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

[frozencorn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvUzUDzYYbk

 

[billski]

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...

I'm really surprised that they didn't send someone up on a snowmobile with a megaphone to check on people and update them on what is going on. Not just PnP, but lots of area. I'd like to hear Lift Ops opinion on this.

 

[Jeff Isabelle]

Rattler

I remember this one well, (15 years ago)I was at Mont Tremblant and it was one of those days where you flip a coin is it a stay or should we go so we got up at 5 a.m. and went, getting there for 7:30 a.m. Went to the north side and parked the car and went skiing. The weather didn't calm down it was -40 all day but also -50 plus at the top of the mountain. Buddies skied the south side which was warmer that day. I stayed on the north side until lunch time. I was to rendezvous at the top when lunchtime arrived to decide if we would stay for the hold day or not. We all ski about 100 plus days a year so freezing one more day would not really matter.

So its 11:50 and I remember its time to get to the top for lunch so I get on the lift as few skiiers are outside. The lift attendee gives me a much welcomed blanket and I'm off to the top. As the lift gets going about half way up ut stops then its starts again only 3-4 minutes that time. Then its underway once again now at 3/4 the way it stops for 10 minutes. Then I'm hoping that this is it that its over for now but no! Right at the top of the mountain were I'm 75 feet off the ground it stops cold for one hour and twenty minutes in extreme high wind.

So I had a blanket which at -50 C was better than nothing but I had a secret weapon a special ski suit made from 3/8 neoprene which I had on that day. This suit was nonporus material and was enough to get me through with my native blood. This suit was made for only one year out of Vancouver Canada never saw another one.

The lift attendants at the top were totally surprized when I just skiied away. I was pissed off, but what could they do ? All I wanted was to get below the mountain top 150' to warm up out out of the wind area and warm up which I did. Others behind me were in regular ski clothing and were severly frost bitten.

I went down the south side and then came right back to the top to meet my buddies. They were all there wanting to go home for the day. What a bunch of whimps !!!

Then I told them about my 3 runs and my hour and twenty minutes on the lift at -50C.

The lift attendants were over to see me again as 50 people were at the top that day and they remembered me looking over my clothing and then gave me free meals and tickets to come back. My boots a pair of Lange Tii were frozen solid it took 4-5 hours before they flexed enough to come off on the way home in the car. Needless to say I remember this as one for the books.

 

[darent]

nice sunny day at BW in NH, on the new lift at west mountain at 1.30pm, about halfway up it stops, I'm the only person I can see on the lift, so I sit and wait,an hour goes by and some skiers come down a run off to my left and I yell my head off, they hear me and go for help, all I heard was," sorry bout that" when they let me off the lift.It was warm though!!

 

[jaywbigred]

Wow, this thread makes me very thankful! I've never had a stop over maybe 10 minutes. And I would love to keep it that way. <knocks on wood>

 

[4aprice]

Not actually stuck on the lift but one night back in about 1981 after just having got off the chair at the old Crotched Mountain East the entire mountain went black. We were chomping at the bit to ski but they wouldn't let us for obvious reasons. Mind you this was the middle of January and they made us stay at the top of the mountain for about an hour and a half. Being of college age we had a supply of some liquor and happily drank it while they unloaded the lift. I remember it being quite cold. They eventually came up with a supply of road flares and doled them out to us, then made us ski in a line down the easiest slope. I guess I can say I took part in a torch light parade.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[dl]

in the 70s there as a ski area in NYS called Intermont. The lodge was at the top of the hill so when the chair or T-bar breaks down for an extended period/the day and you are either standing in line or have to be evacuated......you still have to find your way back to the lodge. Start climbing bucko.

It wasn't my local mountain so I only experienced this once but I'm sure the locals had that happen multiple times.

 

[Glenn]

I had to be evacutated once. This was on the quad at Burke. Are we talking evactuations as well...or just stuck forever, but finally moved again?

 

[marcski]

Early 90's at Mt. Snow. Was pretty snowy most of the day. Had a great day, skied the entire mtn all day. We were probably doing some laps on Bear Trap at the end of the day. So at about 3 or so, we decided to head back up Sunbrook so we could ski down a full run from the top. About half way up the chair, the wind starts intensifying and by the time we're up toward the top, its a whiteout. Can only see like 1 or 2 chairs in front of you. We had about 2 chairs left to get off and the lift stops. Dead. Wind is whipping up big time. I'm glad I had a Marmot shell with a hood. There were 4 of us on the lift, so it was tight. Chair was blowing in the wind, rocking back and forth. We were there about 30 minutes and the lift was inching up once they did get it started. By the time we get to the top, patrol is roping off, the north face, and sunbrook. They were going to close the entire upper mtn early.

Not sure if anyone is familiar, but the sunbrook quad is slow and windy under normal conditions.

