Non Region Specific How to find out which Epic resorts have safety bars on all of their lifts

[SBrown]

Someone must have fallen off the chair sometime after those pics were taken. The current bars on chair #23 have so many anti-slip under bars that it looks like the proverbial fine tooth comb. One have to be cognizant of all body parts prior to lowering the bar lest one of the errand parts get squished.

Didn't a ski coach have a medical event a few years back and fall off that chair? That rang a bell but I am not finding anything in a search. It seems like he was fairly high profile, or maybe just well known to some of the kid racers I know.

Also, Sunlight still has no bars, at least last time I was there. A couple center pole Riblets, yessir!

 

[markojp]

I generally ski at two ski areas: Mt. Baker, and Stevens Pass (a Vail property), both in N. America. Both have a number of lifts without bars. The other thing about these ski areas and safety bars is that almost NOBODY uses them even if they are available. A few people do, but it is so unusual that you notice it. Until I skied Whistler I'd never run into the "bar down" set.

I also just got back from a visit to Mission Ridge, WA, and almost nobody uses them there either.

Well to be fair, 3 out 4 don't have them. You must have been there on a nice day. We love the bubble on chair 2

 

[Lorenzzo]

Wait. What? There are lifts without safety bars? This seems to be quite strange, especially in lawsuit-prone (North) America. I am somewhat sarcastically flabbergasted...

It enhances selfies which in America trumps everything else, even lawsuits.

 

[Posaune]

Mt. Brighton (Michigan) had no bars on any lifts until Vail bought it, now all the lifts have bars and all staff are required to use them. I think it's a good bet that that's common to all Vail resorts.

Stevens Pass is a Vail property, but it has at least two chairs without safety bars; both doubles.

 

[4aprice]

Didn't a ski coach have a medical event a few years back and fall off that chair? That rang a bell but I am not finding anything in a search. It seems like he was fairly high profile, or maybe just well known to some of the kid racers I know.

Also, Sunlight still has no bars, at least last time I was there. A couple center pole Riblets, yessir!

Heard its the end of the line for this one after this season. Such a cool place. Also heard it originally came from Aspen.

 

[James]

That said most of us know that the lifts are us only a part of the total ski experience, so many other factors will impact this such as proximity of parking to the base areas, location of lodges, the variety and types of terrain, where the crowd bottlenecks might be, grooming, etc.

OP is interested in Chairlift bars, not parking.
Parking info is easy to find.

If someone wants a chairlift Bar, I know of this one at Killington on Bear Mt. The old Devil’s Fiddle lift.



The kid restraints make little sense to me. Tons of chairs with no bars or people don’t use them even with kids, now they cram those things in there? Like Abasin Black Mt chair.

 

[David Chaus]

OP is interested in Chairlift bars, not parking.
Parking info is easy to find.

If someone wants a chairlift Bar, I know of this one at Killington on Bear Mt. The old Devil’s Fiddle lift.

View attachment 189425

The kid restraints make little sense to me. Tons of chairs with no bars or people don’t use them even with kids, now they cram those things in there? Like Abasin Black Mt chair.

I know the OP asked about chairlifts at Epic Pass resorts without safety bars, what I’m wanting to know is what the OP sees as the importance of that safety bars over all other considerations in planning a trip. As has already been posted, most VR resorts that someone might want as a destination (as opposed to a VR owned local resort) have mostly modern lifts with safety bars. If someone wants to ski at a VR resort without being on chairlifts that lack safety bars, that’s a pretty easy thing to accomplish at most VR resorts.

We keep posting about the exceptions, without knowing what other factors would make or break a ski trip for the OP.

But then, this thread stopped being about the OP’s request for information a couple pages back, I suppose.

 

[Rodney]

Put your arm over the back rest. But maybe OP has little kids.

Yes, while I’m personally not a fan of lifts without bars, I’m willing to ride them. My kids are 10&13 and can handle all inbounds terrain at our home mountain. Generally we would be looking for more challenging terrain (none of us are going to do Corbets or the like, but would definitely looking to ski steeps, bumps, and trees). The kids are at the age where we like to give them a little freedom, riding the lift themselves sometimes and while logically I know they would probably be fine even without a bar, I would prefer not to have to think about it.

 

[Tony S]

Yes, while I’m personally not a fan of lifts without bars, I’m willing to ride them. My kids are 10&13 and can handle all inbounds terrain at our home mountain. Generally we would be looking for more challenging terrain (none of us are going to do Corbets or the like, but would definitely looking to ski steeps, bumps, and trees). The kids are at the age where we like to give them a little freedom, riding the lift themselves sometimes and while logically I know they would probably be fine even without a bar, I would prefer not to have to think about it.

Makes sense.