Your Most Memorable Chairlift Ride

[Doug Briggs]

1977 at Sugarbush. 8th grade field trip from the DC area. My second time skiing. I'm on a lift with one of my teachers when the lift stopped. Hadn't had that happen before. I asked my teacher if that was normal. His reply, "Yep. Nothing to worry about." 15 minutes go by. 30 minutes go by. It's effing freezing and the wind is howling. I ask him again if this was normal. "Hell no, I'm freezing my ass off." It was awful. We were up there for over an hour and a half, me in some crappy "ski" outfit that my mom pieced together so I could go on the trip. (Note: being from DC, we didn't have to dress for winter like folks in VT did.) The first thing that ski patrol did when we finally got off of the lift was tell us to go to the bar and tell "Jeff" that drinks were on the house. We went inside, sat at the bar and downed a couple of shots of brandy.

Can you imagine that happening nowadays? Serving drinks to a 13 year old? When I got home, I told my mom about the drinks. Her reply? "Warmed you up fast, didn't they?". Hell yeah they did.

I remember those days, sort of. ;-) The police in our town apparently turned a blind eye to our high school football team parties. They were keggers and every bit as crazy as you'd expect them to be. We won Class III championships in my senior year so we were treated 'specially' it seems.

 

[KingGrump]

May not be the most memorable but definitely the most profitable. Few years back, got on the Symphony chair at W/B around 3:30 PM with @Lady_Salina and Mamie. Chair stopped for an hour plus while we were about 10 chairs from the top. It was pretty much blizzard condition the whole time. Patrol apologized profusely when we got off. Peeled off couple $50 W/B vouchers for each of us.

@Lady_Salina said she should get stuck with us more often. Usually, she only get only @10 when she gets stuck.

 

[Crank]

Like most of my stories, I've told this one before.

I was skiing at Killington winter of '84 and was on the double chair that went right up the canyon. A middle aged guy was sitting next to me and asked me how I liked Killington. I was honest and said it was not one of my favorite hills...told him I thought it was over-hyped and sort of difficult to navigate. He was a condo owner there and was so upset at what I was saying that he forgot to raise his poles a the he mid-station where they both snapped in upon hitting the ramp. So for what it's worth, that's the lift ride that sticks most in my mind.

 

[givethepigeye]

Alta - Jan 2017. Collins, Beat the road closure, suffered a hour or so interlodge @ GMD, approx. 10th chair. Watched people unload, ski around and then disappear into the fluff. This went on all AM, don't think that the road opened until way late. Snowed all morning.

 

[Lofcaudio]

A couple worth noting:

1) Shared a chair with Susan St. James at Telluride in 1986 (Meadows lift). After that, I had a slight crush on her as her raspy voice was...well, attractive (I was 14 at the time). Funny thing is I took some friends to Telluride five years later and at the end of the day one of my friends said "You're not going to believe who I rode a lift with!?!?" Sure enough, it was Susan St. James.

2) Snowbird Tram three years ago...sun was shining when we climbed on at the base and when we got out absolute whiteout conditions...most scared I've ever been skiing as I could not see a thing until we got down to where the tunnel is.

 

[Ogg]

Probably skiing at Heavanly. I had a whopping 5 days of skiing under my belt. Two at Brodie Mtn.,MA and 3 at Killington. I got caught by myself on a triple with no safety bar. The lift stopped because of wind so I was clinging for dear life to the back of the chair as it rocked back and forth.

 

[Dr. Mark]

I could have easily reported this exact ride for the same reason.

My first time at Vail, in the early 70s, made me feel the same.

 

[SkierGolferNH]

In 2000, I was had just gotten divorced and moved to Vail to teach skiing. I had a high level private and in the locker room another instructor said "hey, why don't you and your guest ski with me and my guest, he's a pretty good skier too." It was about ten degrees and blowing strong and the four of us were all bundled up with facemasks, etc. We got on the chairlift and her guest started talking and I said to myself "I know that voice". It was Greg Norman, the pro golfer. All four of us had a ball that day. She was right, he's a pretty good skier!

 

[gilligan]

This ride sticks out. I worked at A-Basin back in the early 80's. I had broken my wrist and couldn't hold a pole in my left hand. I was up skiing one morning before work and got on the lift with a couple who saw I only had one pole and asked if I had lost one. I explained, no, I had a broken my wrist so could only ski with one pole. They then told me that they were faith healers and if I liked, they could heal my broken wrist through the power prayer and the lord. A bit curious about their methods, I said sure. They both placed a hand on my wrist and prayed fervently all the way to the top of the lift. As we were getting off the chair they pronounced my wrist healed and said I could remove my cast. I gave them a big thank you but needless the cast stayed on!

 

[Pequenita]

I have two memorable chairlift rides. One at A-Basin with a now deceased acquaintance who way overshared his thinking of why his wife divorced him and another at Bridger with a local telling me that he was an anarchist who believed in rules but no rulers, and who made up the Constitution and its amendments, anyway? And then he told me he was homeschooling his kids. Yikes.

 

[Tricia]

#1 most memorable: 1977 or so. I met this nice young lady on the lift at Loveland. We skied for the rest of the day together. I spent the night in Georgetown with her. --- Ahhh ..... memories.

You dawg, you!!!

Technically not a chair lift ride, yet.

First in line at Colorado Superchair on a very big day at Breck.

