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Your anecdotes about ski lifts

anecdotes stories humor funny accidents incidents

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#1 passengerpigeon

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Posted 08 August 2015 - 06:57 AM

Dear users,
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

Sébastien said:
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? :blink:
- Skier: ????
- Operator: Don't force the loading gate open! :mad:
- Skier: No, it's OK, I'm trying to sit with my friends. :unsure:
- 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 *****! :mad:
- Skier: :unsure:

Quote

Noufoun said:
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!


#2 Razvan

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Posted 09 August 2015 - 08:54 AM

My installation used to run in the summer too. The mountain has a lot of hiking trails and hotels and is also a very popular summer destination.
However, during the week the public was not too numerous, so we did a number of stops each day, while we waited for tourists to gather or to
return from the top. In these intervals, I was doing some electrical maintenance on the towers. Sometimes, when I saw some young couples in a gondola and
assumed they were not ready to sue us for mild scares, I used to stop the installation right when their gondola was beneath my tower (using the
Radio-Controlled Stop discussed elsewhere on this forum), then descend on top of the cabin. I made sure they didn't saw me on the tower.
You should hear the tourists rattle about, trying to see what was causing the stop, the swaying and the unexpected bumps on top.
Once I got myself anchored to the gondola, the thing started again and then I was popping my head in at the door window, upside down:

"Can I see your tickets, please?"

#3 Emax

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Posted 14 August 2015 - 03:05 PM

I can think of so many - from my Lift Engineering days.
But it is best that I do not document them ... at least for now.
There are three roads to ruin; women, gambling and technicians. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians. Georges Pompidou

#4 passengerpigeon

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Posted 14 August 2015 - 04:00 PM

 Emax, on 14 August 2015 - 03:05 PM, said:

I can think of so many - from my Lift Engineering days.
But it is best that I do not document them ... at least for now.

Why not? Is it because of the "Polish Mafia"?

#5 2milehi

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Posted 15 August 2015 - 06:42 AM

 Emax, on 14 August 2015 - 03:05 PM, said:

I can think of so many - from my Lift Engineering days.
But it is best that I do not document them ... at least for now.

Will you follow like Copernicus and Galileo and publish your "works" on your death bed?
Anything is possible when you don't understand what you are talking about.

#6 Emax

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Posted 15 August 2015 - 06:43 AM

 passengerpigeon, on 14 August 2015 - 04:00 PM, said:

Why not? Is it because of the "Polish Mafia"?

I am a former resident of the "Nevatican" - currently in the witness protection program. :ninja:

Look for my chronicles to be published in coming years:

Yanism: The Good; The Bad; The Unmentionable

This post has been edited by Emax: 15 August 2015 - 06:50 AM

There are three roads to ruin; women, gambling and technicians. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians. Georges Pompidou

#7 Razvan

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Posted 15 August 2015 - 09:46 AM

I always thought Bud is more of a Yakuza guy...

Anywayz, my Kindle is all ears for that bestseller!

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#8 passengerpigeon

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Posted 16 August 2015 - 02:31 AM

Quote

Emax said:

I am a former resident of the "Nevatican" - currently in the witness protection program. :ninja:

Look for my chronicles to be published in coming years:

Yanism: The Good; The Bad; The Unmentionable


Sorry for the thread deropement. I thought you were being serious when you first mentioned the "Polish Mafia". Can we please go back to anecdotes?

This post has been edited by passengerpigeon: 16 August 2015 - 06:26 AM


#9 Emax

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Posted 16 August 2015 - 05:21 AM

 passengerpigeon, on 16 August 2015 - 02:31 AM, said:

:offtopic:
Sorry for the thread deropement. I thought you were being serious when you first mentioned the "Polish Mafia". Can we please go back to anecdotes?

Uhh - I didn't mention that ... you did.
There are three roads to ruin; women, gambling and technicians. The most pleasant is with women, the quickest is with gambling, but the surest is with technicians. Georges Pompidou

#10 passengerpigeon

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Posted 16 August 2015 - 06:25 AM

 Emax, on 16 August 2015 - 05:21 AM, said:

Uhh - I didn't mention that ... you did.

You mentioned it in the "YanTrak at Mammoth" thread. Sorry if my previous post seemed aggressive, I did not intend for it to be taken that way.

This post has been edited by passengerpigeon: 16 August 2015 - 06:27 AM


#11 Razvan

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Posted 16 August 2015 - 12:37 PM

Don't worry...

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#12 passengerpigeon

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Posted 04 September 2015 - 06:23 PM

To get back on topic, here are 2 anecdotes that I found on Reddit:
A chairlift operator with a fear of heights, who acted very arrogantly towards his coworkers... until he found out that riding the lift was part of his job.
A young skier who gets slammed in the side by a chair after being confused by a change in loading area configuration.





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