sparklies, well done on dropping her at the point it wouldn't cause a problem.
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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?
http://www.bild.de/news/ausland/skifahren/mutter-rettet-kind-im-skilift-oesterreich-29900702.bild.html
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Having contemplated the scenario many times over on chairlifts before my girls could even ski, I think instinct must have kicked in and played out what I had mentally rehearsed! Funnily enough even as it was happening I thought of this thread which reinforced in my mind it was okay to drop her. She's a tough little girl and didn't even cry but maybe she was too shocked wink
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Is that your photo? Ugh, stuff of nightmares.
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sparklies, yes, that's my photo. As I said, fortunately the girl is ok - could have been much much worse than a broken leg.
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
sparklies wrote:
As were we - I will have to watch her more closely in future although I am not sure what I could have done.




When our two were that small we had a technique for seating them safely. Right arm to lift, left arm to shove them onto the seat. (You need to be fairly confident yourself though.) Now that OH is the smallest one in the house I am thankful that the kids are competent.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Elizabeth B wrote:
sparklies, yes, that's my photo.



Did you get a few quid for it? Toofy Grin

Seems alien to me that you couldn't drag one of your kids back up, but from that position I reckon OH would have no chance.
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Thornyhill, I don't think the angles would work out very well, with the positions of the people and where the 'safety' bar is.

Elizabeth B, gives me the shivers and sparklies, I am so glad your lil un is ok Smile if I ever get my 2 and a half yr old nephew skiing abroad, I think I might try out the climbing-style-harness and reins combo I saw on some Italian kids on my latest holiday.
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crazy_skier_jules wrote:
Thornyhill, I don't think the angles would work out very well, with the positions of the people and where the 'safety' bar is.



I can still 'curl' my kids. Getting more difficult by the month though. As I said, from that position, OH would have no chance of getting the kid back on the seat. No reason that the mother would be any different.
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Thornyhill, yeah... god I am not even a parent and this issue of kids and chairlifts gives me the shivers...
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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.
crazy_skier_jules, once you have your own it will get worse Happy
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 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
Very glad that was the only injury - although I bet the poor mother blames herself no matter what the circumstances. I'm amazed she hung on as long as she did.

I'm only on my thirdish week on the snow and my husband's first so we're not hugely experienced on the lifts either. I think we'll have to work something out though. I wasn't sure if it was sensible to help them on or not but it sounds like it is so perhaps we'll give it a go.

We were hoping to take our four year old up but rapidly reconsidering that for this year!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Thornyhill, not for a good few years if ever (would like one but my partner... meh) but wif I do I will be sure not to wrap them in cotton wool, but get them doing plenty of 'rad' sports, and do the sports with said kid until I am too old/uncool/outstripped skillwise Laughing
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
crazy_skier_jules wrote:
outstripped skillwise Laughing

That certainly happened before I was 40! Believe me, there's plenty of skiing/sailing life after that! wink
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
laundryman, my mum is in her 60s, crews an Enterprise sailing dinghy every week and her and the helm have just completely whooped butt and took all the club's last season's race series trophies. Never stop adventuring Very Happy
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Something I never want to see again - this morning at 9 a.m. we were on the Proclou lift going into Avoriaz from Serraseux and we went over a mother skiing with a baby in a Babybjorn - strapped to her front. It was really cold up in Avoriaz today.... we were up there with all layers still on. Snow was fabulous up on the Fornet etc but a strong wind blowing - stopped me in my tracks at one point. We are now back in the chalet, fire on, large bowl of hot veg soup consumed and I am still fretting over this baby and just hope that the family (dad and another small child were behind) were not going very far and took the baby back inside somewhere.
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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?
Quote:

a mother skiing with a baby in a Babybjorn

Shocked
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Quote:

a mother skiing with a baby in a Babybjorn

Shocked

Another thing I'd rather not see for a long time is the sight of my 1 year old grandaughter, her father and much of my car, covered in sick after she threw up on the way to Geneva airport! There's been a bit of a low grade tummy bug around, and I think that was her manifestation of it. She was completely changed at the roadside and we mopped up as best we could with a pack of wet wipes. rolling eyes that, plus unusually heavy traffic through Bardonnex and on the motorway towards Lausanne meant they caught their flight by the skin of their teeth, but at least they caught it. Fortunately the 3 year old behaved like an angel throughout the journey, which made life easier.

My daughter was carrying the baby in a front carrier, through the airport, and hoping there would be no repeat performance as she had no spare clothes once their bags had been checked.

I am now back in my apartment with about 10 loads of washing to do - including this morning's offering. Mad
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
pam w, our little grand-daughter arrived before Easter off the plane in the front carrier (babybjorn) which was brilliant as the buggy came out later, together with the car seat - they are brilliant for travelling, not for skiing though!

Poor you - have they all gone back now?
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Patch wrote:
bertie bassett, I'd say that's a lot! Do you think you are a jinx?


He pushes 'em....
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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Quote:

have they all gone back now?