View attachment 114560

@Philpug has often said, whoever sells those conveyor belts for loading chair lifts is the guy he wants to sell advertising for us, because he can sell anything!!

 

[JFB]

The scene - a cold, cold, windy day (OK, -2F with 20 mph wind) and I was riding a 6-pack chair with another instructor and a guest between us - it was a "Silver Skier" (over age 50) clinic. The ride - the guest began to look a little spacey then, about 1/3 of the way up, he lost consciousness and stayed out to the top. I weigh 140 lbs and the other instructor weighed about 110 or 120 and the guest weighed about 200 lbs so we had a time grabbing arms and parka to keep the unconscious guest from slouching and slipping under the safety bar until we got to the top. The save - Fortunately for all, a patroller was on the chair ahead of us, the lift operator stopped the lift and the guest regained consciousness in time for the 'troller to remove his skis, help him step off the chair and walk safely down the ramp. The guest was recovering rapidly but patrol gave him a taboggan ride and checked him out at the lodge. We saw the guest again a couple of weeks later and he was fine.

 

[Tricia]

The year I was teaching skiing at Mt Rose I was assigned a gentleman who's son was 8 years old, in a different lesson. This guy was a little older but had a young family.
He was only taking the lesson because his son's wish was that his dad ski with him.
I was his third lesson/instructor he'd had that year and he was making a ton of progress on the magic carpet. Like, he was slaying everything the Flying Jenny had to offer.
I tried to convince him to go up the Ponderosa lift, but he declined, telling me that he was terrified of heights and didn't see how he could ever ride a chair lift.
Turns out when he was a kid he lived in the Bosnia. There was a bombing and his apartment building caught fire, so he was forced to jump out a window. He never got over being afraid of heights.

He came back the next day and paid for a private request for me. He took my hand, looked me in the eye and said, "I trust you. Take me on the chair lift"
He held onto the safety bar and looked me in the eye the entire ride up, intent on talking to me the whole way. But, he did it!
His son was ear to ear grins.

 

[JFB]

The year I was teaching skiing at Mt Rose I was assigned a gentleman who's son was 8 years old, in a different lesson. This guy was a little older but had a young family.
He was only taking the lesson because his son's wish was that his dad ski with him.
I was his third lesson/instructor he'd had that year and he was making a ton of progress on the magic carpet. Like, he was slaying everything the Flying Jenny had to offer.
I tried to convince him to go up the Ponderosa lift, but he declined, telling me that he was terrified of heights and didn't see how he could ever ride a chair lift.
Turns out when he was a kid he lived in the Bosnia. There was a bombing and his apartment building caught fire, so he was forced to jump out a window. He never got over being afraid of heights.

He came back the next day and paid for a private request for me. He took my hand, looked me in the eye and said, "I trust you. Take me on the chair lift"
He held onto the safety bar and looked me in the eye the entire ride up, intent on talking to me the whole way. But, he did it!
His son was ear to ear grins.

I like yours better than mine.

 

[Tricia]

I like yours better than mine.

It was a very rewarding experience.

Every once in a while I wonder if he's still skiing. He'd have liked the terrain off the Wizard better than the Ponderosa.
The terrain off Ponderosa was fine after the initial execution from the lift area. But for someone coming off the Flying Jenny, it was a little intimidating.

I can't imagine how crazy scary your ride with wtih a passed out client.

 

[falcon_o]

Memorable for those on the chair with me => many years back after a hard night of après ski at Killington I was on the Bear Mtn chair shortly after opening and after getting off one of those on the chair with me came up and said "Dude !!!! How did you do that ????" With no clue as to what he was referring to I asked "Do What?" He told me that several towers after getting on the chair I fell asleep and starting snoring. His buddy next to me held onto the back of my jacket worrying I'd slide off. Just before the chair got to the top I woke up, lifted the bar and skied off. My response - "Power Nap"

 

[dbostedo]

Memorable for those on the chair with me => many years back after a hard night of aprés ski at Killington I was on the Bear Mtn chair shortly after opening and after getting off one of those on the chair with me came up and said "Dude !!!! How did you do that ????" With no clue as to what he was referring to I asked "Do What?" He told me that several towers after getting on the chair I fell asleep and starting snoring. His buddy next to me held onto the back of my jacket worrying I'd slide off. Just before the chair got to the top I woke up, lifted the bar and skied off. My response - "Power Nap"

I've taken an unintentional quick nap alone on a chair a couple of times in the early morning. I've never gotten to the point of snoring though... as far as I know.

 

[Marshall]

Sunnyside lift at Alta early one morning maybe 12 years ago – caught the next chair behind a mom, dad and a small kid. It had snowed overnight so coverage was good. The chair moved about 100 yards and as it was going over the gully before you cross the Snake Pit area & Home Run trail, the kid fell from the chair… and landed near the bottom of the gully. Lifties stopped the chairs immediately and I watched while they quickly recovered the child. She was shaken but not hurt. Guessing it was about a 35-40 foot drop.

 

[ForeverSki]

Some time ago riding the lift up the back of Liberty mountain in PA, behind me were a couple of slightly inebriated dudes blaring music and singing Bohemian Rhapsody all the way up. They sounded pretty good too.

 

[Dr. Mark]

The guy on the lift with me asked how old I was. I said 62. He said, "You're a baby!" He was 97, had skied for ninety years, starting on wooden skis in Russia. Now he lives in Florida and had driven to NC by himself to ski. Ilya! My hero.

He skied like a dancer--so graceful.