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i was thinking with all the new tech coming out for our skis and gear, why has biggest issue/ annoyance been ignored. Most of the time i spend more time on lifts then i do actually skiing.. you would think there would be some kind of new tech developed to get the rider back up the hill in a reasonable time. Just food for thought. you just never here anything about developing tech involving lifts
...but in all seriousness, it depends on your mountain. The tram gets you to the top of Snowbird in like 8 minutes. It's considered pretty fast if you can beat the tram down.
I'm imagining warp gates from the bottom of the mountain to the top. Poma get your shit together!
...but in all seriousness, it depends on your mountain. The tram gets you to the top of Snowbird in like 8 minutes. It's considered pretty fast if you can beat the tram down.
I'm imagining warp gates from the bottom of the mountain to the top. Poma get your shit together!
uhhhh, lifts have come a long way since skiing started...
we have high speed quads, sixes, even eight person chairlifts. we have gondolas and trams now. mt snow and the canyons have bubble lifts.
chairlift tech doesn't improve as fast as outerwear and hardgoods because it costs WAY more for research and development. but i'm sure there are people out there working on it right now.
Lift technology is quiet. HSQs, new loading belts, etc. They just keep increasing uphill capacity without you even noticing all that much.
But be careful what you ask for. Increased uphill capacity = increased people on the slopes. Slow lifts preserve powder better than just about anything.
Typically, lifts are run at reasonable speeds.
We ran out gondola at a 4.8 one day this summer, and it was too fast, people were getting thrown out of the cabins and slammed upon detachment.
Lifts are run to get you up fast, and safely. Try being a liftie then tell me your argument again.
(I put 14,8- fixing it to 4.8)
**This post was edited on Oct 30th 2014 at 8:08:52pm
dude, they have heated lifts, with leather seats and covers that keep the wind and sun out Now, its like the best thing ever and its way better than gondolas. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?
[BP]dude, they have heated lifts, with leather seats and covers that keep the wind and sun out Now, its like the best thing ever and its way better than gondolas. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?
Instant gratification.
We were geeking out over the heated seats this summer- I want to ride one SO BAD.
pussyfooterAre you seriously complaining about lift technology? You could try hiking, itll take 10 times longer. Benefit: Its free.
That being said, I dunno where you ski but most high speed chairs take you up in 5-10 minutes.
Or you could buy a helicopter. Downside: Its expensive.
[BP]dude, they have heated lifts, with leather seats and covers that keep the wind and sun out Now, its like the best thing ever and its way better than gondolas. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?
i feel as there is a better way then a lift in general, not just upgrading the same thing... but never heard of heated seats in a chair! but I'm far from a tourist, iv been skiing for 18 years and have spent a fare amount of time on skins and boot packing, I'm simply talking about putting more thought in the most looked over time consumer related to resort skiing. looking at it as a problem and questioning if there is a better way to do is the only way the next big thing will be invented. don't be so close minded fellas
Assuming you are also from Wisconsin like me, you get short 1-5 minute runs. The lift the park at my local hill AV is 1 minute up 1 minute down(excluding lines). Lift is fast, but the runs are small. You need to look at location too bud. Based on skiing in Wisconsin having a new high tech lift put in will not change your skiing to on the lift time by that much. High speed quads are about the extent of what we'll see here. On a positive note we get 200+ runs in a day with out much cool downtime. So kinda of a win.
Well out East where I ski we have 10 minute long lift rides for a 1 min 30 second ride down.They also stop every once and awhile because of all the gapers out here. Hey, at least we have tow ropes.
old rickety doubles for me please. A great opportunity to smoke, eat snacks, learn to play flute or if your lucky chat up a lady. One of my favorite old doubles is Wildcat at Alta and if if it ever becomes a quad I will cry.
caucasian_chadYeah, um, there's this brand new technology called Montana. I hear it really hates whiny tourists though, so you should probably steer clear of it.
I think chirlift wait time is a good thing, for example what if you didn't have to wait and you could like teleport or something (idk) no doubt every one would love it. But It would kinda be like a skate session it would be hard to stay there from 9-4
I think chirlift wait time is a good thing, for example what if you didn't have to wait and you could like teleport or something (idk) no doubt every one would love it. But It would kinda be like a skate session it would be hard to stay there from 9-4
That's actually a good point. If you could instantaneously get back to the top of the run from the bottom you'd end up having to take breaks anyways unless you're in extremely good shape. Plus slow lifts promote good snow conditions.
