Lift bar....up or down?

[prisnah]

Was reading GSS's post on best day ever and just got to wondering, while riding the lift do you keep the bar up or down, or does it not matter to ya?

Personally, I'll do either, but I'd rather have it down so I can at least have the option of resting my feet, plus it makes me feel a little more secure when i gotta move around to get at my pack.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Down....I almost fell off the high speed quad at Blue two seasons ago. The bar was up and a girl I was riding with asked me what kind of boots I had..I looked at the model...LangeL10s..and at that very second the lift came to an abrupt stop and if my reflexes were a second slower in grabbing behind my seat with my arm..I would have plummeted 40-50 feet to my death among boulders and tree stumps. Some snowboarders get pissed about pulling the bar down..especially on a 6-pack..but I always give a warning..I'm not one of those who just yanks it down and hits somebody in the head. I usually just say,"I want to rest my feet up"

 

[MRGisevil]

DOWN! I'm scared of heights D:

 

[hammer]

With kids, I'd never think of leaving the bar up...I know that the little ones can slip right underneath but it's better than nothing.

 

[nhski]

I prefer the bar up.

In VT i believe its a law that the bar has to be down.

I love some of the lifts out west where there isn't any bar to lower.

 

[ctenidae]

Depends, but usually down for the foot rests

 

[SkiDog]

yeah out here not a lot of lifts have bars...

im a 50/50 kinda guy...if there is a foot rest on the bar..its DOWN...if not...I could care...if im alone and no footrest its staying up.....if with other and no footrest I let others make the choice...with footrest its ALWAYS down....

I do like a "hey ready" type heads up if the bars coming down though. Im tall and wear a helmet..it ALWAYS gets clocked when im not warned.

M

 

[Grassi21]

always down. even with the bar down those abrupt stops freak me out.

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

On duty,, I have to set a good example. It's down.

I'm generally comfortable at height, but there's something about the wind blowing when your on a centerpole double out West with no bar (think: Taos' 7A "Seventh Heaven" chair) that constricts the Starfish.

 

[skizoo]

Down too,

 

[tjf67]

I keep it up unless its windy or someone else on the lift wants it down.

 

[PA Ridge Racer]

when I'm the only person on the lift, normally up. With other people (or when I'm in Vermont since it's the law) down.

 

[SkiDork]

VT state law - DOWN!!!!!!!!

 

[drjeff]

Down, even if I wasn't trying to set an example for my kids or am in VT!

I'd be curious to know though, of the "up" people, how many of you wear a helmet??

 

[tjf67]

Down, even if I wasn't trying to set an example for my kids or am in VT!

I'd be curious to know though, of the "up" people, how many of you wear a helmet??

I have been wearing a helmet for 4 years.

 

[wa-loaf]

Sometimes I just like to let my feet hang and it's better with the bar up.

With kids, I'd never think of leaving the bar up...I know that the little ones can slip right underneath but it's better than nothing.

Definitely, my daughter has a harness with a handle she wore last year and I kept my hand on it the whole time we were on lifts.

 

[kcyanks1]

I always want it down.

 

[BushMogulMaster]

As others have alluded to, it is VT state law that the safety bar be down.

That said, it is not a law in the state of CO. Following the investigation of the Teller lift accident at Keystone, the Colorado Ski Safety Act was revised to explicitly allow safety bars to be optional. This decision was reached because, during the investigation, it was found that in some situations, safety bars may actually increase potential for injury. For example, given a scenario where there are chairs falling of the lift (for whatever reason... be creative), one would most certainly want to make an attempt to remove himself from the chair (jump off). If the safety bar is down, a skier may not have time to raise the bar and then jump before his chair was the one heading for the ground. In this case, the safety bar would keep the skier on the falling chair, and likely result in death, or at the minimum, extreme bodily trauma.

Of course, most new lift installations now include foot rests, but they remain optional.

However, for summer use, it is in fact CO state law that that safety bars be present and used.

I personally use the foot rest. If I'm in VT, I always have it down. In CO, it will just depend on the individual chair and what it's equipped with.

 

[koreshot]

Down, I have major fear of heights.

If I am on the lift with others who keep the bar up, I pretend to be cool and take one arm and wrap it around the back of the seat, like I'm cruisin or something. In reality I am clenching the metal bar that runs the length of the seat back with every last ounce of forearm energy. I can only go 5 to 10 minutes before my hand starts freezing and I need to swap.

 

[drjeff]

As others have alluded to, it is VT state law that the safety bar be down.

That said, it is not a law in the state of CO. Following the investigation of the Teller lift accident at Keystone, the Colorado Ski Safety Act was revised to explicitly allow safety bars to be optional. This decision was reached because, during the investigation, it was found that in some situations, safety bars may actually increase potential for injury. For example, given a scenario where there are chairs falling of the lift (for whatever reason... be creative), one would most certainly want to make an attempt to remove himself from the chair (jump off). If the safety bar is down, a skier may not have time to raise the bar and then jump before his chair was the one heading for the ground. In this case, the safety bar would keep the skier on the falling chair, and likely result in death, or at the minimum, extreme bodily trauma.

QUOTE]

Lets see, most lifts are maybe 50 feet in the air, a sudden line/grip failure resulting in the chair plunging to the ground at 9.8meters/second - that will give most folks maybe 2 seconds to say "oh sh*&" and make the mental descision to jump.

Sounds alot like the logic that some folks use to justify NOT wearing a seatbelt for that 0.1% crash where they'll end up with a jammed seatbelt underwater and the initial decelleration of the crash didn't kill them in the first place