random stories from being a liftie

[BobD]

That happened to my daughter. She was six at the time and had just started getting off without assistance. It was her first time on this particular lift, which requires a very quick dismount. Her skis sailed over the safety bar by about six inches. Even an average adult might not have tripped that bar. I look at the lifty shack to see the teenage lifty deeply engrossed in a text book. I shouted to no avail, he was behind glass with a fan heater going. Then my wife, who was skiing, demonstrated the best use ever made of a ski pole. I thought it was going to go through the lifty's window, but it glanced off. That got his attention. Fortunately, the slope back down was slight and he and I were able to reach up to lift her down. She was scared stiff and crying. As the guy was so remorseful and obviousely realised the implications, I let it go. It was a couple of years befor my daughter would go on that lift again.

BobD

[mirror70]

A lady and two young girls (about age 6?) arrive at the unload station on a fixed grip triple chair.

If the lifties were really on top of their game, they wouldn't have allowed that situation to happen in the first place. A six year old is simply not allowed to ride a lift without an adult, and in a group it must be done in a 1:1 ratio. Rules are rules, even if you're a liftie.

[bobdea]

with kids most resorts go for the if they can get on and off rule of thumb and the ratio for kids to adults is one adult in the chair usually because the little ones cannot reach up to pull the bar down usually though they can get it up in some cases the kids just need help getting the bar down.

mostly though this is all a judgement call for the lift op and on a busy day when you are loading four people every five seconds you are gonna screw up at some point, its unavoidable.

with the kids that really have a hard time that are in ski school you find willing adults to take them up, I have noticed that usually the kids are better at figuring when to get off the lift than adults, including their instructors, I have spent way too much time analizing this but what happens is that adults wait much longer to stand up while unloading from a lift than they should this causes a few things to happen

1, the chair is higher off the snow

2, the ramp starts to slope and the kids have a harder time unloading on the steeper surface

3, on some detaches the chair is moving much faster just as it comes over the ramp, this is a good thing since if they get off when the chair is going faster it prevents the chair from running them over because the the chair slowed down a bit more after they got off.

4, the chair is entering the turnaround area or on the bullwheel, this puts the kids on an angle that is gonna throw their balance off.

the ski instuctors are generally oblivious to these points and are way too cool to listen to a lift operator anyway.

[Dave Pushee]

mirror70, I suspect the 1:1 ratio (adult:littleperson) may be area specific. I think the chair in question was loaded according to local rules. Agree, kids under a certain size need to have an adult on the chair - and this chair had an adult.

[willywhit]

I've seen a lot of real jerks abuse lifties and I'd say 100% of the time the lifty had incredible patience. I've seen other skiers intervene in behalf of the lifty because the jerk was sooooooo out of line. I've seen jerks yelling at the lifty on powder days because there was a 5 minute delay in getting the lift going...a circumstance that was completely out of the lifty's hands.

Usually, what a saw in those jerks was a pathology that goes something like this: The guy or girl is an arrogant, condescending elitist that thinks they are better than everyone and deserve special treatment. They see the lifties as servants who are beneath them and they let them know that with belittling remarks and tones.

I think if those types get a little harrassment, they deserve it...and I'd like to be around to watch.

Well you missed a classic one last Sunday at Bear Peak Attitash.We're bombing last run to try to make one more and missed it by 30 seconds or so. Some little elitist scmuck is harranging 2 male lift ops about not getting on and they're closing early, blah blah blah, pretty rude and condescending.No way they're giving in to this guy.We're chatting with the little hottie lifty, Katrina, who's a sweetie and the guy raises his voice ALOT with " this is BULL $h!t " and we're laughing at him so I turn to my buddy and mock up a little comedy. "You better pack yer ass up and git on back to Connecticut before I open up a big ole can o' country whoop ass RIGHT NOW !"and proceed to push and shove my buddy and we fall down laughing.Must've worked cuz the kid just storms off in a huff and we're heckling him with "This mountain SUCKS !" and "I'm never coming back EVER!" I'm sure he felt like a tool.THEN, we see him and his 2 buddies waiting for the shuttle back to the main mt and we're parked pretty close so we start in again with " This is BULL sh!T !" and beer almost comes out my nose cuz he looks so pissed.As we're taking off our boots, the 3 liftys come out and get in a car close to ours and we're yelling " Thanks guys ! You guys are awesome ! See ya next weekend!" friggin' priceless.Katrina gives us the peace sign thru the window laughing and we raise our beers in appreciation.Too funny :lol: