this is something similar to what we were in but when it broke we were right at the top and it had swung forward so we were horizontal on our fronts with our weight on the bar.
i've been skiing for 15 years and have yet to come across one...the likelihood that the OP would be forced to use such a lift all the time is ridiculous
I skied downhill today for the first time in 20 years (no lie). We were at a tiny place in Michigan with a stunning 350 foot vertical drop. But when we got on the four-person chair the first time I reached up for the safety bar--and there wasn't one. We were probably only forty feet up at the highest point but that first ride up I was very, very tense. This place has six chairs and not a one with a safety bar. I'm totally fine climbing walls with a 60-70 foot max height, but rocking back and forth on that chair above the hill wasn't good.
gilroy wrote:
That is very good but most will miss the reference.
Why, are most your friends clinically retarded?
Fur real wrote:
gilroy wrote:That is very good but most will miss the reference.
Why, are most your friends clinically retarded?
They may not remember the name scottie. Or haven't seen it.
You could go to a place that has rope tows.
uh_no wrote:
i've been skiing for 15 years and have yet to come across one...the likelihood that the OP would be forced to use such a lift all the time is ridiculous
well, i'm not just making it up for sh***s and giggles. Hsve you ever skied at any of the places i mentioned? if you're really concerned i'm sure you can google it and see. there was a particularly scary one in loveland last year that went for about 15 min and got really high that really set off my fear. no safety bars whatsoever....
uh_no wrote:
i've been skiing for 15 years and have yet to come across one...the likelihood that the OP would be forced to use such a lift all the time is ridiculous
Which part of all the posts that claim there are lifts without safety bars are you missing?
Accept it.
Then accept that the poster didn't say he was bound only to use those ones.
And have you been skiing at one mountain for each of those 15 years? There are lots of little hills all over North America that don't have bars.
Scottie Ferguson wrote:
Once I got up on a stool in my office, near the window, and was overcome with an intense fear of heights.
and you sell hotdogs on the corner of 45th and 10th.
uh_no wrote:
i've been skiing for 15 years and have yet to come across one...the likelihood that the OP would be forced to use such a lift all the time is ridiculous
Maybe you should get out a little more, or ski somewhere different. I know plenty of ski areas that don't have safety bars on any lifts.
To the OP: sounds like a crappy deal. I'd probably give up lift skiing and buy some cross-country gear.
This a completely mental fear that only takes common sense to overcome. You are high in the air so the feeling is if I fall, I will be hurt badly, which is true. Your mind then gives this a chance of happening accidently with out any action on your part. It is like being a flat roof top 4 feet from the edge and you look at the ground. There is not much of a chance of falling off the roof from there even if you tipped over straight towards the edge but the thought of falling from the roof is enough to make you step back even though you are already back.
Same with chair lifts. They are high so you think if I fall I am dead, but there is no chance of randomly falling off the lift, you must jump off of it. The chairs are designed so that your center of gravity is towards the chair back. In order for you to fall out, you have to consciously counteract that. You have to shimmy your butt up to the edge of the seat and lean so far forward that you tip out of the lift. I think you would be suprised how much effort this would actually take. I ski a lot and I don't hear of people "falling" off the lift, ever.
Think of it this way, if you sit down to dinner on bar stool with no feet pegs and no arm rests do you ever worry about falling off and nailing your sternum on the bar? Of course not, sitting is easy. No imagine your bar stool is angled backwards 15 degrees so you butt is planted and the seat and chair back. You would never worry about falling out of the chair.
You will be fine. Just relax and think:
"There is no way I am falling out of this lift unless I jump. I am just not that stupid."
Our winter has been excellent for skiing this year and scenery is just too beautiful to be worried about falling off a lift because it just won't happen.
kaleetan wrote:
....try the new Peak 2 Peak Gondola at Whistler/Blackcomb. Highest point off the ground is 1427ft!
http://ww1.whistlerblackcomb.com/p2pg/
wow. that's awesome, but getting stuck at the high point would be the worst.
A lot of the lifts in Colorado don't have safety bars. I noticed I'm starting to get a little more nervous each year I go. Now I usually just put one arm around a bar on the side. I hate going up with my son who's 6. I have to go up with one arm around the side bar and another arm across his chest.
Ski or Flea wrote:
This a completely mental fear that only takes common sense to overcome. You are high in the air so the feeling is if I fall, I will be hurt badly, which is true. Your mind then gives this a chance of happening accidently with out any action on your part. It is like being a flat roof top 4 feet from the edge and you look at the ground. There is not much of a chance of falling off the roof from there even if you tipped over straight towards the edge but the thought of falling from the roof is enough to make you step back even though you are already back.
