So what was the best April Fools prank at your ski hill? We saw the piece of 19 gauge wire wrapped around the spark plug on a snowmobile, run up through the steering column and taped to the throttle, always a good shocker. Then there is the long Ty-wrap around the drive-shaft on someone's truck, good for watching someone crawl around in the mud under their truck trying to figure out where the noise is coming from. But these are getting boring.. Looking for some good ideas for next year.
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Best April Fools Pranks
Started by not really a liftie, Apr 01 2008 06:37 PM
19 replies to this topic
#2
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Posted 01 April 2008 - 06:46 PM
not really a liftie, on Apr 1 2008, 06:37 PM, said:
So what was the best April Fools prank at your ski hill? We saw the piece of 19 gauge wire wrapped around the spark plug on a snowmobile, run up through the steering column and taped to the throttle, always a good shocker. Then there is the long Ty-wrap around the drive-shaft on someone's truck, good for watching someone crawl around in the mud under their truck trying to figure out where the noise is coming from. But these are getting boring.. Looking for some good ideas for next year.
I hopped in my truck (fully emblazoned with logos) and headed to town this morning. First stop is the carwash, I pulled into a bay, got out of the truck and I find an orange surveyors ribbon 30ft long attached to one of the rear bumper mounts. There was one more on the other mount that did not unfurl. I can't believe that I drove 35 miles without seeing it in my mirrors. I think my crew is inheriting my sense of humor.
Harmless and well done !!
...Mike
#3
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ccslider
Posted 02 April 2008 - 12:15 PM
Back in the old days, every morning, a mechanic would arrive at the cat-barn, fire up a doo and cruise up to the top of the lift from town and run up all the employees to start their day. We'd keep the doo chained up to a tree overnight for security reasons. Well on this particular April 1st, the boss came in and saw his doo completely covered in a pile of snow pushed up by a cat - he could only see the chain emerging from the snowpile to the tree, the top of the doo flag and the tips of the two skis out in front. What he didn't find until much later in the day was his doo safely parked on the far side of the barn and of course he had just assumed the worst. We had a good laugh over a number of beers that night, but you know paybacks are always hell to be paid - that's another story.
This post has been edited by ccslider: 02 April 2008 - 12:16 PM
#4
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Posted 02 April 2008 - 12:31 PM
ccslider, on Apr 2 2008, 01:15 PM, said:
Back in the old days, every morning, a mechanic would arrive at the cat-barn, fire up a doo and cruise up to the top of the lift from town and run up all the employees to start their day. We'd keep the doo chained up to a tree overnight for security reasons. Well on this particular April 1st, the boss came in and saw his doo completely covered in a pile of snow pushed up by a cat - he could only see the chain emerging from the snowpile to the tree, the top of the doo flag and the tips of the two skis out in front. What he didn't find until much later in the day was his doo safely parked on the far side of the barn and of course he had just assumed the worst. We had a good laugh over a number of beers that night, but you know paybacks are always hell to be paid - that's another story.
...uhh... OH! for a minute there I thought...
Never mind.
This post has been edited by Emax: 02 April 2008 - 12:33 PM
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
#5
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Posted 02 April 2008 - 03:44 PM
Once at Baker all the patrollers hatched a plan in the morning meeting. They all went to the drive terminals of the open lifts (five that day) and simultaneously hit an E-stop. As we had primary diesel engines, they of course shut down. As we had attendants not operators, they weren't allowed into the motor rooms at all, so we mechanics had to respond to every E-stop. It was a nice day, the public had no idea why the lifts were stopped, and we heard no complaints from them. Patrol did buy beer for myself and the other mechanic that night, though, our mountain manager thought it was over the top.
Some time ago a coworker of mine filled the pump tube and nozzle of a gallon of hand cleaner with Texas Red... that was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.
Some time ago a coworker of mine filled the pump tube and nozzle of a gallon of hand cleaner with Texas Red... that was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time.
Member, Department of Ancient Technology, Colorado chapter.
#7
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Posted 04 April 2008 - 07:51 PM
We only train a few of ours to reset e-stops, they have asked me the same question before, usually as I am arriving to reset one. I tell them until they can handle not using them they are not allowed to reset them. We do train a few each year that work the most remote lifts and can reset a drive fault or e-stop to help cut down on responses and response time.
#8
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Posted 04 April 2008 - 08:26 PM
Brian, on Apr 4 2008, 08:03 PM, said:
what mountain do you work at were lifties can't clear an e-stop?
The hardest thing is training them to figure out what caused the lift to stop instead of instantly hitting a reset and trying to restart the lift. RPD faults, Grip Force faults come to mind. Operators (or attendants) get thrown into the mix with a just a week or two of training on complex systems that takes lift mechanics many years to just become competent at troubleshooting. Sure any liftie can reset an Emergency Stop, but do you really want them too? That goes for normal stops or service stops as well. Especially when they have a veteran Ski Patroller or Mountain Manager breathing down their neck to get the lift going as fast as possible. Best to tell them that any stop not instigated by a pushbutton needs to be cleared by Lift Maintenance before reset is attempted. Sure 90% of the stops are something simple and it seems like a waste of time but check out the incident forum for some examples of why not to be 100% prudent.
#9
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Posted 04 April 2008 - 10:48 PM
not really a liftie, on Apr 4 2008, 11:26 PM, said:
The hardest thing is training them to figure out what caused the lift to stop instead of instantly hitting a reset and trying to restart the lift. RPD faults, Grip Force faults come to mind. Operators (or attendants) get thrown into the mix with a just a week or two of training on complex systems that takes lift mechanics many years to just become competent at troubleshooting. Sure any liftie can reset an Emergency Stop, but do you really want them too? That goes for normal stops or service stops as well. Especially when they have a veteran Ski Patroller or Mountain Manager breathing down their neck to get the lift going as fast as possible. Best to tell them that any stop not instigated by a pushbutton needs to be cleared by Lift Maintenance before reset is attempted. Sure 90% of the stops are something simple and it seems like a waste of time but check out the incident forum for some examples of why not to be 100% prudent.
YES, for stops from stop buttons damn right I want them to. I am sorry, But if your training for lift operators does not include being able to detect a light, stating remote e-stop or reading remote e-stop on a screen, you had better look into your training program. Every lift should have at least one operator trained to read their low volt panel, and write up the stop in the daily log.
Stops other than standard button stops, I agree the LM department should clear, but come on folks you are telling me it takes you years to learn how to see a light for remote e-stop. That is egotistical, and self serving, within two weeks of the start of each season your department should have at least one operator trained for each lift. Up grade your training, you are providing a great disservice for your customers (unless you park a lift maintenance person at each lift) by making them sit in a chair waiting for someone from the Maintenance department to show up and clear a stop button, my God, the longer I am in this industry the more I learn, and in my mind, it's not all good.
This post has been edited by chasl: 04 April 2008 - 10:49 PM
#10
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Posted 05 April 2008 - 02:12 PM
chasl, on Apr 4 2008, 10:48 PM, said:
YES, for stops from stop buttons damn right I want them to. I am sorry, But if your training for lift operators does not include being able to detect a light, stating remote e-stop or reading remote e-stop on a screen, you had better look into your training program. Every lift should have at least one operator trained to read their low volt panel, and write up the stop in the daily log.
Stops other than standard button stops, I agree the LM department should clear, but come on folks you are telling me it takes you years to learn how to see a light for remote e-stop. That is egotistical, and self serving, within two weeks of the start of each season your department should have at least one operator trained for each lift. Up grade your training, you are providing a great disservice for your customers (unless you park a lift maintenance person at each lift) by making them sit in a chair waiting for someone from the Maintenance department to show up and clear a stop button, my God, the longer I am in this industry the more I learn, and in my mind, it's not all good.
Stops other than standard button stops, I agree the LM department should clear, but come on folks you are telling me it takes you years to learn how to see a light for remote e-stop. That is egotistical, and self serving, within two weeks of the start of each season your department should have at least one operator trained for each lift. Up grade your training, you are providing a great disservice for your customers (unless you park a lift maintenance person at each lift) by making them sit in a chair waiting for someone from the Maintenance department to show up and clear a stop button, my God, the longer I am in this industry the more I learn, and in my mind, it's not all good.