 

[k2 four]

Best

I was on the Quad at Bell last season with the director of the race program, the snowsports director and some high-up the food chain patroler. The lift went dead. We sat for some time and began to wonder (and joke), hmmmm Lets bet which chair is evacuated first.....

What are the chances!

 

[bvibert]

Wow, this thread makes me very thankful! I've never had a stop over maybe 10 minutes. And I would love to keep it that way. <knocks on wood>

Same here!

 

[skiing is life]

When i used to go to eaglebrook school in Massachusetts (they have their own ski hill), i was stuck on the lift with my friend for an hour. Lo and behold it was -10 with -20 degree wind chill :uzi: Anyway we toughed it out and got away with only some mild frostbite on my chin.:-D

 

[jaywbigred]

Be careful 'round these parts when tellin' folks you went to Eaglebrook. You may catch some flak.

Eaglebrook. Private Middle School. Snow making financed through $$$$ parents.....

 

[ZYDECORICH]

january 2006 mt creek. my wife an 2 daughters and i are sking on a saturday afternoon. my little one is 7 and still getting used to sking and the lift. we get to the top of the south peak lift. there are two directions to unload. we were all going to the right as discussed but for some reason my older one goes to left and breaks my grip off the little one as we unload. the little one is now still on the lift as its going around and back down.. safety bar up. we start screaming at the lift dude to stop but he is asleep at the wheel and finally does stop the lift but now my daughter is about 75 yards down the hill... saftey bar up...
crying her eyes out. i ski down below her trying to clam her and tell her to hold on with one hand and lower the bar with the other. she clams down and does this after a minute or so to the cheers of all on the lift. my wife is crying as is my other daughter. the little one takes the ride down as i bomb the hill to get to her before she arrives. finally down she was quite upset but got right back on the lift because she didn' t want to stop sking.
i had a few choice words for the operator at the top. i hope doobies before work are a thing of the past for him.

 

[kingslug]

We where skiing a glacier in Austria called kaprun about 10 years ago when we got nailed with a whiteout. One minute it was clear then no vis at all. Now we have to ski down and find a gate about 5 feet wide. Miss that and it off the side of the mountain. Thank God Europeans wear some of the most colorful clothing(gaudy) on earth or we would have never seen a pack of them going toward the gate. They could have been going towards the cliffs but it was the only shot we had. Riding the lift to the bottom I was sitting with an Austrian girl when the winds picked up and the lift stopped. The drop to the right side of the chair was huge, no idea how far down but several thousand feet at least. These mountains have insane vertical. So we pull the blast shield down and sat there with the chair swinging in the wind, scary as hell. Finaly got down after a half hour of this, met back up with Erika...and started drinking.

 

[Bkroon9175]

Four years ago my younger son and I were at Waterville and it was about 3:40PM and we skied right by the lifties and on to the World Cup triple. We actually said hello to the lifties and got on the chair. We were 2/3rds up the lift and the chair came to a stop. At first we thought that it was a typical stop but quickly released that the HSQ was also stopped and there was no on that lift. We were stuck and the lifts were down. Eventually a ski patroller came by and radioed to another patroller who went and got staff to restart the lift. My son would not ride that lift for the next two years after that episode.

 

[mister moose]

...Snowbird...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.

Not so for me. In one of the mighty fine powder days at Killington in ASC's last year, I got stuck on the K-1 for well over an hour. It had started to snow quite hard, and we were missing some pretty good skiing. An ambasador was in our cabin, so we were kept informed via his radio. There had been a de-rail at the top on one of the cabins and they had to clear it prior to a restart. By the time we got to the top there was easily 20 snowmobiles there. We were handed little pink slips to redeem, which got us the usual hot chocolate, but also a voucher for a free ticket. ASC came through on that one. The silver lining was the run down... no one had skied down any summit trail in over an hour and a lot of fresh tracks were to be had.

I also had the unique pleasure of hitting a tower while riding the old Stage 3 section to the peak. It was the early to mid seventies, and the wind was gusting hard across the liftline, making the cabins swing. As we approached the very last tower I saw the cabin in front of us swing to the side so far it could hit, but it swung away as it passed the tower. As we approached I could see on one swing we we about as far from the tower as one cycle would take. I remember saying "hold on!" and everyone else wasn't sure what I was talking about. Next thing you know we hit the tower so hard everyone is on the floor upside down in a heap of body parts. The liftie stopped the lift when we came into the station and opened the door. From his expression you could tell he expected injuries. Luckily we were all shaken, but nothing broken. He immediately called down and they stopped loading at Skye Peak Station. I'm sure that's a big part of the reason the newer Skyeship didn't go to the peak.

 

[jaywbigred]

Riding the lift to the bottom I was sitting with an Austrian girl when the winds picked up and the lift stopped....Finaly got down after a half hour of this, met back up with Erika...and started drinking.

Yeah, and then what??????

Nice going man!