Skilifts.org / SORT Forum

All the BC ski areas I have never had a prob. At Whistler, lifties are outside except at the very top. Pretty cold job if you ask me! Considering that one isnt moving much.

It's understandable if lifties sometimes "lapse." Besides, the only time they are there to help out is when you lapse.

Callao, on Jan 10 2007, 08:56 PM, said:

Ah yes Bumping the chair.
This is where the loading Operator momentarly grabs the the fixed grip chiar, so it doen'st SLAM, into the back of the legs/ knees of the skier loading.
I;m a veteran of bumping chairs, prefer to bump chairs. Now the challegne here is, sweep the chair off with a broom, before each guest sits down. This is how DV does it, on snow days. When you go home at night, sit down and wake up the next morning, in the same place, you had a heck of a work out the day before.

Yes all operators need to pay attention 100% of the time. But of course thers always going to be distractions. Skiers asking questons, phones ringing, liftlogs to be filled out, etc.
Having an operator paying attention 100% is lofty goal.
At some resort Lift Mechs are stationed in the high speed top termenal( dv) And thankfully these guys are watching once inawhile. Thanks guys:)

I also think that 'euroloading' (nice term!) isn't kosher. Being as part of (some would say the main part of) a liftie's job is bumping the chair, sitting in the shack and slowing the lift when a passenger approaches implies you really couldn't care less about them. Now, at the top station, there are as TR says many more distractions. It's possible to multitask up there, but occasionally there will be lapses. This is where having two operators/attendants on busy lifts comes in handy.

I haven't experienced too much "euroloading" in Colorado except at a few low traffic lifts where the operator were not only in the shack or at the load line but were completely outside of the maze, one in particular was over 100 feet away from the controls talking to a girl sitting on a bench. I did in europe notice how different the loading of lifts was, many of the resorts that we visited not only did not bump chairs but on t-bars you were required to catch your own T and the only activity you saw from the operator was when you skied by the window and were expected to show your ticket.
This post has been edited by poloxskier: 12 January 2007 - 08:15 PM

This is why i would like to see training for all Lift operators to have a set in stone training program, that resort would follow, then add thier own polices.
Also i though a few years ago, about trying to creat a national Lift operations assocation, like the national ski patol.
The idea just kind of died out.

kind of like the national association for professional lift mechanics or N.A.P.L.M.

lastchair_44, on Jan 13 2007, 08:08 PM, said:

Lol, who came up with that name?
This post has been edited by skierdude9450: 13 January 2007 - 08:31 PM

a friend of mine...he's a member of this forum

lastchair_44, on Jan 13 2007, 07:08 PM, said:

how about "National Association for Professional Aerial Lift Mechanics" or N.A.P.A.L.M.

National Assocation of Tower Monkeys ;)

aug, on Jan 13 2007, 10:56 PM, said:

I'll have to mention something to him the next time he makes stickers

Fixed grips need to be bumped. I put my skies on at no set schedule and ski all my lifts and stop at all the stations and touch bases with all my operator/attendants. My patrol also acts as my eyes on the hill and are trained to stand in for operator/attendants for a minute if need be. The lifties like the fact that I care enough about them to stop and see if they need anything. Treat your lifties right and most will do right by you.

liftsuper, on Jan 14 2007, 05:29 PM, said:

So true! Being a lift operator is anything BUT boring. The lift I work on is the biggest and busiest at our resort. I always have something to do, such as work on the bottom ramp, which is 13 X 50 feet. And of course interacting with the guests. And saving the occasional kid who doesn't get seated in the chair fully. And dealing with people who come out to the load board too late. The list goes on..........

I can completely understand what happened. Where I work as a liftie, sometimes on really cold days when not many people are skiing watching the chairs go around and around kinda gets like counting sheep however I always prefer to walk around outside. They have no problem with that as long as your close enough to hit the stop bar in case something happen. And I must say..since I'm always doing stuff outside the shack, I have the best unloading ramp at the resort.

Where I work there are (only!) two chairlifts.

The one on the right, the operators do their job very well.

The one on the left, the operators are either talking with their fellows, watching their nails grow or reading the newspaper.

Dr Frankenstein, on Apr 6 2007, 07:53 PM, said:

How big is your resort? We've got four chairlifts.

Hi all, i'm new here, first ever post.
Firstly this site is brilliant! I have long been wondering things about chairlifts and the like and I stumbled on to here the other day. needless to say many questions were answered after a bit of reading.

I just wanted to ask, is being a lifty really that boring??! I've applied for a job at an aus. resort as i thought it'd be sweet as i've always loved the atmosphere but from what i've heard and read it's going to be a hard slog...! some positive lifty stories would be much appreciated!

rbox, on Apr 13 2007, 05:29 AM, said:

There's a good & bad side to most jobs. I really liked being a lift operator, it's a very social job - you get to talk to everyone and you hear about all the parties! We're a fairly small area, so I still get to load chairs every once and a while when the operators decide to not show up, and I still like it. It can also be very physical -shovelling two feet of snow off the load/unload zones and off every carrier if you don't have seats that flip.
I'm sure you'll have a great time!

rbox, on Apr 13 2007, 05:29 AM, said:

Welcome aboard! I've been a lifty for five years and I love it very much. it's anything BUT boring. It's just a matter of finding things to do. Work hard and the bosses will treat you right--I was voted Employee of the Season this year at Badger Pass for kicking butt on our biggest, busiest lift. Got $100 for it!
This post has been edited by EagleAce: 13 April 2007 - 08:03 AM