Bubble lift opinions

[John9]

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?

 

[Granite1]

You are not wrong, there should be no bubble lifts.

 

[Vter]

Your right On. Nothing worse than getting hit in the head 2’ off the ground with the bar than a 1 ton canapy. That said, I liked it a lot downloading a lot @ Whistler/Blackcomb during a 100+ Day year. Yup, divorced, gave her the 4 apartment 1899 house and took a season at W/B…best, best idea I ever had in mylife !
Really not looking for it, but got picked-up by 2 sexy (yes 2) ladies who I skied with, showed them around in&out of boundries thick and deep and both took me out to a fine dinner & wine afterwards and put on lingerie for the best….ever !
W/B has the goods…frustrated married women and some of the best skiing this long-time Dude has ever done !

 

[bigbob]

On a 600' hill such as Camelback that is fairly far south I would agree that it's use is questionable. When it's -5 and the wind is howling it is nice to pull the bubble down and block the wind! You can always leve the bubble up.

 

[PAabe]

They can be nice if the weather is bad - otherwise I'd rather have the wind on my face and an unobstructed view of the mountains and skiers

The bubbles at Camelback are going to get scratched up and absolutely trashed by the Camelback clientele and the lift isn't hardly long enough to even get cold on anyway

 

[Kingslug20]

I think they were invented in Europe..gets pretty sporty out there at times...
Here..not so much. They are comfy though.

 

[cdskier]

Personally I hate them. I like seeing the beauty of the mountains without colored scratched up plastic in front of me.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

I hate bubble lifts. I sit on my poles and the bubble always hits my poles and bends on them. Some lady tried to put the bubble down at loon last weekend on a gorgeous sunny 31 degree day and I asked her to not lower the bubble and she got pissed off. Hate that shit.

 

[drjeff]

Been riding bubble lifts at Mount Snow for 11 plus years, year round now.

Way more pros than cons IMHO!

Per a recent storm skiing podcast episode, in Austria alone, there are now almost 50 bubble 8 packs. Get used to bubble lifts. They're going to be around for a long time. They are a good thing for the majority of the skiing/riding population

 

[Edd]

I like them, but agree not every day is appropriate to drop the bubble down.

 

[Smellytele]

Been riding bubble lifts at Mount Snow for 11 plus years, year round now.

Way more pros than cons IMHO!

Per a recent storm skiing podcast episode, in Austria alone, there are now almost 50 bubble 8 packs. Get used to bubble lifts. They're going to be around for a long time. They are a good thing for the majority of the skiing/riding population

Yes and so are flat boring groomed runs.

 

[drjeff]

Yes and so are flat boring groomed runs.

But those runs sell WAY more lift tickets and passes than most AZ folks care to admit

 

[Vter]

Mr Krusty sits on his poles too…feels good. I take back my original assumptions Mr. Krusty, I kinda dig your style. When your 3’ feet off the ground, sliding those picks between the crack, nothing pisses me off more than the Bar crashing my poles & balls. That’s why I fool with my boots and grab an empty chair. “Do you want to share a chair ?”…”Thank you, but I smoke”

 

[John9]

I'm sure they make sense in some places. I really like the 6 packs, but I will never be pulling down the canopy if up to me. The lift itself is amazing, I heard it cost 12 million.

 

[Vter]

The Only time to drop the Bubble is for for Down-loading Toke…not to be oblivious to the snow lines, cold, wind, sights of the Sport…including those hot bikini clad girls in the hot-tub at Blackcomb !

 

[deadheadskier]

Never rode one until a few weeks ago at Loon. There's one big pro that outweighs all of the annoying cons IMO. That Kanc 8 is supposedly the most advanced bubble lift on the market, but I found the operation of it pretty clunky. And I don't like that I can't sit on my poles with it down.

The Big Pro is it results in people skiing more vs an uncovered lift. The day we were at Loon, it was spitting rain off and on with the occasional steady rain. We definitely skied more because of the bubble and how it helped keep us dryer. I could see a similar scenario during bitter cold days.

 

[jimmywilson69]

I hate that I can't sit on my poles... seems like a design flaw if you ask me

 

[drjeff]

Trying to figure out these days which ski/riding social media site has more curmudgeons complaining about the (needed to generate needed business) changes to the ski industry, AZ or Snow journal...

 

[cdskier]

Trying to figure out these days which ski/riding social media site has more curmudgeons complaining about the (needed to generate needed business) changes to the ski industry, AZ or Snow journal...

Bubbles are needed to generate business? That's a bit of a stretch. Plenty of resorts out there with no bubbles yet plenty of skier visits...

 

[jaytrem]

I love the Mount Snow bubble, it keeps the people off the other lifts.