utahcarver Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 I spent 45 minutes in cold temps sitting on a chairlift this afternoon because it lost main power. Twice. I kept thinking, "Now I remember why I wore a backpack for so many years." If I hadn't left it in the car, I would've had a sandwich, beers, handwarmers, chapstick, Tom Clancey novel, an old bUrTon tool, balaclava, some string, duct tape, stickers, PowerBar, a Camelback liner, two AA batteries, and a plastic scraper. I got stuck on a lift at the Canyons (formerly known as ParkWest in Utah) years ago for about 2 hours due to very high winds. They gave everyone comp passes as a result. However today, all I got was a slight case of hypothermia, pissed off, and little riding time. I complained to the management and got a sincere "We are sorry". This is a mom and pop op and they do the best they can. Anyone else been stranded on a chair or had to be extracted? Now I will wear my backpack even if it makes me look goofystupid. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleaman Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 On the Apex ski patrol, we carry nylon slings to make a waist belt and everytime we ride the chair, we pick up a bag of rope at the bottom station. If they call a lift evac, we can rig up and tie a munter hitch on our carabiner and rapell off the chair to help in getting guests off as fast as possible. We practice it every year, but I have never had to evac during open hours. At Beaver Valley in Ontario, they send up bags of blankets to all the riders of the chair while others are evacuating guests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tigger Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 i got stuck 45 mins in st.anton austria, because the cable was covered with ice, you can imagine how bad the weather was. my girlfriend quit to the lodge the run before due to the weather. i said i d join her after one more run:mad:. my legs felt like stones and all i got was a warm meal. the worst was that the lift always started and stopped 2m later, about 20 times hope....frustration.....hope.....frustration.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Galen Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 Yup, Pine Martin lift at Bachelor a few years back. Temp was 14 and the wind was a steady 40 mph with gusts from the side that would hold the chair at a fairly steep angle for what seemed like minutes at a time. There was 4 of us on the chair, and my poor buddy was on the downside of the chair and was getting smooshed from the weight of us other 3 riders. About 25 minutes and compleatly stuck to each other and the chair with a thick coat of rime ice. yuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philistine Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 I too have spent a long time sitting in chairlifts due to wind or power failure. Has anyone ever seen a video of a chairlift doing a rollback? pretty frightening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 Mark - where were you riding at? Beaver Mt.? Bummer:mad: How's the snow been up there this season? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 I can remember it word for word good thing a rollback has never happened like that I have been on lifts in some crazy conditions worse than we would let the public ride a lift in ice always makes things fun with detaches, watching chairs crash together in the terminals and other fun stuff Just to make you all feel safe while riding lifts some things I have seen in bypass while the public is riding lifts derail circuts sometimes a tower will act funky so they would put in bypass and hope that if there is a derail it happens on another tower first RPDs(similar to derail but on a different circut and more sensitive at least that is how it works with dopplemayr lifts) tension systems grip force (this is the measure how much presure a detachable grip puts on the haul rope if its too low it trips out) and all sorts of other fun stuff some of these were in CO and others were in ME wind is crazy on fixed lifts those chairs really swing its fun to watch the chair in front of you hit the tower and make the nice metal on metal ching sound Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Morgul Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 What's a rollback? When the lift loses power and the weight of the people causes the lift to go backwards so half of them end up on the other side? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 as you described. in the video we were talking about they tested a lift to see what would happen if there was a roll back on a loaded lift and all the breaks failed, chairs were breaking off at the bottom and flying 70+ feet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victory Posted February 6, 2005 Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 I got caught in a freak lightning storm up Grouse Mtn. (Vancouver) once. They couldn't risk putting any more people on the lifts, so some people hiked back up the runs (after about 2 hours of waiting), but eventually they had to take people out in the cats and on sleds. I had a seasons-pass, so they hooked me up with a voucher for the bar. Broz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utahcarver Posted February 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2005 Kirk, Yup, it was over on Marge's Triple chairlift. I talked with a liftie today who said that the power source over in Garden City (Bear Lake) went out. Fortunately, the area has the old diesel generator that they keep operable and that is what allowed the lift to finally start working again. Snow quality has been beautiful during December/January but we need some storms. One coming in tonight and tomorrow should help. This morning my son and I rode corduroy with hardly anyone out with us. Must be everyone is too busy with the Super Bowl. C'mon up and ride with us sometime. Contact me when you do. Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncermak Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 I wasn't there, but the local had a brake failure and roll back about 10 years ago. Guys who on the lift said it was pretty scary. some jumped before going around the counterweight, Others got tossed into a pile at the bottom... needless to say, that lift has been replaced Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted February 7, 2005 Report Share Posted February 7, 2005 I have heard a few stories of resorts having to run in a lift reverse with guests on the lift people freak out and jump off I can't see the reason for this unless someone was a idiot had the spacing in bypass, the spacing system failed AND they let like 10 chairs pile up in the terminal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NateW Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 You had duct tape? Why didn't you MacGyver yourself off the chairlift and get a few more runs in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest soulrider Posted February 8, 2005 Report Share Posted February 8, 2005 This will all fit in a medium size fanny pak. 10 ft loop of nylon webbing ( used as temp. harness ) 1 locking carabiner 75 ft of 5mm kevlar Tech cord a belay device that accepts the small rope. I've never had to drop out of a chair but I have practiced rigging it up and rappelling out of trees several times . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
utahcarver Posted February 9, 2005 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Okay, Nate here we go, The duct tape was in my backpack back at the car. I was on the chairlift. Duct tape in the car. Me: chairlift. Duct tape: car. :) I later found out that the ski patrol (volunteer and non-paid) at the mountain were getting the evac packs ready and were going to start taking riders off of the chair. At the same time, some female skier from Wyoming had fallen and had multiple injuries on the inbounds backside run and had to be sledded out and into a Life Flight helicopter. Let's have a big hand for the guys and gals on the ski patrol!!! Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin A. Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 I got caught on the Green Mountain Flyer at Jay last year. They ran it in reverse because they couldnt risk something...I dont know. That was scary. Winds were gusting over 100mph. Bad day to be at the summit of Jay. -Justin ________ RARE DISORDERS ADVICE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarvCanada Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Jay can get interesting :) It's always that quad on skier's left down from the Tram (Green mountain flyer?) that gets messed up. Right as you pass over the ridge and into that glade bowl that acts like a wind tunnel, you get slammed with wind so hard sometimes! I've been on it when people were screaming for help even though it was still running (it was -40), and the chairs were angled at like 10 degrees and the right hand sitters were hanging on for life :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleaman Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Originally posted by soulrider This will all fit in a medium size fanny pak. 10 ft loop of nylon webbing ( used as temp. harness ) 1 locking carabiner 75 ft of 5mm kevlar Tech cord a belay device that accepts the small rope. I've never had to drop out of a chair but I have practiced rigging it up and rappelling out of trees several times . Thats all fine and dandy, but what do you do if you are hanging off the chair and they fix the chairlift and they start it back up..................There goes your modeling career! We can do it as mountain staff because we have communication with the lift mechanics and they will tell us when the lift is locked out and we can zip off the chairs. Any other time is dangerous not to mention the **** you will get from the mountain manager. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Pushee Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Jay can get interesting I think that's why the locals refer to the American Flyer lift at Jay Peak as the Flying Freezer. That wind blows a long way unobstructed before it gets to Jay. I once spent over an hour in the Jay tram just above the mid-tower. It was the last tram of the day and high winds hit just as we passed the tower. They eventually tried to back us down, and then finally crawled us to the top. It was nearly full dark when we got to the top. I was not at all looking forward to belaying down in high winds. I did get a voucher for another day though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirk Posted February 9, 2005 Report Share Posted February 9, 2005 Mark, Love to try it up there some time - Hope you got some fresh out of this most recent storm. Monday at Snowbasin was a blast. Mid-shin to knee deep (with the occasional crusty bump underneath). Was riding the BX board w/TDs. On a gondola ride up, some girl asked me how hard boots work in pow and showed some general interest so I rapped w/ here for a bit and informed her about this site as well as hardbooter.com (sorry, gotta support the local crew too ;) - people ARE curious AND interested, pretty encouraging! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NateW Posted February 12, 2005 Report Share Posted February 12, 2005 I can't read very fast. Thank you for typing slowly that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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