Sorry if I wasn't clear but if you read what I said: "any stop NOT instigated by a stop button" should be cleared by maintenance. Yes the lift ops had better damn well know how to figure out and reset any stop caused by someone hitting a red button. But for everything else experience is the best training and until you are comfortable with the Lift Ops at your ski area you should not give them the benefit of the doubt until you are comfortable that they are well trained. On our detachs a RPD fault shows up as a normal stop. You can reset the lift and the lift will start. You need to scroll the screens and figure out what tower the fault is at, go to the tower and verify the alignment before you hit a reset and the fault indication disappears. I would say 95% of our lift ops know how to read their screens, know what faults need to be cleared by lift maintenance and which ones don't. Often this is a quick phone call, but sometimes it requires lift maintenance or the lift foreman to take a look. And yes they log every stop in the daily stop log. At my ski area EVERY lift operator is trained to read their low volt panel and write up the stop in the daily log. If you think every person that you hire as a lift operator is qualified after two weeks of training to troubleshoot every possible fault that occurs on their chairlift then you are providing a great disservice to your customers. The longer I am in this industry the more I learn, and in my mind it's scary how much I thought I knew after being in the industry for a year, because after more than ten years I'm sorry to say I still don't know everything. Not sure how that makes me egotistical but there you go.
Not sure why this is even in the Aprils Fools Day Prank topic.
This post has been edited by not really a liftie: 05 April 2008 - 02:12 PM
#11
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Posted 05 April 2008 - 06:18 PM
I think I confused someone while trying to describe a prank (see my post further above). Perhaps this ought to be its own topic from the uproar it seems to have caused.
back on topic now, as in 'Best April Fool's Pranks'.
back on topic now, as in 'Best April Fool's Pranks'.
Member, Department of Ancient Technology, Colorado chapter.
#14
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Posted 06 April 2008 - 12:17 AM
not really a liftie, on Apr 5 2008, 05:12 PM, said:
Sorry if I wasn't clear but if you read what I said: "any stop NOT instigated by a stop button" should be cleared by maintenance. Yes the lift ops had better damn well know how to figure out and reset any stop caused by someone hitting a red button. But for everything else experience is the best training and until you are comfortable with the Lift Ops at your ski area you should not give them the benefit of the doubt until you are comfortable that they are well trained. On our detachs a RPD fault shows up as a normal stop. You can reset the lift and the lift will start. You need to scroll the screens and figure out what tower the fault is at, go to the tower and verify the alignment before you hit a reset and the fault indication disappears. I would say 95% of our lift ops know how to read their screens, know what faults need to be cleared by lift maintenance and which ones don't. Often this is a quick phone call, but sometimes it requires lift maintenance or the lift foreman to take a look. And yes they log every stop in the daily stop log. At my ski area EVERY lift operator is trained to read their low volt panel and write up the stop in the daily log. If you think every person that you hire as a lift operator is qualified after two weeks of training to troubleshoot every possible fault that occurs on their chairlift then you are providing a great disservice to your customers. The longer I am in this industry the more I learn, and in my mind it's scary how much I thought I knew after being in the industry for a year, because after more than ten years I'm sorry to say I still don't know everything. Not sure how that makes me egotistical but there you go.
Not sure why this is even in the Aprils Fools Day Prank topic.
Not sure why this is even in the Aprils Fools Day Prank topic.
Sorry about that, I guess I stopped reading the post at one point. When I stated 2 weeks, I am talking basic info. more trust with returning employee's. I had level 1,2,3 operators, Level three authorized to start-up and operate Aux. drives, after clearance from LM.
And you are correct, wrong post for this, should be up above.
This post has been edited by chasl: 06 April 2008 - 12:20 AM
#15
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Posted 06 April 2008 - 04:53 AM
A good prank I saw pulled was not for april fools but an end of the season summer prank. Some of the port security workers up in Ketchikan got ahold of several rolls of pallet wrap and completely saran wrapped the harbormasters truck with a very thick layer. Fortunately the harbormaster has a good sense of humor and they also frequently place for sale signs on his brand new BMW 1200 GS.
This post has been edited by poloxskier: 06 April 2008 - 04:56 AM
-Bryan
Theres a place for all of God's creatures, right next to the mashed potatoes.
"You could say that a mountain is alot like a woman, once you think you know every inch of her and you're about to dip your skis into some soft, deep powder...Bam, you've got two broken legs, cracked ribs and you pay your $20 just to let her punch your lift ticket all over again"
Theres a place for all of God's creatures, right next to the mashed potatoes.