Lower uphill capacity = less tracks = longer lasting pow pow and/or good terrain park conditions.
I mean naturally you don't want to spend an excessive amount of time on lifts, but limited access has its benefits.
I don't know. I kind of like taking some time to get up the the hill. Especially the lift above our park. Sure it would be cool to ride the whole day but those lift conversations and getting to watch everyone else hit park is another thing that I love about skiing. I mean, I've had some pretty hilarious and pretty deep talks with my friends on the lift. To me it's just another part of skiing and I wouldn't really complain about it.
I also only have 550ft to go up. If you're talking places like Breck then yeah slow lifts probably are annoying as hell. Around here though, I kind of like them.
Favorite lift is Wildcat at Alta. It's a slow double chair. I love it. Not as many people hit up that side of the mountain because it's slow, and the snow is preserved. Plus, being on the lift going up is still time spent in the mountains.
Mafatu123Faster lifts help a lot, but now with RFID gates and passes becoming more popular, I find I rarely have to wait to get on a chairlit
Those RFID gates are all over europe.... I fucking hate the damn things... but then again i can never get my card to read in my jacket altho they do cut down the line a bit
Sir_HuckingtonThose RFID gates are all over europe.... I fucking hate the damn things... but then again i can never get my card to read in my jacket altho they do cut down the line a bit
meh, RFID gates work so well these days and most modern jackets have some sorta pocket on the left side specifically for your pass. They're kinda impossible to fuck up, and way quicker than having to get your pass out to show someone or something
I'm kinda surprised it's taken America to catch up with them, when I learnt to ski in Norway in '98 they had them...
As I have always said...the more money you have the more you can ski. Case in point...the people I ski with everyweekend have a speed pass that gives us priority over ANYONE in the liftline at any point (most of the time besides ski school on occasion). Usually between 7:45 to 1 when I eat lunch I have lapped ~15-20 runs on east coast (Vermont). Those will money will always trump at resorts...otherwise your just a number in the lift line
but really OP, how would you improve a CHAIR THAT FLOATS YOU TO THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN (safely)?
on a more serious note, the speed of chairlift rides helps keep the traffic down on the slopes. if they were super fast every trail/zone would be way more packed.
enjoy the way up and shoot the shit with your buddies, listen to music, chug beer, talk to strangers, enjoy the scenery.... it aint that bad
They're in Portillo and called slingshots. Amazing lifts, and really fast, but terrible uplift capacity as only 4/5 people can go at a time. It only works in Portillo as we have low skier numbers, somewhere busy it would have a really long line.
easy, when you get to the bottom just figure out a way to reverse gravity, and then you can ski back up to the top... no worries. Might be bad day for other skiers but no big deal.
I know you put this up just as 'food for thought', so here is my appetizer:
The chair lift conversation is one of my favorite random social interactions. People are pretty interesting when they aren't wearing headphones. I guess I am not really talking about the technology though...
Now my Entrée:
At my shitty local non-mountainous hill, Rabbit Hill... they have a section of the park set up for lapping. It's 60 seconds up, 60 seconds down if you hit a few features. A little faster if you are hitting the jump. Again, not really a technology improvement, but in my opinion, they make the best of out of shitty situation. Innovative use of existing stuff is sometimes just as good something that could be "better/faster".
Well, yes and no- but this is not necessarily true.
You may burn through the people standing around faster, but you're also getting those people back down to the line just as fast if the mountain isn't designed to disperse those people, spread them out and slow them down. It's just setting the cycle at a different pace.
What you need to keep the lines short is a challenging trail system that spreads people out. Drop them off right at the top, give them challenging options and not just steamrolled, featureless groomers that let you straightline back to the lift as fast as possible and you've got yourself a much better buffer than the average resort has laid out for itself. Basically if you can set it up so that it takes longer to get down that rip to the next liftline, you're doing good.
It's far more a question of the balance between lift capacity VS. mountain layout and terrain type than just how fast your lift is.
would it be dangerous for my buddy to bring a rope onto the lift with him, tie it to the seat, and drop it down so i could use it as a rope tow to the top and uphill-shred the liftline terrain?
Skiing a tiny resort helps. Hot laps for days. But we also have two quads side by side on the same hill, so realistically 8 people are getting brought to the top at once. For a resort as small as my home mountain, that means 0 lift lines. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones!
would it be dangerous for my buddy to bring a rope onto the lift with him, tie it to the seat, and drop it down so i could use it as a rope tow to the top and uphill-shred the liftline terrain?
