What's your worst lift ride story?

Haven't watched the video...

But, a couple seasons ago... on a rather cold and blustery night at Wachusett, I decided to take 'one more run' off the Minuteman chair...

Loading went OK, myself, a ski racer (in his GS suit) and a teenage couple... we got to the second lift tower and stopped HARD...

I turned around to see the lifties scratching their heads and then the snowmobiles came screaming over to the bottom terminal, and then up the lift line...

Ten minutes later, the chair restarts, we move about 3 feet, and stop hard again...

More snowmobiles, more lifties trying to figure out what's goign on...

The girl of the teenage couple's cell phone starts ringing repeatedly as her father is looking for her and her boyfriend... I think he called about 6 times while we were stuck on the lift... probably thinking they were off getting into the kind of trouble teenage couples usually get into... He wasn't buying the 'we're stuck on the lift' story...

They eventually got the diesel aux drive going, and after about an hour and a half we reached the top terminal... I had to stretch before skiing down as my legs were frozen from the temp and asleep from dangling for that long...

I went in to guest services and because I was skiing on the pass, all the girl could do for me was give me a coupon for $5 off a rental / lesson / lift ticket purchase... Folks skiing on day-tickets were given pro-rated vouchers I believe... Not a complaint... happy with whatever they would give me... and happy I didn't have to evac from the lift... but definitely not the most fun way to take your 'last run' of the night.

-w

That video would have absolutely owned if the lift started up again as soon as she jumped. It was missing a pay off at the end. Especially for a cheap laugh clip that long.

I can't think of too many horrific ride stories aside from lifts breaking down when it is really cold. I never have been evac'd.

One awkward lift ride involved me getting paired up with a couples little kid so he didn't have to ride alone (I think dad was skiing with another kid and mom was in the lodge and it was a double chair). I didn't mind but I was not told that the kid could not unload by himself. We were on a double chair and as the chair approached the unload station, the kid was not getting himself ready. I had not considered that they would have sent me up with a kid that needed help unloading without asking me first. Any ways, I get off but the kid basically falls off the chair behind me almost bringing me down to. I realized too late that the kid has likely always been carried off the chair by an adult. The chair clears us both thankfully, the lift stops, and thankfully dad was on the chair ahead of me so took over. I was not very appreciative about that situation.

I had to be evac'd once up at Burke. It actually wasn't that bad...kinda cool really. Crazy squals rolled in and there was lightning in the area. They had to shut all the lifts down and evac everyone. Got a free day ticket out of that one. And skied in some pretty decent snow on the way down since the slopes were empty and we had been pretty close to the top.

Glenn said:

I had to be evac'd once up at Burke. It actually wasn't that bad...kinda cool really. Crazy squals rolled in and there was lightning in the area. They had to shut all the lifts down and evac everyone. Got a free day ticket out of that one. And skied in some pretty decent snow on the way down since the slopes were empty and we had been pretty close to the top.

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Really? When was this?

I was evac'ed from the Willoughby Quad on Christmas Day 2006. Yeah, that was fun. The teenager up ahead of me freaking out--not so cool!

I've had a few interesting rides. In 2000 or 2001 I rode up with a woman at Sugarbush wearing fur and going on and on about how Sugarbush sucked and Stowe was so cool. At the end of her rant I looked at her and simply said, "well, go back to Stowe!" It was logical and made sense. She didn't get the humor or the logic...but it shut her up.

There was a similar incident at Burke in 2003 when another woman in spandex pants and a fur coat, who I'd seen snowplowing down the mountain, made the same comments and I more diplomatically told her the same thing.

And then there was the incident last year where a couple teenagers got on the Summit Quad at Sugarbush. They were on a date and the boy was so caught up with his girlfriend that he did not give any warning before dropping the safety bar down. The (stupid) handle came down right on my helmeted head. Man, that hurt. I was in some pain and you should have seen how red that guy turned with embarrassment! They were pretty quiet afterwards! Why Poma puts these handles on their chairs is beyond me....

But to be honest the par for me is a pleasant ride with good conversation with folks who love skiing and riding. More often than not they are not familiar with the place and ask me for advice and tips which I am happy to provide. Sometimes I get some good information as well. This spring the Mrs. and I even got a ride up with John Egan at Sugarbush because his private lesson did not wait for him. We got the benefit of the conversation with this guy and I will never forget my wife's comment, "hey wait, you were in Warren Miller movies! You're a movie star!"

The Number 3 T-bar at Sugarloaf, a sentimental favorite of mine. It was December of (I think) 1970, my third year of skiing. There were maybe three feet of snow on the ground, but as you may know, the No. 3 is steep and high and was designed for great snow depths. I was riding up with my brother who was 8 inches taller than me at the time, and heavier. As we went under one of the towers where the snow on the track was less than a foot deep, the piston extended to its limit and I was lifted up off the ground, and fell off. I had to walk back down beside the lift line, where the snow was 3 feet deep. I met my brother at the bottom and tried again. Same thing. This time as I plodded down in my previous footsteps, a snotty ski patroller riding up said, "If you can't stay on the lift, you better stick to the lower slopes."