"You could say that a mountain is alot like a woman, once you think you know every inch of her and you're about to dip your skis into some soft, deep powder...Bam, you've got two broken legs, cracked ribs and you pay your $20 just to let her punch your lift ticket all over again"
#16
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Posted 07 April 2008 - 11:56 AM
One day at Sweep (..YEARS ago when I was a Ski Patroller.. ) there was about 7 or 8 or us that hatched a plan to get the Patrol leader with a bit of humor.
There was a suspicious phone call made and invited him into the hut to distract him for a brief minute.
Unbeknownst to me.. three of us blocked the PL's view out the window and then someone pulled out one of those neat little McDonalds Syrup packets. My buddy picked up one ski and carefully put a nice fat bead down the center of the ski then flipped it over onto the snow.
3 or 4 minutes of a distracting phone call later, the boss came out and all of a sudden, everyone knew just what sweep trails to take. Turns out - the boss got the longest sweep trail out along the fringe of the ski area, through some nasty rotten snow that included alot of tucking and perfectly timed speed down some narrow trails. Thats stuff sets up pretty hard and goey for just a few minutes in the snow!
We all set off a few minutes after the last chair unloaded and most of us got a pretty good look at the first step the boss took. And then promptly ejected from his left ski - pack & all. He got up.. brushed himself off.. snapped into his ski, then set off again. And fell down. Got up. Fell down. I lost sight of him skiing away on my trail as I didn't want to risk laughing too hard.
I seem to remember it was about 45 minutes for a trail that usually took 30 minutes tops. I still chuckle thinking that he did the entire sweep trail on one ski.
Other ones for next April:
- switching boot liners from left to right foot. Sometimes it can go on for days ".. Geez.. these boots *just* don't seem to fit right.. "
- taking one ski & throwing it on the roof of your favorite building ".. what are you saying?? WHO would take *one* ski?!?!.. C'mon.." ( this one is GREAT on Ski Instructors)
- sending your apprentice to the maint shop looking for a box of Sparks for the welder, a can of steam, a bucket of checkered paint, etc etc (my favorite is the "Zeuss plug puller" !)
There was a suspicious phone call made and invited him into the hut to distract him for a brief minute.
Unbeknownst to me.. three of us blocked the PL's view out the window and then someone pulled out one of those neat little McDonalds Syrup packets. My buddy picked up one ski and carefully put a nice fat bead down the center of the ski then flipped it over onto the snow.
3 or 4 minutes of a distracting phone call later, the boss came out and all of a sudden, everyone knew just what sweep trails to take. Turns out - the boss got the longest sweep trail out along the fringe of the ski area, through some nasty rotten snow that included alot of tucking and perfectly timed speed down some narrow trails. Thats stuff sets up pretty hard and goey for just a few minutes in the snow!
We all set off a few minutes after the last chair unloaded and most of us got a pretty good look at the first step the boss took. And then promptly ejected from his left ski - pack & all. He got up.. brushed himself off.. snapped into his ski, then set off again. And fell down. Got up. Fell down. I lost sight of him skiing away on my trail as I didn't want to risk laughing too hard.
I seem to remember it was about 45 minutes for a trail that usually took 30 minutes tops. I still chuckle thinking that he did the entire sweep trail on one ski.
Other ones for next April:
- switching boot liners from left to right foot. Sometimes it can go on for days ".. Geez.. these boots *just* don't seem to fit right.. "
- taking one ski & throwing it on the roof of your favorite building ".. what are you saying?? WHO would take *one* ski?!?!.. C'mon.." ( this one is GREAT on Ski Instructors)
- sending your apprentice to the maint shop looking for a box of Sparks for the welder, a can of steam, a bucket of checkered paint, etc etc (my favorite is the "Zeuss plug puller" !)
#17
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Posted 07 April 2008 - 05:39 PM
dromo_mania, on Apr 7 2008, 11:56 AM, said:
One day at Sweep (..YEARS ago when I was a Ski Patroller.. ) there was about 7 or 8 or us that hatched a plan to get the Patrol leader with a bit of humor.
There was a suspicious phone call made and invited him into the hut to distract him for a brief minute.
Unbeknownst to me.. three of us blocked the PL's view out the window and then someone pulled out one of those neat little McDonalds Syrup packets. My buddy picked up one ski and carefully put a nice fat bead down the center of the ski then flipped it over onto the snow.