Same with chair lifts. They are high so you think if I fall I am dead, but there is no chance of randomly falling off the lift, you must jump off of it. The chairs are designed so that your center of gravity is towards the chair back. In order for you to fall out, you have to consciously counteract that. You have to shimmy your butt up to the edge of the seat and lean so far forward that you tip out of the lift. I think you would be suprised how much effort this would actually take. I ski a lot and I don't hear of people "falling" off the lift, ever.
Think of it this way, if you sit down to dinner on bar stool with no feet pegs and no arm rests do you ever worry about falling off and nailing your sternum on the bar? Of course not, sitting is easy. No imagine your bar stool is angled backwards 15 degrees so you butt is planted and the seat and chair back. You would never worry about falling out of the chair.
You will be fine. Just relax and think:
"There is no way I am falling out of this lift unless I jump. I am just not that stupid."
Our winter has been excellent for skiing this year and scenery is just too beautiful to be worried about falling off a lift because it just won't happen.
good advice, and i definitely know this kind of stuff in my head, but this primal fear response just takes over....no amount of rationality can overcome it.
Hi,
You're not alone. I skied for many years since age 5 with no problems. Even went to Steamboat, loved it but at age 35 got stuck in a high chair in Bamff. Forced myself to ski but then didn't for 10 years. I started again and I did it but it was still in the back of mind. I went to Alta last spring. No bar.. but did fine, then to Snowbird.. Peruvian lift goes over a crevace- maybe 2000ft. and then didn't ski the rest of the day. Next day off to Dear Valley and did fine. For me my fear is getting stuck in a chair for a prolonged period of time and then having to get cherry picked off the lift. That is my worst fear and it is a real bummer since I do like to ski. Now, I just will ski areas/lifts that I know aren't too high.. you gotta do what you gotta do. Closing my eyes helps as well as high speed lifts and being distracted by friend on the lift. This does suck.. if worst comes to worst, I take a zanax!
Crazy thoughts about jumping can happen; hold onto the back of the chair. I don't like chairs w/out a bar either. They should be mandatory at mountains.
This just happened to me I have been skiing for years I was on a chair lift with a saftey bar and foot rests 2 weeks ago and got an overwhellming feeling to jump off .this feeling came out of the blue
I did everything to keep myself from doing it. it wasn't a fear of being high OR FALLING it was much different...I just wanted to jump off....I felt I had no control over the feeling...went skiing today same thing I DECIDED TO keep going so I could overcome it...worked for awhile but the feeling returned....looking back I have had this feeling but rarely and not this intense I always thought I WAS TIRED BECAUSE IT WAS AT THE end of the day. I have searched the net appears I HAVE A FEAR OF HEIGHTS AND OR EAR PROBLEM neither of which I am aware of ..This feeling was so intense that I have a trip to Aspen planned in two weeks that I may cancel I am looking for a quick fix I GOOGLED FEAR OF HEIGHTS THERE ARE SOME OPTIONS YOU CAN READ ABOUT ALSO IT IS NOT WISE FOR US WANT TO BE JUMPERS TO GET BACK OUT THERE BECAUSE IF OUR RELAXATION TECHS DON'T WORK THERE COULD BE A PROBLEM...
I READ THE OTHER RESPONSES DID NOT FIND THEM HELPFUL YOU HAVE TO EXPERIENCE IT TO KNOW IT...ITS REAL BAD ...
If it's a true panick attack I guess there isn't much you can do, but really you should just try to be rational about it. Out of the millions of trips up those lifts each year, how many involve somebody falling out? How many people more likely to fall or jump out than you have safely made it up that lift?
pansy wrote:
I've been snowboarding for about 6 years. At first the lifts didn't bother me, but every year it gets worse for some reason. Last year I got on the lift and had to close my eyes the entire way (about a 15 min ride) because if i saw how high i was,i started to feel violently panicked. i had this visceral urge to jump off the lift - I knew obviously that this was the worst think i could do, but it was all i could do to stay on the lift and not do something dumb. Needless to say, i boarded down the mountain and didn't go back up.
I think the main problem is that there is nothing holding me in to the lift - i can go rock climbing, and as long as i'm roped in, i feel fine. Did anyone else have this problem, and if so, how did you deal with it?
i almost fell out of one before, ya i am scared to death of them
I used to get the urge to jump off the lift all the time, but it never really progressed to anything serious. Oddly, I think sometimes dropping stuff off the lift helped (snow or drinks not equipment). Granted I was a little kid so it might be weird for you to be throwing stuff.
If it really doesn't get better you could try switching to skiing. Snowboards cause more torque on your leg riding up the chairlift, and wearing skis might make you feel more balanced.
