bad mojo under lift lines

[jack97]

Another thread got me thinking about this….

For the longest time, I didn’t like skiing under or near lift lines. Some are intimidating with the onlookers; single chair at MRG, zoomer at Cannon.

The triple at ragged mountain is on top of showboat, skier’s right has an ungroom area. One time after a dump, it left loose powder on top of ice, right under the triple, I slip, did a yard sale and landed on my face. Staighten up my googles and helmet, staggered up and fell again on the back of my helmet. While still down, I hear an adult say to his kid, “thats the reason why you need to wear a helmet”.

The worst is 10th mountain trail at Wachusetts; weekends and afternoons it’s crowded with kids. When you fall or get up awkwardly in the moguls, they can give you a taunting similar in scale to what the Frenchmen did to King Arthur in MP’s Search for the Holy Grail. I know… I’ve had my share of this.

Maybe my skin has grown thicker; it doesn’t bother me now. Just wondering if you have lift line trails you would rather avoid?

 

[riverc0il]

i love the lift line. you name it, i will hit it without hesitation. i think it takes a certain performance mentality to really love the lift line, you gotta either have completely thick skin or love strutting your stuff or both. the steepest lines with the tightest bumps and best snow can be found under most lift lines, so it is worth the risk if you don't . conversing with the lift riders is optional when you drop a good air or nail a line tough stunned silence is appreciated too! :lol:

stinks about some lift riders giving people the business. a little good natured fun is part of the game though. i especially love a good yard sale followed by "ooooooooooooh man! are you alright! that looked like it REALLY HURT!" :lol: comes with the territory i guess. but mean spiritedness such as you describe at WaWa is the pits.

when i was learning to ski at ski bradford in haverhill, ma, banging skis together to dislodge snow over a downhill skier/rider was the en vogue thing for the local hoodlums to do. occasionally a snowball would fly from the truly dispicable. i think that is actually were i learned to love the lift line, cause i wanted to dodge their feeble attempts to nail me just to spite them.

 

[Zand]

I never notice the lift overhead when I ski a liftline. Wawa does have quite the lot of hecklers.

 

[awf170]

i love the lift line. you name it, i will hit it without hesitation. i think it takes a certain performance mentality to really love the lift line, you gotta either have completely thick skin or love strutting your stuff or both. the steepest lines with the tightest bumps and best snow can be found under most lift lines, so it is worth the risk if you don't . conversing with the lift riders is optional when you drop a good air or nail a line tough stunned silence is appreciated too! :lol:

stinks about some lift riders giving people the business. a little good natured fun is part of the game though. i especially love a good yard sale followed by "ooooooooooooh man! are you alright! that looked like it REALLY HURT!" :lol: comes with the territory i guess. but mean spiritedness such as you describe at WaWa is the pits.

when i was learning to ski at ski bradford in haverhill, ma, banging skis together to dislodge snow over a downhill skier/rider was the en vogue thing for the local hoodlums to do. occasionally a snowball would fly from the truly dispicable. i think that is actually were i learned to love the lift line, cause i wanted to dodge their feeble attempts to nail me just to spite them.

I agree with pretty much everything here. Also if I im skiing something hard or going off a drop I like to have people around even if it isnt a lift. Having other people around is just cool when your doing something hard. Defiantly gives me inspiration to ski harder, faster, or do something I wouldn't normally do. I think the best instance to have a lot of people around or a lift above you is a drop. It just gets you amped do it and even if you mess up on the landing you will still get a ton of cheers. Also if you have a bunch of people follow eachother in doing a sick line or drop you get a sense of commaradary even if you have never met before. When doing something really hard it doesn't matter if you mess up or not, its just enough to have the guts to try it. Which IMO is just awsome.

About being nerverse under the lift, I don't understand why people care. You don't know them, they don't know you, so who cares what they think.

 

[PowderDeprived]

One thing about liftlines, show off all you want, but never stop. There are allwayse a bunch of misfits who are keep a tradition of spiting or throwing coke cans at anybody stoped below them.

Some places this is apperently such a problem they instruct the ski school not to stop classes anywhere near lifts.

edit.....

I exagerated quite abit when I orriginaly posted this, though it isn't a problem at my home mountain occasionly you get some missfits anywhere especialy on croweded weekends, I have heard rumors that there are some places out west where there are problems, but I have never personaly seen anything, more than people littering etc...

