Waiting in Lift Lines

[highpeaksdrifter]

You’re at your mountain of choice and snow conditions are comparably great on all trails. You’re looking forward to getting first or close tracks on your favorite trail, but there is a long lift line to the chair you need to take. On the chair close by the line is a lot shorter, but that will take you to a part of the mountain that you can’t access your favorite trail.

How long are you willing to wait in line to get where you want to go?

For me it’s 10 minutes max,. I am spoiled at Whiteface with it’s short if any liftlines. I’d get on the other chair and ski somewhere I didn’t want to be as much rather then wait in line.

 

[nycskier]

I waited 2 hours in a lift line once in Cerro Cathedral in Bariloche Argentina!

Man did that suck.

 

[Greg]

You’re at your mountain of choice and snow conditions are comparably great on all trails. You’re looking forward to getting first or close tracks on your favorite trail, but there is a long lift line to the chair you need to take. On the chair close by the line is a lot shorter, but that will take you to a part of the mountain that you can’t access your favorite trail.

How long are you willing to wait in line to get where you want to go?

For me it’s 10 minutes max,. I am spoiled at Whiteface with it’s short if any liftlines. I’d get on the other chair and ski somewhere I didn’t want to be as much rather then wait in line.

Well, if the line is long, first tracks are probably not a good bet anyway. I'm not so much of a powder hound that I have to have first tracks, but I would probably opt for the other lift. This season at Sugarbush, we woke to almost a foot of fresh snow on a Monday. Everyone bee-lined to Castlerock. We warmed up off of Gatehouse and then hit North Lynx scoring first tracks on Morning Star. It was still dumping throughout the morning so there was plenty of quality skiing on Castlerock once we made it over there.

 

[Marc]

I am outwardly patient in lift lines but dying a little on the inside. I avoid them like the plague. I skied the Snowdon Triple several times over the K1 because the lines are so much smaller. Or lap the Northridge Triple on a bitterly windy day just to avoid the gondi lines.

 

[shpride]

I always would always rather skip the long lift line, and hit up a less traveled area. I also usually opt for the slower lift if there are two lifts to the summit, and the faster one has a huge line. Usually nobody goes on the slower one.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I waited 2 hours in a lift line once in Cerro Cathedral in Bariloche Argentina!

Man did that suck.

Sounds like the old days at Hunter. :wink: Probably only felt like two hours, but back in the day of fixed grip double chairs they got some long ass lift lines there.

 

[skibum9995]

I hate waiting in line. I would definitely go to another lift, although the places I ski rarely have any lines. I don't think I have waited more than 5 mins in the last 4 or 5 years.

 

[JimG.]

Sounds like the old days at Hunter. :wink: Probably only felt like two hours, but back in the day of fixed grip double chairs they got some long ass lift lines there.

Yeah, like 30 years ago at Hunter. And I NEVER ever waited 2 hours even back then. EVER. Maybe a half hour, tops.

I've never waited 2 hours in a lift line at any resort anywhere. EVER. I've never seen a 2 hour lift line...and I've been skiing regularly for 45 years.

Unless the lift was broken and then anyone who stands there 2 hours is just an idiot. Sorry, and nycskier I'm not implying you waited at a broken lift in Argentina. Why was that line so long?

If I ever saw a lift line that long I wouldn't go stand in it, that's for sure. So I guess that answers HPD's question. I'd go elsewhere.

Because if I showed up for first tracks and there was a line that long, I got up too late and I'm the idiot.

 

[hammer]

Most of my trips involve:

• Getting up early, finishing up packing (most of which I try to do the night before), and prodding the kids to move along (1.5 - 2 hours)
• Drive to the ski area (1 - 2 hours)
• Parking, getting equipment on, getting kids set (min. 0.5 hour)

After 3 - 4 hours or more just getting ready to ski, the last thing I want to do is wait in a lift line...so my tolerance is usually 10 minutes max.

Fortunately, unless a lift is broken or you absolutely can't be in a singles line, I haven't had to wait any longer than 15 - 20 minutes or so and I've only had those waits on holiday week.

I'd take the shorter line every time...many times the lifts with a shorter line access the more challenging trails anyway.

 

[andyzee]

I never wait more than 10 minutes and even that is stretching it. At Killington there is almost always an alternative.

 

[kcyanks1]

Generally I don't want to wait much more than 5 minutes. 10 minutes is bad, but I'd probably deal with it for a few runs. Exceptions are MRG and Castlerock at SB. At MRG I'm not going to go over to the Practice Slope because the Single (or Sunnyside Double) has a 20 minute line. If I want to get in a couple runs at Castlerock, I'll deal with the wait (to a point). Otherwise, I don't like waiting much.