But my brother encouraged me to try again, and this time I made it! Enjoyed a great run down the Tote Road. Pthllbthlbthlblblb to the ski patroller.

clip's pretty weak. wasn't there an incident at west mtn a few yrs ago when some kids got on (sneaked) a lift after it closed and wound up spending the night on it.

Jewish ex-girlfriend's mom. She wanted some one on one time with 'the goy'. Every ride up the Old Big Spruce Double Chair at Stowe was a long one. None longer than that ride. awkward

we broke up a few weeks later :lol:

Several yrs ago 2 buddies and i were skiing very late in the season . For one of the guys, a real die hard, it was going to be his LAST RIDE of the season since he was going to Fla in the am . ON the way up he was savoring just how much he was going to Dance down the Mountain and suck up the experience.

Our "other" partner on a quad was a very drunken guy . I mean THIS dude was really " ALL Bozoed -up" and was telling how he was just bombing the steeps all day -- SCARY in his condition . The freaking guy REEKED of cheap booze and was slurring his words etc and damn near incoherent .

We stayed cool and damn if the lift didn't break down and leave us hanging in the air for 30 minutes and we had to not only ski down BUT also get back to the main portion of the resort some distance from where we were on a connector in order to get back BEFORE the lifts closed . So we finally get off the lift and because it was so damn late my buddy never got to shoot down the trail we wanted to do , instead we and the drunk had to detour on the connector trail to make the last chair .

That bozo was scary out of control , i mean zero judgement -----------and my buddy never got his PRIMO LAST RUN as he'd imagined and he was Pluperfectly Pissed

Scary at Bolton

Agreed, the video was pretty bad.

Several years ago, I was skiing with my 8 year old daughter and we got on the Timberline lift. That lift has plastic seats. Very slippery seats for a skinny lightweight kid. We had just gotten loaded and were about 12 feet off the ground when she slipped off the seat and under the safety bar. I grabbed the back of her jacket, but she already was butt off the chair, dangling. The lifty slammed the lift off and we began swinging.

Below us were several boulders underneath an unknown amount of powder. I could not pull her up with one hand, and I too began to slide out. I looked below at what seemed to be a clearing between rocks and told her I was going to drop her - now about an eight foot drop for her. She landed on her back in deep powder.

But I couldn't get back into the chair and was losing my grip. I was scared to death I would land on her head skis first. I tried to swing away and pull myself up but couldn't. Finally my grip would hold no longer and I plummeted. My skis landed within inches of her head. A miracle.

She was laughing, thought it was the funniest, most fun thing. I tried to play along by a half-hearted laugh, just to keep her calm, but I was still freaking from the thought that I could have seriously injured her.

In the end, we both walked away, got back on the lift and skied the rest of the day.

They still have those plastic seats, but she no longer rides that lift, understandably so.

My worst lift ride by far was at on the Summit HSQ at Sierra at Tahoe
Shortly after loading the lift we heard the first clap of thunder. By about 1/2 way up there was a serious t-storm underway with lots of close lightning and hail falling. The lift stopped and we said debated jumping but decided against. The guy I was with had already broken his back in a fall and said he would not do it again! It was quite scary and we were very concerned about being struck.
Anyway finally the storm passed and the lift started again. At the top patrol forced us to wait in the summit lodge for quite awhile until they were satisfied it was over. The trip back down the mountain had unique conditions with a coating of fresh hail..

bobbutts said:

My worst lift ride by far was at on the Summit HSQ at Sierra at Tahoe
Shortly after loading the lift we heard the first clap of thunder. By about 1/2 way up there was a serious t-storm underway with lots of close lightning and hail falling. The lift stopped and we said debated jumping but decided against. The guy I was with had already broken his back in a fall and said he would not do it again! It was quite scary and we were very concerned about being struck.
Anyway finally the storm passed and the lift started again. At the top patrol forced us to wait in the summit lodge for quite awhile until they were satisfied it was over. The trip back down the mountain had unique conditions with a coating of fresh hail..

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I think that takes the prize! Why the hell is the protocol to stop a lift and not unload it in such a storm?

thetrailboss said:

I think that takes the prize! Why the hell is the protocol to stop a lift and not unload it in such a storm?

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That is not the first time I've heard of lifts stopping during a lightening storm. I'd like to hear the rationale too.

I love that bit from Larry David..

dmc said:

I love that bit from Larry David..

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edible underwear?

SkiDork said:

edible underwear?

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haha... I love how she jumps - he just looks down and then takes another bite.. haha...

billski said:

That is not the first time I've heard of lifts stopping during a lightening storm. I'd like to hear the rationale too.

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Power outage? It happens during lightning...

dmc said:

Power outage? It happens during lightning...

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That's why lifts have an auxiliary diesel system.

thetrailboss said:

That's why lifts have an auxiliary diesel system.

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Of course... But a thunder storm will stop a lift.

Also - with a big storm comes wind so the lift may've shut down. Not sure it's safe to start the diesel with chairs swinging around..

dmc said:

Power outage? It happens during lightning...

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I really don't know.. pretty sure they did not lose power. Wondered about why it stopped at the time and never figured it out or possibly forgot.