What's your worst lift ride story?

[SkiDork]

haha... I love how she jumps - he just looks down and then takes another bite.. haha...

bad lighting but here they are:

 

[Black Phantom]

bad lighting but here they are:

Is Larry sporting a Columbia jacket?

 

[dmc]

I really don't know.. pretty sure they did not lose power. Wondered about why it stopped at the time and never figured it out or possibly forgot.

More then likely a wind gust triggered the stop.. Just a guess..

 

[SkiDork]

Here he is with Cheryl. Does look like Columbia

 

[catskillman]

I could go on and on about the horrible exeriences on the lifts at Hunter.

The best/worst lift ride that did not happen was also at Hunter - West Side power failure - the 2 1/2 mile death march with 300 people on a road that was not plowed after a 7ft snowstorm. What a nightmane.

 

[dmc]

I could go on and on about the horrible exeriences on the lifts at Hunter.

The best/worst lift ride that did not happen was also at Hunter - West Side power failure - the 2 1/2 mile death march with 300 people on a road that was not plowed after a 7ft snowstorm. What a nightmane.

Yeah - having snow removal equipment diverted for saving peoples lives that were trapped in their collapsed houses and not allowing busses to drive the icy, barely plowed road can really put a damper on a ski day... :roll:

It wasn't just the West Side that lost power - it was half the town. Those few days were very difficult for many people in town. I needed a front end loader just to get my car out...

 

[Glenn]

Really? When was this?

Early 90's....maybe 93/94? It was a really strange weather day. Sunny, but windy, and squals kept rolling in. It was a combo of snow and frozen pellets. Seeing the lightning and then instantly hearing the thunder was something I won't forget.

You gain a level of respect for the patrolers/helpers who run the evac operation. I'm sure it's pretty stressful for them and people above them are are bit freaked. However, they remain calm, get you down safely and then move on to the next chair.

When my buddy tossed down his poles, one landed the tree. The patroller was cool enough to climb the tree and get the poles. The patroller was still wearing his ski boots.

 

[SIKSKIER]

I don't know if this is the worst lift story but it certainly had the worst view.My buddy decides to ride Cannons upper t-bar naked.He takes all his clothes off and skis down to the lift and loads.Stupid me hops on right behind him with his clothes and rides up looking at his ass the whole way.Why couldn't his girlfriend join in?Not one of my smarter moves but it sure was funny.

 

[ceo]

(this is adapted from my reply to a similar thread on SnowJournal)

I have two worst lift rides, and they happened one right after the other, one incredibly windy day at Cannon. They were running the tram slower than usual because of the wind, and right after we crossed Tower 3, the tram car started juddering violently from side to side. Not a pleasant or reassuring sensation in the slightest, let me tell you. The track ropes between the tower and the summit terminal were whipping up and down in the wind, and we had to wait for it to slack off a bit before creeping up to the terminal. I think they actually did one more run before putting it on wind hold (as in, put the AERIAL TRAMWAY on wind hold).

Then, because I'm stupid, I decided to take a ride on the Cannonball summit quad, which for some reason was still running. Not being a complete idiot, I waited a moment for some people to join me... not for the company, for the ballast. As we came over the crest of the mountain, the chair started swinging pretty good, and the summit operator had to stop the lift before we reached each tower (we were the only loaded chair) and wait for the wind to calm down a little so we didn't whack the tower on the way by. We all waved gratefully at the operator as we unloaded, and the lift ground to a halt behind us and stayed that way for the rest of the day.

That's still not the windiest I've seen it at a ski area, though. One time at Sugarloaf, they had to put the #3 T-bar on wind hold because it was impossible to stand up at the top of it.

 

[thetrailboss]

I don't know if this is the worst lift story but it certainly had the worst view.My buddy decides to ride Cannons upper t-bar naked.He takes all his clothes off and skis down to the lift and loads.Stupid me hops on right behind him with his clothes and rides up looking at his ass the whole way.Why couldn't his girlfriend join in?Not one of my smarter moves but it sure was funny.

