Try to climb down... Eeek!
https://www.pinkbike.com/news/court-awards-mountain-biker-150000-after-chairlift-fall.html
"Bromont argued that Jauvin was at fault for attempting to climb down and that if he had waited the hikers would have been able to help him"
So.. their defence was "don't worry someone will probably walk past and help you."
nice
Yes,
Things I worry about on lifts:
A Jet flying through the cable and falling to my death.
The chair falling from the cable and falling to my death.
The cable snapping and falling to my death.
The chair hitting me on the back of my head as I get off.
Spraining my ankle alighting from the chair, falling over and getting hit my the chair.
The chair closing for bad weather and leaving me behind.
My bike falling from the chair in front.
Having an awkward conversation with a 'Dude' who I end up on the same chair with who's ego is so delicate that the idea of lowering the guard might make him look wimpy or worse, he's a 'noob' (whistler was the absolute worst for that).
I can now add "The chair closing at the end of the day and leaving me behind." to the list, which is unlikely as I'm usually safely tucked away at the bar by closing time, but you never know!
He didn't hang around very long
A friend was left stuck on the Glen Coe chairlift many years back. The lift operator forgot about them and went home. A passing fell runner heard their whistle and went to investigate, he then ran to the nearest phone booth and called the lift operator who came back up to get them down....
I was riding a lift midweek on one of the Cottonwood hills one year on my own - it was windy and cold and whiteout conditions and I got on a shonky old chair with a nice layer of ice on the seat and a simple bar over the lap (no foot rest). No one behind, no one infront, no one below and it stopped for a short while and was swinging in the wind - probably only a minute but felt like ages. Grim.
My bike fell of chairlift but that is about it.
A mate in Les Gets one year messed up the getting on the lift, and kept going forwards until he fell/dived into the grass where the boardwalk ended.
This was possibly the most hilarious thing I have ever witnessed in my entire life..
Not nice for the Bromont guy though.
I assumed that all lifts were run for a full rotation at the end of the day with no one allowed to get on at the bottom or the top to make sure there was no one left on it. It seems not by the stories and that article above.
Probably deserved some recompense but it sounds like he has an 8 year old's assessment of risk. Like it's been 15 mins so I think I'll risk my life trying to climb down this cable.
Climb down the cable - jeezus! But it sounds like he nearly made it if the walkers hadn’t distracted him, so it’s them should be sued...
Having been stuck on Cairngorm lifts (back in 1990's) for 25 minute's without knowing why, I can see why he tried to leave.
We were in near white out. Saw one other skier who didn't see/hear us shouting.
We were very close to trying to jump down ourselves as was chap ahead of us.
It transpires that the machine had broken down, and they hadn't thought anyone was on it (midweek, end of day, bottom liftie radio message said no-one was on it) so they didn't send patrol down...
Chuff me it was cold.
I was once getting off a chair lift (skiing, not mtb holiday) when my backpack got caught in the seat and I got whipped up and swung around. Not quite dangling in the air but close. Very embarrassing at the time but funny in retrospect. Needless to say (a) the lift operator didn't see the funny side (b) it was the last time I wore a pack on my back on the chair lift 🙂
Things I worry about on lifts:
A Jet flying through the cable and falling to my death.
The chair falling from the cable and falling to my death.
The cable snapping and falling to my death.
The chair hitting me on the back of my head as I get off.
Spraining my ankle alighting from the chair, falling over and getting hit my the chair.
The chair closing for bad weather and leaving me behind.
My bike falling from the chair in front.
If I was worried about all that I'd cycle up 🙂
Try deep breathing exercises 🙂
I was going to say something similar to feed.
A friend of mine jumped from a chairlift. He thought he’d get another run in before his need to poo overcame his ability to keep from pooing himself. What he hadn’t factored for was the lift making an unscheduled stop. He says he was forced to do a James Bond otherwise it would have been too late.
Seem to remember a young lad being strangled a few years back when his bag got caught on chair. Very sad. As an aside when we were at Whistler in the summer people seemed to have a serious aversion to dropping the bar.
Bonkers. You give it way more than 15 minutes!
We got stuck on one of the Les Arcs chairlifts a few years ago in similar circumstances (got on the lift 5 minutes before closing). After we'd been stuck for about 30 minutes, I tried to call the lift company. No response. Got through to the Tourist Office who said they'd investigate and call me back. Called back 10 minutes later to say they couldn't contact anyone either so it looked like maybe they really had forgotten about us and to hold on while they tried to get in touch with people. Called back another 20 minutes or so later to say that no, we hadn't been forgotten about, but that the lift had broken down badly and wouldn't be re-starting any time soon. We got the full commando-style rescue in the end. Liftie climbs up the pylon, then along the cable. Climbs down on to the chair, fits you with a harness, then lowers you down! We were up there for over 2 hours in the end.
Bonkers. You give it way more than 15 minutes!
