John9
Member
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2018
- Messages
- 92
- Points
- 8
Had a good first day of my season at Camelback PA. They have a new 6 person bubble lift. This was my first experience with a bubble lift.
The lift itself is great. Padded seats and back rest, smooth, quiet and fast. It's like sitting on couch. IMHO, bubble feature is another story...
What real purpose does it serve? Block the wind ? My ski wear does that just fine. If the conditions are so bad you need to be shielded from the weather, hail, freezing rain, ect, are you really going to be skiing in it?
The canopy top is very heavy and comes down with a lot of force behind it. Would not want my arm hit by it. I am only 5 '8 sitting all the way back, it only cleared my knees by a few inches. Not sure how will this work for a tall person with long legs.
The biggest problem I see is if the canopy is closed, it significant reduces the time you have to unload from the lift. The canopy opens automatically, but it doesn't open until the chair is directly over the center of the landing area. Unlike a regular lift when your skis or board touches down on the edge of the landing platform, stand up, and ski off ASAP. Many inexperienced skiers have trouble getting of a lift as it is, causing stoppages, I see this making it worse.
Maybe at some ski areas with specific conditions that have very long and windy lift rides a bubble makes sense. Other than that, I see this just causing problems. Hope I am wrong, but that is my impression. What are others experiences?
The lift itself is great. Padded seats and back rest, smooth, quiet and fast. It's like sitting on couch. IMHO, bubble feature is another story...
What real purpose does it serve? Block the wind ? My ski wear does that just fine. If the conditions are so bad you need to be shielded from the weather, hail, freezing rain, ect, are you really going to be skiing in it?
The canopy top is very heavy and comes down with a lot of force behind it. Would not want my arm hit by it. I am only 5 '8 sitting all the way back, it only cleared my knees by a few inches. Not sure how will this work for a tall person with long legs.
The biggest problem I see is if the canopy is closed, it significant reduces the time you have to unload from the lift. The canopy opens automatically, but it doesn't open until the chair is directly over the center of the landing area. Unlike a regular lift when your skis or board touches down on the edge of the landing platform, stand up, and ski off ASAP. Many inexperienced skiers have trouble getting of a lift as it is, causing stoppages, I see this making it worse.
Maybe at some ski areas with specific conditions that have very long and windy lift rides a bubble makes sense. Other than that, I see this just causing problems. Hope I am wrong, but that is my impression. What are others experiences?