After having a good laugh over this thread on Rémontées-mécaniques.net, I was inspired to start a similar thread here in case anybody has any anecdotes about ski lifts or skiing. Unfortunately, I haven't had any funny experiences on ski lifts, so I'll start by translating 2 stories from the French thread:
Quote
I once witnessed a shouting match between a chairlift operator and 2-3 skiers on an 8-seater lift (which I've forgotten the name of).
- Operator: What are you ****ing around for?
- Skier: ????
- Operator: Don't force the loading gate open!
- Skier: No, it's OK, I'm trying to sit with my friends.
- Operator: Oh! So you want to save your friends a few seconds of waiting at the top but you don't give a **** about damaging the lift... and sit in the center of the (empty) chair you *****!
- Skier:
Quote
When I was 12 I took a ski lesson at Valloire. When we started in the morning, we lined up for a quad chairlift. So far, so good. However, just before the chair came around, the skier to my left shifted to his right. I panicked and ended up with one leg on the seat and one leg on the armrest. To make matters worse, my ski fell off as it was poorly attached due to snow under my boot, and the skier to the left of me still wouldn't give me enough room to sit on the chair. Since I was trapped in an uncomfortable position and missing one ski, I decided to jump off rather than endure a painful ride to the top. Luckily, the lift was only 3.50 metres above the ground, and there was fresh powder beneath. That's one lift ride I'll never forget!