 

[mattchuck2]

You’re at your mountain of choice and snow conditions are comparably great on all trails. You’re looking forward to getting first or close tracks on your favorite trail, but there is a long lift line to the chair you need to take. On the chair close by the line is a lot shorter, but that will take you to a part of the mountain that you can’t access your favorite trail.

How long are you willing to wait in line to get where you want to go?

For me it’s 10 minutes max,. I am spoiled at Whiteface with it’s short if any liftlines. I’d get on the other chair and ski somewhere I didn’t want to be as much rather then wait in line.

I call shenanigans . . . if the Gondola is closed and the Quad at the base of Whiteface has a wicked long line (AND the Freeway double to the top of mountain run isn't running), you're not going to lap the two bunny slopes until the line dies down. You're going to wait however long it takes to get you up the mountain to the goods.

Granted, this situation does not happen often, but you have to take the argument to the nth degree to get any sense of what you're saying. Some people might be fine running beginner slopes on a Powder day, but I'm willing to bet that most people aren't

 

[nycskier]

Yeah, like 30 years ago at Hunter. And I NEVER ever waited 2 hours even back then. EVER. Maybe a half hour, tops.

I've never waited 2 hours in a lift line at any resort anywhere. EVER. I've never seen a 2 hour lift line...and I've been skiing regularly for 45 years.

Unless the lift was broken and then anyone who stands there 2 hours is just an idiot. Sorry, and nycskier I'm not implying you waited at a broken lift in Argentina. Why was that line so long?

If I ever saw a lift line that long I wouldn't go stand in it, that's for sure. So I guess that answers HPD's question. I'd go elsewhere.

Because if I showed up for first tracks and there was a line that long, I got up too late and I'm the idiot.

We got there at 9:30 and didn't get up to the top until 11:30! It was the main lift that took you to the top (ie main) part of the mountain.So there were no other lifts to take! There were high winds and were only loading every other chair. So you had to wait.

Things just move slower in South America. It ain't like here!

 

[Geoff]

In the 1970's, lifts were double chairs and 30-45 minute liftlines were common everywhere on weekends. The tradeoff was that you had a much better skiing surface and you didn't have to worry about getting run down like a dog.

I've waited an hour+ at Whistler back in the mid-80's. When it's a bluebird day and they just opened the Peak triple after shelling for two days, it's worth it.

The biggest lines I've ever seen at Killington was on a huge powder dump Mogul Challenge weekend maybe 5 years ago. The K1 must have been an hour+. No Superstar. No Snowdon triple. No Canyon Quad or Glades Triple. The Snowdon quad must have been 50 minutes. No Needles Eye or Skyeship so you couldn't use Snowshed to escape.

 

[ajl50]

As a large majority of skiing is at whiteface I rarely wait more than 5 minutes for a lift and even with that long of a line I'm tempted to bail.
Will wait longer in line however when it's before the lifts open. Then I'll stand in like for 30 minutes but I'm not sure that counts.

 

[Buckeye Skier 1330]

I had a couple of rough Saturdays last season. After the first hour of skiing every lift was at least 10 minutes. The hills were small too, 750, and 400 verts. I get really antsy waiting in a lift line that long. And I get more aggravated if no one is directing traffic. That's why I savor that vacation, 5 days of midweek skiing, uncrowded and big mountains.

 

[MRGisevil]

Unless the area that was accessed through the shorter lift line was just terribly unfun, I'd skip my fav and take the second lift.

 

[sledhaulingmedic]

I haven't waited more than 10 minutes in well over 15 years. (Granted, I almost never ski weekends.)

Oddly enough, the longest I distinctly remember waiting was 45+ at...Magic! (I believe that was 1987).

 

[catskills]

Waiting 45 minutes at Jackson Hole's TRAM happens more than I would like. A 30 minute wait is considered a short line. On the other hand I have waited less than 15 minutes on a few occasions. If you pay the big bucks for a ski lesson you don't have to wait in line. Ski lessons are real popular on powder days. The new TRAM will have a bigger capacity but not by much. There were other lift designs that would have moved a lot more people up the hill. Fortunately or unfortunately, they decided to stay with Wyoming's TRAM icon rather than go with a high volume people mover.

I was a lift operator on G-Lift at Hunter Mountain in 1971 that took customers up Racers edge. I was also a liftie for the old Hunter A-Lift double in 1970. I can remember lines being over 30 minutes but never over an hour even on the worst of days. Hunter provided an extremely valuable service in those days. I have meet many skiers and instructors on lifts while skiing at places like Whistler, Snowbird, Alta, JH etc. that got their start at Hunter Mountain. The entire North American ski industry has been fueled by folks that learned to ski difficult steep trails at Hunter, which later made them perfect well seasoned customers for western resorts.

 

[AHM]

A different twist..............

I cut the line and get to the goods, swing in through the patrol or ski school entrance and the line becomes quite short...................