Your Most Memorable Chairlift Ride

[Guy in Shorts]

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.

Call those lucky few the lotto winners. You can be a ticket holder also. Takes a lotta work and a lotta luck to get there.

 

[surfacehoar]

2nd lift of the year. Riding single a group of 2 joined me despite the signs and clear instructions not to ride with other groups.

Old guy from Russia says, "God makes the laws that must be followed. Man makes laws to be broken."

 

[tch]

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.

Friend and I rode up with a guy at Whitewater, BC -- all of us obviously past a certain age. During the course of conversation, one of us said something about how it was unfortunate that the free-tickets-for-seniors programs seem to be dying out. Guy laughed out loud; said maybe it was because of him. Apparently, Charlie has skied at Whitewater since the very beginning and is a local legend. To recognize his history, they gave him a free lifetime pass when he turned 75. Charlie laughed again and said, "I don't think they expected I'd take advantage of it for so long! I'm 93!"

 

[Dr. Mark]

2nd lift of the year. Riding single a group of 2 joined me despite the signs and clear instructions not to ride with other groups.

Old guy from Russia says, "God makes the laws that must be followed. Man makes laws to be broken."

If that happens again, you can sidestep and let them take the chair by themselves. That might convey some message to them

 

[Philpug]

as far as I know.

Yup...as far as you know.

 

[Moose32]

Does anybody remember NFL HOFer Eric Dickerson?

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Dickerson was the subject of a recruiting controversy when he attended SMU. He still refuses to answer on whether or not he accepted anything to attend SMU, saying, "Even if I did take something, I still wouldn't tell." This was the subject of two documentaries on ESPN and the NFL network.

Anyway, while on the Ajax Express lift at Aspen, I met a SMU booster that told me the true story. To get around NCAA rules, SMU paid Eric's uncle $70,000 for two cords of firewood. So, as an eighteen year old, Eric had $70,000 in his pocket back in 1979. I always thought that was cool story, and indicative of the kind of inside information one can gather on the chairlifts of Aspen.

Still the best scoop from Ski Talk. Believable and totally how that would have gone down at SMU in 1979. Only in Aspen…and Dallas.

 

[John Webb]

First and only time I jumped off a chair was at Blue Knob Pa. They had two double chairs and the lower of the two
was not in great shape. The cable would derail a small amount at the bottom about 3 times a day. If you were unlucky
to be riding it you would have to wait a half hour for repairs. One time I was half way up when this happened and was
in a flat area about 15 feet off the ground and I decided to lower & jump off . The landing area had soft unskied snow to cushion the fall.
I was fine but did slightly sprain an ankle !
5 years later the lift still had this problem ( don't know how it passed inspection !)
but they figured out how to reattach the cable in 5 minutes !

 

[Truberski]

Raging snowstorm on old Millicent double chair at Brighton (Utah). Small seat, no safety bar, pole in middle of chair to hang onto, and a few spots where height to ground rivals a Tram. I’ve never had issues with heights but man did I hold the center pole tight!! Was sadly replaced by Milly Express….

 

[Errand Wolfe]

Any ride above tree line in a whipping wind, that shit is fun!

 

[John Webb]

Not a chairlift but once the wind at Whistler was so strong I was blown off a T-bar during a howling snowstorm at the top of hill. (Only time this happened) I headed down to get better goggles then headed back up. The T-bar and the top third of the hill just closed. I tried to ski the middle third but there was snow at top and rain at bottom of this lift. Miserable so I quit for the day.

 

[Go West Skier]

In 1984, at 19 years old, my friends and I left Fordham University in The Bronx ,N.Y. by car and drove to New Orleans to participate in the Flag Football National Championship and to celebrate New Years Eve... celebrate we did... on New Years morn as my buddies slept I hopped cab to the airport and flew to Vail, Colorado to visit a buddy working there, and hungover, saw the Rockies for the first time.... Holy S*#t I was all in, damn.... and did not really know how to ski... got by on youth and some athleticism. First day, singles line, I'm taking a chair at Mid Vail... and I end up on the chair with a beauty, the beauty...20 to 25 years old, smoking hot... tight pants, no make up, Colorado tan, blonde, Ray Bans... the ones all 19 year olds dream about (as well as this 56 yr old) ... we chat, we laugh, life is getting better every minute... she asks me to ski with her.... I say yes... we exit the lift... she says "let's go!"... takes hard right and alI I see is her bouncing gracefully down the trail as I hesitate and lose sight of her after about 150 yards... I couldn't find her after... but I've been looking ever since and have been hooked on skiing 38 years and counting... I'd like to thank her

 

[Philpug]

Its must be a really tough ride when you are mad at yourself and not answering.

Thats when I get off at mid station.

 

[oldschoolskier]

Thats when I get off at mid station.

Just remember, its not the fall that kills you but the sudden stop when it is mid ride.

 

[Jim Kenney]

January 2010: This eerie early morning light occurred on my first ride ever on the iconic single chair at Mad River Glen, VT. Great ski mountain! I made it a point to return there several times since.

 

[SCWVA]

I've got a number of memorable lift rides to contribute. My three sons and I were loading a lift on the backside of ski Liberty in PA. Shortly after loading the lift my youngest son ( 12yrs old?) disappears. We look back and he's standing upright in the snow about 20ft from the loading platform. The lift stops and he gets on the chair behind us with some young ladies. We get to the top and his loving and caring older brothers start giving him all sorts of grief. This continued on the lift ride back up the mountain until I intervened and told his brothers that he had purposely jumped off the lift to ride up with the snow bunnies behind us. To this day, if any of his brothers or sisters bring up falling off a lift, the story quickly turns to how James purposely jumped off the lift to meet up with some snow bunnies.

@Jimk, nice pic and the single at MRG is always a bit sketchy.

 

[Tonyr4]

The Single Chair at MRG is tough to top although the Slidebrook express which is the lift that connects both mountains at Sugarbush is a cool ride as well.

My favorite chair out west is Chair 23 at Mammoth. That picture was from a ski day in July a couple of seasons ago.

 

[Philpug]

The Single Chair at MRG is tough to top although the Slidebrook express which is the lift that connects both mountains at Sugarbush is a cool ride as well.

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My favorite chair out west is Chair 23 at Mammoth. That picture was from a ski day in July a couple of seasons ago.

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Two of my favorite chairs.

 

[Jack skis]

Maybe the most memorable lift rides I've had were on the old Gondola #2 at Big Sky. It came to Big Sky second hand from some other area, perhaps in California?, and was a bit rickety. The lit ops gave the cars a push to start them up the mountain, which wasn't comforting. At the top terminal . the lift ops had to catch the cars, or at least slow them down so they didn't crash full speed into the cars in front of them. Once saw a lift op just miss getting pinched between two cars at the top terminal. Locals on both Gondolas would some times ask you not to ride with them because they were going to be enjoying MJ on the ride. I generally went ahead and rode with them just for the comradeship and general fellowship.

 

[Tom Inca]

Going up the Avanti lift at Vail. A red jacket "Information" volunteer got on the lift with me. She left her walkie talkie on. Half way up I hear, "We found the finger!"

 

[robertc3]

I have had lots of great chairlift rides and this one was certainly up there.

That is I in the orange coat and I am not riding single, that is my then 6 year old son riding with me. His head didn't quite stick up over the back of the chair. This is heading up 7th Heaven at Stevens Pass for his inaugural foray into the mountains primary experts only terrain. I had taken a similar ride with my daughter a couple of years before, but didn't get a picture.