Yep, 27 people in all! Was a very busy week for me, but a great success. Did have one chairlift accident. A hesitant boarder didn't commit herself firmly to the dismount, kind of hung back a bit and got swept round and knee smacked against a post. She was in a lot of pain and had been on her own when it happened. It was very near a poste de secours and the pisteurs examined it thoroughly and thought nothing broken - she didn't want to go to medical centre so she was exceptionally evacuated down our chairlift, with my daughter (who happened to be first to pick up her radio message of distress) carrying the board. Foot passengers are not normally allowed on that lift. I got an SOS when I was watching air balloons and airship with my grand-daughter, and got there just in time to transport her back to her apartment with plenty of painkillers and the communal crutches borrowed from my Belgian neighbour's cave.

The pisteurs were right - she was walking in the village on crutches the following day (where she bought my daughter and I some luscious chocolate to thank us, quite unnecessarily, for the rescue effort) and boarding again the day after!

The 3 and 4 year olds all rather enjoyed the chairlifts and all got on, and off, with no problem. But they were with competent parents.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Shocked An instructor years ago showed us how to make a child height 'safety bar' out of our poles, seems to stop the tinies wiggling forward at least which eases my nerves. The kid in the picture is pretty tall though, I probably wouldnt have anticipated problems.....
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
I had a littlle'un put onto a chair lift with me last week (I said OK as all the children looked a reasonable age and then I got the baby of the group). She was so tiny she wasn't tall enough to get onto or off the chairlift without help. I didn't care at all about not touching children I had my arm around her and my poles across her and held her tight for the whole lift ride I was so scared of her falling off. I was surprised by how stressed it made me!
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Quote:

I think I might try out the climbing-style-harness and reins combo I saw on some Italian kids on my latest holiday.


might be helpful, but extra straps can be dodgy round chairlifts - if it can get caught up, it will.

I think it's best for an adult skiing with a small child and having to help them on and off lifts NOT to have any poles (obviously it's different if a small child is just put on beside you).

The instructor our four beginner youngsters were skiing with last week used no poles at any time and neither, of course, did they. My son in law didn't use poles when out with the (just) 3 year old. I suspect that any skier still at the stage of feeling "naked" without poles isn't sufficiently competent to ski with very littlies. (Try skiing backwards and helping them get the idea of pushing their heels out into a snowplough, when you hold their ski tips together, whilst also manipulating your poles. wink )
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
pam w wrote:
Try skiing backwards and helping them get the idea of pushing their heels out into a snowplough, when you hold their ski tips together, whilst also manipulating your poles. wink



LMAO - I always forget about where the poles are and end up comedy falling over them.
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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.
crazy_skier_jules wrote:
Thornyhill, not for a good few years if ever (would like one but my partner... meh) but wif I do I will be sure not to wrap them in cotton wool, but get them doing plenty of 'rad' sports, and do the sports with said kid until I am too old/uncool/outstripped skillwise Laughing



Ahhh - you are still young. If you have kids now they will make you look 'old/uncool/outstripped skillwise' before you are 30. This year was the first time that I've had to make an effort to ski with the kids. I am guessing that next year I'll be in trouble Happy
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 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
We got our four year old on a bunch of chairlifts today no problems. It helps we have A Plan for each time now. No further incidents!

The lift operators have all been wonderful at helping too.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Quote:
I mean, if they did fall and, perish the thought, hurt themselves or worse, whose fault would it be deemed to be? The adult next to them who didn't catch them in time, the child, the parent, the ski school, the lift company? It's also difficult if the child and the adult do not share a language. Could you be sued?


I would be interested to know the legal position on this?

Can anyone on here advise?
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Oh come on snowheads. More griping about helping kids ski. (you know who you are). It is no hardship at all to help the odd child on a lift. Sto fretting about liability 'if something goes wrong'. What about just getting on with life?
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Thornyhill, I am 22. Plan on giving it 10 years give or take, if it ever happens at all NehNeh want to be able to afford to take sprogs with me before I have them, live my own life etc.

Partner is wonderful but has Aspergers and has no idea what to do or how to be around kids so doubtful he will be a dad Sad
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
On our last day our four year old's ski instructor told us that she had fallen asleep on a chairlift Shocked and that it was lucky he was sitting with her!

So there's something else to look out for.. especially nearer the end of the week with exhausted little ones! If they're quiet, check they're not too quiet!

We had loads of ski school children on with us over the week, they were all without exception very well behaved and no bother at all (I realise they may not all be like this!) and especially given we had two in lessons ourselves it would have been churlish to deny them. Most of them handled the lifts better than us wink
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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?
Terryfying, especially to those of us with small children.

I wrote about this subject in my blog in January, including an appalling incident that happened in Les Menuires some years ago...

http://grangedalice.blogspot.fr/2013/01/uplifting-stories.html
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Quote:

Terryfying, especially to those of us with small children

There are many things about the world into which our small children and grandchildren are emerging which frighten me a good deal more than chairlifts.
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