What's your best/worst "Stuck on the Lift" story?

[billski]

Mine:

Local, 800-footer hill about 1978. Week night skiing, five below about 7:30pm. Double chair, no seat pads, windy, lift stopped for 1:15. No rescue, no communication. our gear (parka, pants, boots) left a lot to be desired for insulating qualities. When we finally got off, we went into the lodge and spent the rest of the night warming back up. My toes were literally aching for an hour afterward.

 

[ta&idaho]

Spring Break 2005 at Mammoth. Heavy storm day...upper mountain was closed off and on all day. Ended up lapping Chair 22 in the afternoon. Cruised into the lift line right as it was closing, and we ended up on the last chair of the day. Right as we were cresting the summit, the lift stopped to wait out the wind gusts. I joke to my buddy that jumping wouldn't be the worst idea, and the stoned single snowboarder on the lift takes about 10 seconds to fasten his binding and make the leap. "See ya dudes...."

About 15 minutes later the lift started up again, and the storm had wiped out any tracks anywhere, making for one of the more epic runs I've ever experienced. Nonethless, I'll always kind of wish I had been the one with the balls to jump.

 

[frozencorn]

Had a doozy at Magic last January, a 90-minute wait with little-to-no explanation.

Lucikly, the weather was cold, but docile. Had an hour-long one at Sugarbush in the mid-90's with wind and snow whipping near mountaintop. I don't remember the explanation for that one, but I don't really want to remember anything about the experience either.

 

[Brettski]

Stuck on the Killington Gondola for 2 hours with Swedish sisters....um no wait....that was a dream

 

[drjeff]

Just seems like most of us have had one, and most of them end up with storries of cold body parts and a voucher for a free hot chocolate/cup of coffee given to you when the lift finally gets going again and you get off at the top.

Mine: 1985 - West Mountain, New York on their Northwest Triple chair. I was in a ski school lesson at the time. Got to spend just over an hour sitting on the plastic seat with a couple of girls who were in my class who I thought were annoying BEFORE I got on the chair with them, and my opinion of them most definately DIDN'T change during that hour

 

[Geoff]

About 4 years ago, I was staying down in Chile at Valle Nevado. A group of us had skied off the back side to La Parva and did a fondue lunch outdoors at the Swiss place at the bottom of the hill. Afterwards, we were doing some laps on the quad on the far side of the resort. We got on the lift and got as far as the first lift tower about 40 feet off the ground when the lift stopped. The power had gone out at the resort. They tried to fire up the aux diesel. Big cloud of smoke. Nada. About 30 minutes later, a half dozen people show up on snowmobiles. I'm looking back and I see them pull out a huge book that must have been the operations manual for the lift. Uh oh. Screwed. The power was back on at the resort but they couldn't get the relays to trip for the motor. You could see them doing the 20 pumps and hit the button thing multiple times. 2 hours later, the lift starts crawling up the hill. It's getting dark. I'm miles from Valle Nevado and it's an hour+ by car. I'm the last one off the lift. At the top, I shout out "Valle Nevado". The sled dogs huddle and one of them clicks into his skis and waves to follow him. On his first turn, he walks out of a ski... the binding is frozen. On his 2nd turn, he walks out again. He gets on his radio and gets another sled dog. We ski down to a poma. The sled dog starts up the diesel and we ride to the top. We ski down to a chair. The sled dog starts up the diesel and we ride to the top. We traverse over to the gate to Valle Nevado where there's another couple of Valle Nevado sled dogs waiting for us. We ski down in near dark and get to the hotel complex after 6:00.

 

[cbcbd]

and my opinion of them most definately DIDN'T change during that hour

So after an hour they still didn't put out? bummer

 

[Geoff]

I got stuck on a chair at Snowbird for an hour on a huge powder day back in 2001. I was skiing with my boss who always hires an instructor for the day to guide him around and put him on the best untracked. For lunch, we skied down to the Cliff Lodge to do their buffet lunch. The president of the ski area happened to be there and the instructor scored us ticket vouchers. At Killington, an hour on the chair might maybe get you a chit for a hot chocolate. Most of the time, you don't even get greeted at the top.

 

[WJenness]

My only (yet) stock on a lift story was last year at Wachusett. Not an overly cold night, but pretty chilly. We got to the second tower on Minuteman and stopped cold. A minute or so later we start up again, move about 3 feet and stop cold once again.

About 20 minutes later the lift started to inch forward. It was almost an hour total until we got off at the top.

It was the old 'one more run and then I'm heading home' too, just to add insult to injury.

It was myself, someone there for the racing (in his race suit no less... brr), and a teenage snowboard couple.

Her dad was waiting for them in the lodge and called her about 3 times... evidently he didn't believe the 'we're stuck on the lift' story.