OK, now THAT takes the prize! :lol:

 

[Bandit2941]

That is not the first time I've heard of lifts stopping during a lightening storm. I'd like to hear the rationale too.

I would guess it's for safety. You can only get electrocuted if you complete the path to ground. What this means is that if you're sitting in a chairlift and lightning strikes a tower, cable, chair, etc you won't be electrocuted since your body is not completing the path to ground. This is the same reason birds can sit on power lines, and why you don't get zapped if lightning strikes your car (has nothing to do with rubber tires).

If they stop the chairlift nobody is completing the path to ground, therefore nobody should get zapped. If they are unloading chairs and lightning strikes a tower at the moment people are standing up to unload (while touching the chair and the ground) those people could get shocked.

 

[Geoff]

Maybe 6 years ago, I had a lift break down on me at 3pm at La Parva in Chile. I was just beyond the first lift tower and a good 50 feet off the ground. The resort had lost power. I could look back and watch the comedy as they tried to get the diesel started. The poorly trained lift operators obviously weren't up to the task. The mechanics show up 30 minutes later on snowmobiles. I knew things were bad when I looked back and could see manuals and schematics coming out. They managed to make a few very impressive black smoke clouds trying to start the diesel. The electricity came back on but they couldn't get the lift to run. Finally, around 5:00, they got the diesel running and the lift crawled us up the hill. At the top, there were a bunch of ski patrollers waiting to do trail sweep and I was the last person off the lift. I was shouting "Valle Nevado" as I hit the ramp. I was staying at the interconnected resort. By car, it's a 2 hour drive. They peeled off a ski patroller to get us back. His bindings had frozen up and he walked out on every turn. He got on the radio and got somebody else. They skied us down to a surface lift, started it, and we rode up. We then skied down to a double chair. They started it and we rode up. We then skied over to the Valle Nevado gate where we skied down to the hotel complex at the bottom in the dark.

It wasn't cold. I wasn't in danger. ...but I wasn't looking forward to being stranded at the wrong resort.

I've been on several lifts that broke down where I sat there for a long time without being dressed properly for wind and dropping temperatures. That made for some uncomfortable times.

In 2001, I was stuck on Gad II at Snowbird on an epic powder day. We were with a guide/instructor so it was a pretty expensive hour+ on the lift. At lunch break, the general manager came over to our table and gave us all comp lift ticket vouchers. All I could think of was that Killington gives you a hot chocolate voucher when something like that happens. There's something to be said for doing it right.

 

[jaja111]

........... All I could think of was that Killington gives you a hot chocolate voucher when something like that happens. There's something to be said for doing it right.

Twice for me. Once stuck on the canyon lift for 45 minutes and way back when for 1.5 hours on the Killington Double.... in 13 degrees.... with 15mph wind gusting to what felt like 35...... just below a rapidly moving cloud deck near the top...... with one base layer + a sweatshirt + shell pants and jacket that seemed like they were perforated up there. Hot chocolate. Not much better than being kicked when down. I don't even like hot chocolate.

 

[crank]

I think I lead a charmed lift life.

Park City in 1977 I worked at the Summit House and took an early morning gondola commute during a thunder snow. Just after I got there the lift stopped, the mountain lost power, and whether it was wind or problems with the diesel, the gondi stopped for about an hour the cars swinging like crazy thunder and lighting everywhere. I don't think the hill was open to the public yet but there were a lot of lifties and patrol, etc who had a rough ride.

Kirkwood 1983, my girlfriend and I were skiing down on a beautiful sunny day and noticed no one was on the slopes behind us. We then noticed every lift on the hill was stopped. Took about an hour to get power back up again while we had a leisurely lunch in the lodge.

