dbking
New member
Here is an idea that may appeal to some of you.
About 14 years ago, we came up with the idea of an All Lifts Race. It was a benefit for a party for the lift ops. We all thru in $5. It is a word of mouth type race since the ski area can't know too much ( for their own good ). We race with teams of 4. Some years we made each team have a women and/or a snowboarder. First team back wins.
The rules were simple... The team has to ride every lift on the mountain, together. After that, we tried not to have many rules. The teams were free to ride the chairs ( or pomas, t-bars,carpets,trams,ect ) in any order they wish. We had a " Lemans style " start where everyone starts at the base lodge and runs to put on their equipment.
Here at Big Sky, we have 26 lifts. Depending on a lot of factors, not all the lifts are running or not all the lifts open are starting at the same time. Knowledge of the ski area and how it works is critical. Obviously, this race won't be fun at a small area but places like Sugarbush, killignton, stowe, ect would be fun.
We went so far as to have a support team bring us different skis for different parts of the mountain as well as getting in the way of other teams. Wax was critical.
We had the lift ops hand out tickets for each lift as the entire team showed up. They were into it, unofficially.
At our races, we all knew each other, so we could more or less trust the other teams not to cheat and skip a lift. There were some heated moments, like when we downloaded the tram one year. At the time, there was no rule about it, but we did RIDE it.
This race has become one of the most dangerous things I have ever done. Think about RACING down some of the tough chairs at your mountain. If it is a race and I'm skiing as fast as I can on a trail without any buddy controlling the situation ahead....
Anyway, it is an alternative "ski off."
About 14 years ago, we came up with the idea of an All Lifts Race. It was a benefit for a party for the lift ops. We all thru in $5. It is a word of mouth type race since the ski area can't know too much ( for their own good ). We race with teams of 4. Some years we made each team have a women and/or a snowboarder. First team back wins.
The rules were simple... The team has to ride every lift on the mountain, together. After that, we tried not to have many rules. The teams were free to ride the chairs ( or pomas, t-bars,carpets,trams,ect ) in any order they wish. We had a " Lemans style " start where everyone starts at the base lodge and runs to put on their equipment.
Here at Big Sky, we have 26 lifts. Depending on a lot of factors, not all the lifts are running or not all the lifts open are starting at the same time. Knowledge of the ski area and how it works is critical. Obviously, this race won't be fun at a small area but places like Sugarbush, killignton, stowe, ect would be fun.
We went so far as to have a support team bring us different skis for different parts of the mountain as well as getting in the way of other teams. Wax was critical.
We had the lift ops hand out tickets for each lift as the entire team showed up. They were into it, unofficially.
At our races, we all knew each other, so we could more or less trust the other teams not to cheat and skip a lift. There were some heated moments, like when we downloaded the tram one year. At the time, there was no rule about it, but we did RIDE it.
This race has become one of the most dangerous things I have ever done. Think about RACING down some of the tough chairs at your mountain. If it is a race and I'm skiing as fast as I can on a trail without any buddy controlling the situation ahead....
Anyway, it is an alternative "ski off."
