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Lift bar....up or down?

boston_e

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I like chairs with a bar and no footrests... then you can rest your elbows on the bar and let your feet dangle without the footrests getting in the way.
 

riverc0il

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Agreed. You don't need to worry about banging your head when you fall out due to a sudden lift halt. :blink:
How often has this happened? When was the last reported lift fall due to a lift stopping and someone falling out because the bar was up? If this was such an issue, how is it not a safety issue for areas out west with very high chairlifts to not even have safety bars. I continue to submit that safety bars are more about perceived than actual safety and someone falling out due to a lift stopping almost never happens (I don't recall a single news story ever, though that is not to say it has not happened once or twice in the history of the chairlift).
 

billski

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How often has this happened? When was the last reported lift fall due to a lift stopping and someone falling out because the bar was up? If this was such an issue, how is it not a safety issue for areas out west with very high chairlifts to not even have safety bars. I continue to submit that safety bars are more about perceived than actual safety and someone falling out due to a lift stopping almost never happens (I don't recall a single news story ever, though that is not to say it has not happened once or twice in the history of the chairlift).

I was joking (computer communciation sucks!). But indeed I have read reports of folks falling off due to sudden lift stops. I'm not going to spend time digging it up to justify it to you, so I'll just let this die.
 

speden

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But indeed I have read reports of folks falling off due to sudden lift stops.

I'd be curious to hear the circumstances when that happened if anyone knows of a case. The geometry of the lift chairs seems like it would make it very difficult to fall off from a sudden stop. The seats are angled backwards to begin with, and during a sudden stop I think the whole chair will swing forward to keep the seat under you. To fall off it seems like someone would need to have been carelessly sitting on the edge of the seat or leaned way forward at the wrong moment.

I would have expected falling off to happen more in cases of a ski sticking out and somehow clipping a passing tree or lift tower, kids horsing around, someone losing consciousness, or something like that.

For myself I find the bar of some psychological comfort and I can relax more than if there is no bar. But I don't think it is all that necessary. And sometimes people get bonked on the head or fingers get pinched when lowering the bar. I also find that when getting ready to unload, I sometimes forget to raise the bar and have to scramble to do so at the last second. On the whole I'd rather have them than not.
 

billski

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I'd be curious to hear the circumstances when that happened if anyone knows of a case. The geometry of the lift chairs seems like it would make it very difficult to fall off from a sudden stop. The seats are angled backwards to begin with, and during a sudden stop I think the whole chair will swing forward to keep the seat under you. To fall off it seems like someone would need to have been carelessly sitting on the edge of the seat or leaned way forward at the wrong moment.

I would have expected falling off to happen more in cases of a ski sticking out and somehow clipping a passing tree or lift tower, kids horsing around, someone losing consciousness, or something like that.

For myself I find the bar of some psychological comfort and I can relax more than if there is no bar. But I don't think it is all that necessary. And sometimes people get bonked on the head or fingers get pinched when lowering the bar. I also find that when getting ready to unload, I sometimes forget to raise the bar and have to scramble to do so at the last second. On the whole I'd rather have them than not.

One variable is the seat construction. As y'all may remember, my daughter and I slipped out at Bolton a few seasons back and fell about 12 feet. Lucky for us there was about 3-4 feet of pow under the lift. No, we were not in the newspaper, nor do we have any interest in ambulance-chasing-litigation. The Timberland lift has a hard-plastic seat, which is extremely slipperly for the lightweight skier.
 

marcski

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One variable is the seat construction. As y'all may remember, my daughter and I slipped out at Bolton a few seasons back and fell about 12 feet. Lucky for us there was about 3-4 feet of pow under the lift. No, we were not in the newspaper, nor do we have any interest in ambulance-chasing-litigation. The Timberland lift has a hard-plastic seat, which is extremely slipperly for the lightweight skier.

We always knew you were a lightweight, Bill. :lol:
 

boston_e

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Agreed. You don't need to worry about banging your head when you fall out due to a sudden lift halt. :blink:

So you should not rest your elbows on the bar? Are you worried about flipping over it if the lift stops? I don't think that would ever happen in 1000 years.
 
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