Mid-80's at Kmart. This one was fun for me and not so fun for the guy I was riding with. It was the ramp. double chair that went from the main lodge to the top with a mid station. I was skiing alone and got in with a middle aged guy who was a shareholder or some such thing and made the mistake of asking me how I liked Killington. I should have just been polite and said great mountain (which in some was it is) but I told him how I though it was over hyped, over crowded and had a bad and confusing trail system. He was upsed enough by my comments that he forgot to lift his poles at the mid station and snapped 'em both in 2. It was all I could do to keep from laughing.

 

[Sparky]

This was not my worst chairlift ride, but it was for somebody. I was doing some night skiing and I hoped on a fixed quad a couple of chairs behind four girls of the early teenage verity. They were making the usual young teenage girl sounds, lots of loud giggling and screeching. Once we got to the top and there chair started around the bull wheel there was a not so subtle change it the tone of their screeching. When I looked up I saw one girl hanging by her hand swinging around the wheel and starting down. I yelled to the liftie to stop the chair which he eventually did, but not till the now screaming girl was half way to the first tower and 15 to 20 feet in the air. I was stuck on the chair and could do nothing, but watch events unfold. Some guy’s that were just out skiing gathered underneath her in anticipation of her falling and shortly after that ski patrol showed up and eventually she did fall into the group. Luckily no body was hurt for the fall. Ski patrol loaded her up on a slide and away they went. I have no idea of the extent of her injuries or how she got caught hanging by one hand.

 

[billski]

This was not my worst chairlift ride, but it was for somebody. I was doing some night skiing and I hoped on a fixed quad a couple of chairs behind four girls of the early teenage verity. They were making the usual young teenage girl sounds, lots of loud giggling and screeching. Once we got to the top and there chair started around the bull wheel there was a not so subtle change it the tone of their screeching. When I looked up I saw one girl hanging by her hand swinging around the wheel and starting down. I yelled to the liftie to stop the chair which he eventually did, but not till the now screaming girl was half way to the first tower and 15 to 20 feet in the air. I was stuck on the chair and could do nothing, but watch events unfold. Some guy’s that were just out skiing gathered underneath her in anticipation of her falling and shortly after that ski patrol showed up and eventually she did fall into the group. Luckily no body was hurt for the fall. Ski patrol loaded her up on a slide and away they went. I have no idea of the extent of her injuries or how she got caught hanging by one hand.

So the kill switch /wand did not shut down the lift when her chair went around the bull wheel?

When she fell into the group, did she have her skis on? Ouch!

 

[ceo]

he forgot to lift his poles at the mid station and snapped 'em both in 2.

That happened to a guy I was riding up Double Bummer West with at Sugarloaf (and we were having a perfectly cordial conversation). The midstation liftie jumped out of his shack shouting "Your poles! Your poles!", but it was too late and they both got bent to about 45 degrees on the unloading ramp. He tried to bend one back and it snapped in half.

Learned a lesson that day about dangling one's strapless poles from the safety bar, particularly with the pole to the inside. (And so did he, presumably.)

 

[2knees]

I don't know if this is the worst lift story but it certainly had the worst view.My buddy decides to ride Cannons upper t-bar naked.

would that make it the upper t-bag bar?

 

[billski]

That happened to a guy I was riding up Double Bummer West with at Sugarloaf (and we were having a perfectly cordial conversation). The midstation liftie jumped out of his shack shouting "Your poles! Your poles!", but it was too late and they both got bent to about 45 degrees on the unloading ramp. He tried to bend one back and it snapped in half.

Learned a lesson that day about dangling one's strapless poles from the safety bar, particularly with the pole to the inside. (And so did he, presumably.)

I see broken poles a lot on feeder hills and places that attract a lot of beginners, or beer-fueled NASTAR racers!

 

[Sparky]

So the kill switch /wand did not shut down the lift when her chair went around the bull wheel?

When she fell into the group, did she have her skis on? Ouch!

Kill switch did not suit it down and yes she had her skis on.