We got stuck on one of the Les Arcs chairlifts a few years ago in similar circumstances (got on the lift 5 minutes before closing). After we’d been stuck for about 30 minutes, I tried to call the lift company. No response. Got through to the Tourist Office who said they’d investigate and call me back. Called back 10 minutes later to say they couldn’t contact anyone either so it looked like maybe they really had forgotten about us and to hold on while they tried to get in touch with people. Called back another 20 minutes or so later to say that no, we hadn’t been forgotten about, but that the lift had broken down badly and wouldn’t be re-starting any time soon. We got the full commando-style rescue in the end. Liftie climbs up the pylon, then along the cable. Climbs down on to the chair, fits you with a harness, then lowers you down! We were up there for over 2 hours in the end.
I might have seen photos of you, they appeared in my in-box about 5 days before we went to Les Arcs a few years ago.
Things I worry about on lifts:
A Jet flying through the cable and falling to my death.
The chair falling from the cable and falling to my death.
The cable snapping and falling to my death.
The chair hitting me on the back of my head as I get off.
Spraining my ankle alighting from the chair, falling over and getting hit my the chair.
The chair closing for bad weather and leaving me behind.
My bike falling from the chair in front.If I was worried about all that I’d cycle up 🙂
Try deep breathing exercises 🙂
Luckily my Laziness easily outweighs my anxiety.
There are signs saying to remove backpacks from back usually. I do, or at least I pull all the loose straps in front of me and check it's not catching anything.
Bar down in states is a big no, summer or winter, unless there are kids on the lift who have to follow the rules. Usually an annoyance when a European gets on and lowers the bar. When skiing, I don't mind if it's just a bar, but when they have the ski rest it's an annoyance to get your skis on, especially a crowded lift or boarder next to you, and worse when someone won't lift their skis off when trying to lift the bar on exit. Easier without the thing.
Europe is more fussy. Got ranted at by lifties for not lowering the bar and some will even stop the lift.
(take the above with some humour. Yeah, I do accept the safety point really😁)
I worked as a “ lifty” for a while in the 90’s in Austria and the close down routine was to close the barriers, put a flag/pole in one of the chairs, and then wait for it to come round again before closing.
Seems logical.
I worked as a “ lifty” for a while in the 90’s in Austria and the close down routine was to close the barriers, put a flag/pole in one of the chairs, and then wait for it to come round again before closing.
This.
RE. waiting 15 minutes, he had correctly determined that they'd forgotten about him somehow. He didn't have warm clothes or a phone. Better to act sooner rather than later.
If anyone remembers the old 1-man chairlift (complete with leather leg cover) in Ramsau, zillertal, they'll know the retro experience of going up and coming down (as its rare to get snow at valley bottom) with skis on your lap. You basically scuttle off in your skiboots holding all your kit, while tbe liftie slows it tight down.
One year i was coming down and readied myself to demount, but the liftie hadn't seen me coming so i came in at full speed. I nearly made it off until my bag strap caught the bar and i was dragged into the concrete pit of doom where the chair swings round, skis and poles flying everwhere.
Thought i was a gonner, but full credit to the liftie they dived in on top of me to push my head down, hitting the emergency stop on the way in!
When i clambered out my mates were aghast. They've removed that old lift now.
Out in the States a few years ago in Breckenridge, Colorado, we were doing runs on Peak 10 (imaginative names those Yanks give to places...). Opening the skilifts up to MTBers was a relatively new thing back then so the only thing open was the lifts, none of the associated facilities like the mountain restaurants or anything,
It was a lovely warm day, glorious sunshine and we started riding: chairlift up, ride down and just getting into the flow of it all. We were all wearing general lightweight LS jerseys and baggy shorts attire.
A couple of hours later, got onto the lift, set off up and half way up one of those sudden mountain storms appeared out of nowhere and a freezing hailstorm hit us. Hail slashing our exposed legs and faces, temperature dropped like a stone and the lift stopped for a while - maybe they were afriad of lightning strikes or something but oh my God we froze. Got to the top - nothing open at all, no shelter so we broke into the cafe via an unsecured back door. Raided the place for whatever food we could find, someone found a kettle and boiled up water. After a while we were still soaked and cold so we just decided to get off the mountain. Slowest descent ever, could barely feel the brakes and there was a layer of ice over all the metal surfaces.
Sitting on the lift curled up in a ball trying to stop the hail from hitting any exposed skin was one of the most unpleasant experiences ever.
Used to jump off lifts into powder as a kid (got really bollocked for this in La Clusaz), now I happily pull the bar down as a middle-ager mainly to have a rest on it but also as my backpack shoves me forward. Never been stuck on a lift, but did get stuck on a roller coaster, about 50ft above ground, upside down in 40C heat for about an hour. Nasty, but luckily the man who came along in all the climbing gear freed the car so we didn't have to get lowered down like you Stevo