-w

 

[Hawkshot99]

2 years ago at Bellayre. It was one of the last days of April. Huge rainstorms in the valley and getting pounded hard with snow on the mountain. As the day went on the rain lin slowly moved up the mountain.

There were maybe 30-40 people skiing that day. My 2 friends and I were lapping the Tomahawk lift with no other skiers seen for several runs. About halfway up one chair ride the lift stopped. No workers came, no nothing. Slowly the rain caught us and we sat in the rain. After about 50 mins of no movement or word from workers we called bellayre on the cell phone and the lift restarted.

 

[drjeff]

So after an hour they still didn't put out? bummer

Most definately not! (and I would have turned them down if the offer was on the table) Rachel and Kimmy from Queensbury, NY were THAT ANNOYING

If back then there was todays modern technology and I was in the same situation I would have in all likelyhood just cranked the volume on my iPod to drown out their wanna-be Valley Girl like drivel (this was the early/mid 80's afterall).

 

[wa-loaf]

Surprisingly I don't think I've ever been stuck more that 20 mins or so. I was on a T-bar where the cable derailed. In that case though you just ski away.

 

[cbcbd]

Most definately not! (and I would have turned them down if the offer was on the table) Rachel and Kimmy from Queensbury, NY were THAT ANNOYING

...with a name like Kimmy... no doubt!

 

[andrec10]

Stuck on a new chair at Jiminy Peak in the 80's at night for 1.5 hours. Ended up being evacuated! Sucked in the dark. Stuck for 2 hours in a Blizzard at Windham in 1996. The triples bullwheel snapped!

 

[millerm277]

Killington - Blinding snowstorm, only the K-1 and Snowdon Quad were operating....was on the K-1, and it was running so slowly that it took about 20 minutes to get to the top. 3rd lap, the lift just stops dead over the Cascade Runout, and it was about 45 minutes of sitting there, before it creeped to the top. They shut down the lift afterward for the rest of the day.

Another Killington - On the Superstar Quad when it had some kind of mechanical problem, after sitting there for 20 minutes, we just hopped off, as it's all of 5 feet off the ground.

 

[RootDKJ]

January 2007, Killington. My brother and I are on the Skye Peak quad back from Bear. We just get into the 1st woodsy section when the skies open up with a fury. Its raining so hard, they stop the lift for about 1/2 hour. My brother is pissed off. I can't stop laughing. He turns to me and wants to know what is so effin funny. I told him I'm trying to picture the look on dad's face when we explain this to him in the bar later. He still doesn't lighten up.

By the time we get to the top, we're drenched. Skiing back down sucked.

I still think it was funny circumstances.

 

[Philpug]

Stuck on the Killington Gondola for 2 hours with Swedish sisters....um no wait....that was a dream

Twins...Basil...twins!

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Due to almost 1,000 lifetime ski days..I've been stuck on a lift several times for more than 30 minutes. Once was at Sugarbush on the Sugar Bravo lift and I was with an Aussie employee so I at least had an interesting conversation..at the top..they handed out vouchers for a free hot chocolate..I was able to wheel and deal a bit and I ended up with a Pepsi instead..JEA!!!!!!

At the Ski Vermont Discussion list partee in 2006..I was stuck on the gondola for about 45 minutes and it was really warm and like a sauna in there...Ski Vermonters..Jimski, Sharon, Leigh and some others kept the cabin-mates entertained and then at the top we waited for another 15-20 minutes before a group poach down Chin Clip..

Otherwise nothing comes to mind..at Blue mountain..the lifts stop alot because people try to get 7 on a six pack..mainly during the Holiday periods when all the Tom Dick and Harrys are out..or night skiing when it's alot of school kids..14 year olds smoking Marlboro lights in the liftline..and me trying to bum one..lol

 

[Johnskiismore]

In the late eighties my friend and I were stuck on the Ramshead lift at Killington for about forty five minutes, and the wind was howling!! It was freezing cold, this memory popped into my head as soon as I read the title of this post. Man, I am telling you it sucked!! By the time we got off at the top hands and feet were numb, had to ski down and get into the lodge..... along with practically everyone else who rode at that particular time.

 

[gozips]

My story's from the late 80's, when my family would meet up with another family at Peek'n Peak near Erie, PA. We were just about done for the night, and we decided we had enough time to take one more run before they closed (at 10:30 P.M.). So, we all get on chair 3 and about halfway up, we saw a huge flash of light in the sky...a massive power failure to the whole area. Lights out, lifts stopped...and it was very cold. After a while, we could see lights from some snowmobiles, but noone ever came and said anything to us. It was well after midnight when they finally got the generators going to get us off the lifts (and much, much longer before we thawed out!). I still remember a girl behind us with her desperate sounding "help! help!" for about half the time we were stuck there. I'm not sure we ever used the phrase "one more run" again...