3 or 4 minutes of a distracting phone call later, the boss came out and all of a sudden, everyone knew just what sweep trails to take. Turns out - the boss got the longest sweep trail out along the fringe of the ski area, through some nasty rotten snow that included alot of tucking and perfectly timed speed down some narrow trails. Thats stuff sets up pretty hard and goey for just a few minutes in the snow!
We all set off a few minutes after the last chair unloaded and most of us got a pretty good look at the first step the boss took. And then promptly ejected from his left ski - pack & all. He got up.. brushed himself off.. snapped into his ski, then set off again. And fell down. Got up. Fell down. I lost sight of him skiing away on my trail as I didn't want to risk laughing too hard.
I seem to remember it was about 45 minutes for a trail that usually took 30 minutes tops. I still chuckle thinking that he did the entire sweep trail on one ski.
Other ones for next April:
- switching boot liners from left to right foot. Sometimes it can go on for days ".. Geez.. these boots *just* don't seem to fit right.. "
- taking one ski & throwing it on the roof of your favorite building ".. what are you saying?? WHO would take *one* ski?!?!.. C'mon.." ( this one is GREAT on Ski Instructors)
- sending your apprentice to the maint shop looking for a box of Sparks for the welder, a can of steam, a bucket of checkered paint, etc etc (my favorite is the "Zeuss plug puller" !)
There was a suspicious phone call made and invited him into the hut to distract him for a brief minute.
Unbeknownst to me.. three of us blocked the PL's view out the window and then someone pulled out one of those neat little McDonalds Syrup packets. My buddy picked up one ski and carefully put a nice fat bead down the center of the ski then flipped it over onto the snow.
3 or 4 minutes of a distracting phone call later, the boss came out and all of a sudden, everyone knew just what sweep trails to take. Turns out - the boss got the longest sweep trail out along the fringe of the ski area, through some nasty rotten snow that included alot of tucking and perfectly timed speed down some narrow trails. Thats stuff sets up pretty hard and goey for just a few minutes in the snow!
We all set off a few minutes after the last chair unloaded and most of us got a pretty good look at the first step the boss took. And then promptly ejected from his left ski - pack & all. He got up.. brushed himself off.. snapped into his ski, then set off again. And fell down. Got up. Fell down. I lost sight of him skiing away on my trail as I didn't want to risk laughing too hard.
I seem to remember it was about 45 minutes for a trail that usually took 30 minutes tops. I still chuckle thinking that he did the entire sweep trail on one ski.
Other ones for next April:
- switching boot liners from left to right foot. Sometimes it can go on for days ".. Geez.. these boots *just* don't seem to fit right.. "
- taking one ski & throwing it on the roof of your favorite building ".. what are you saying?? WHO would take *one* ski?!?!.. C'mon.." ( this one is GREAT on Ski Instructors)
- sending your apprentice to the maint shop looking for a box of Sparks for the welder, a can of steam, a bucket of checkered paint, etc etc (my favorite is the "Zeuss plug puller" !)
Don't forget the bolt stretcher, number 9 skyhook, and my personal favorite; the TR double E.
...Mike
#18
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Posted 08 April 2008 - 10:03 AM
my personal favorite...for your buddy's truck...get into the fusebox, take a bit of wire and jump from the horn to the brakes, or the turn signal, or the windshield wipers, just depends on how hard you want to laugh.
Or, you can always steal their rotor button
Or, you can always steal their rotor button
#19
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Posted 08 April 2008 - 10:27 AM
Chuck was part of this one since he car pooled with the prankster.......
A couple of workers were trading pranks. One, the electrical guy, finally had enough and laced a bare wire through the other guy's "saddle blanket" seat cover, driver's side only. Of course, this was then hooked up to the coil of the truck.......
The entire Mtn. Ops summer staff was standing around the truck at quitting time. One guy even got the whole "chicken dance" on Video Tape!
The rest of us howled with laughter.
Carl
A couple of workers were trading pranks. One, the electrical guy, finally had enough and laced a bare wire through the other guy's "saddle blanket" seat cover, driver's side only. Of course, this was then hooked up to the coil of the truck.......
The entire Mtn. Ops summer staff was standing around the truck at quitting time. One guy even got the whole "chicken dance" on Video Tape!
The rest of us howled with laughter.
Carl
#20
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Posted 26 April 2008 - 02:36 PM
This looks like an April Fools prank!
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