 

[smootharc]

Skiing Chute and Liftline at MRG....

....I definitely only head down when I plan on "bringing it"....

Not that there's hectoring....just those quiet sets of eyes watching your every move....

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

i love the lift line. you name it, i will hit it without hesitation. i think it takes a certain performance mentality to really love the lift line, you gotta either have completely thick skin or love strutting your stuff or both. .

Me too, I seek them out. It helps bring out my A game.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

One thing about liftlines, show off all you want, but never stop. There are allwayse a bunch of misfits who are keep a tradition of spiting or throwing coke cans at anybody stoped below them.

Some places this is apperently such a problem they instruct the ski school not to stop classes anywhere near lifts.

I've been skiing for 47 years and have never had that happen to me. Where do you ski?

 

[skibum1321]

One thing about liftlines, show off all you want, but never stop. There are allwayse a bunch of misfits who are keep a tradition of spiting or throwing coke cans at anybody stoped below them.

Some places this is apperently such a problem they instruct the ski school not to stop classes anywhere near lifts.

I have no problem stopping near lifts - nothing thrown at me and no one yelling (unless my friends are yelling to me from the lift). I think you need to find yourself a new home mountain.

I agree with river and austin, lift lines are awesome. It makes me ski just a little bit harder and faster and go for the taller side of the cliff.

 

[Marc]

The amount of vitriol and mean spiritedness from the lift riders is inversely proportional to the average skill level and average age. Hence the brats at Wa being so insecure with themselves they jump on an opportunity to direct negative attention towards someone else.

Doesn't really bother me. There's no easier place to criticize than from on the lift. Just remember that.

 

[Marc]

Personally I ski a lift line the same as any other trail. I don't pay attention to anyone else's comments, save for the constructive criticism from my skiing partner(s).

I ski for me, and me alone. The way I ski makes me happy, I couldn't care less what others think of me.

 

[ctenidae]

I couldn't care less what others think of me.

Vital defense mechanism, huh?

I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything to me from a lift. Not that no one has, just that I've never heard it.

 

[Marc]

Vital defense mechanism, huh?

I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything to me from a lift. Not that no one has, just that I've never heard it.

Careful, I'm fragile.

 

[NHpowderhound]

I love skiing under lifts. I love ripping a nice run and getting some hoots and hollers from the occupants in the chairs.I love doing the same if somebody is cranking huge clean carves or straighlining the zipperline. And the places I ski I dont really have to worry about spit and cans.
((*
*))NHPH

 

[2knees]

so many liftlines are great bump runs. The mall, black diamond, needles liftline, free fall, national, castlerock liftline, redline (more cliffs then bumps) etc. I dont really care what people have to say and for the most part i ignore it. I had a bunch of kids screaming "Old school, you suck" at me once. That got my attention. I actually found it funny as they were all on snowboards and probably couldnt ski bumps if their lives depended on it.

 

[Greg]

"Old school, you suck"

That's funny! You post on AZ, knees - most of us are old school...!

Long live the daffy! :lol:

 

[2knees]

That's funny! You post on AZ, knees - most of us are old school...!

Long live the daffy! :lol:

More like Old's Cool, right? It made me laugh trust me.

 

[Sky]

I enjoy skiing under the lift lines, and I'm with ct...I "can't" hear any comments from the lift lines. I'd attribute it to my age and hearing loss....but it was the same thing in HS and college hoops, I'd shut the crowd out...too much happening on the court/on the snow.

Okemo has Nor' Easter, Upper Chief, and Fastlane under one lift, and Quantum Leap under the Jackson Gore lift...all good.

Profile @ Cannon!

Watching the park from Wa's Minuteman lift can be interesting. SOme of it's good, some of it looks like "Outdoor Outakes". I saw a "skier" try to ride the rail with his skis "parallel" to the rail. NOT GOOD! I was too doubled over with empathy to ... egad, I can't even finish this thought. That kid didn't get up for a long while.

 

[Greg]

More like Old's Cool, right?

Indeed!

 

[SkiDork]

The amount of vitriol and mean spiritedness from the lift riders is inversely proportional to the average skill level and average age. Hence the brats at Wa being so insecure with themselves they jump on an opportunity to direct negative attention towards someone else.

Doesn't really bother me. There's no easier place to criticize than from on the lift. Just remember that.

I always tell the doofus that I'll be glad to wait right there to discuss what on their mind.

Never had anybody take me up on it...