Homage to the Fixed-Grip Chair

[crgildart]

You do NOT ski in Tahoe, do you? I've observed 127 mph winds at the weather station on top of Mt Lincoln (Sugar Bowl). Admittedly this was during a full blown blizzard, but that's like Category 4 Hurricane if it were tropical!

As for actually being there, on slide side of Mt Rose last year, we all sat on the lift with our skis vertical because we were genuinely concerned that the wind might blow one of the kids' skis off. No, really. We abandoned slide side after that.

Mmmhmm. Come ride the Fourrunner at Stowe with me on a day that's -10 with a 20mph wind coming over the ridge and through the Notch. When that route was fixed grips, they had to give out blankets at the bottom so people didn't freeze to the chairs by the top.

I'll take high speeds any day. Any time crowded enough for the lift to be running at capacity, I'm working and skip the line anyways. No line plus faster lift ride means more runs.

Dudes. whatevs.. I grew up skiing Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin. 70 below windchill has been tolerated many times.. but then we were always less than 5 minutes from the lodge on those cold little hills. It can still get pretty damned cold and windy up at 5,500 feet in western NC. And, FWIW I HAVE skied Stowe on a -10 f day.. neck gator, hat, and lots of layers go a long way, especially in the post wool thinsulate and gore tex era. The problem there was keeping the feet warm. My friend's boot cracked open on the third run of the morning mid mountain. That was pretty damned cold, but very much a part of "skiing" where standing at the bottom shouldn't be.. at least not as much as riding the lift and "skiing"..

 

[jmeb]

Maybe I just have a wonderful skiing crew, but I love chair lifts. The banter. The drink. The music. The scenery. Chairlifts are something I have no need to speed up. They are a wonderful place of forced socializing and intimacy (a 4-pack is quite cozy with 4-people.)

And this isn't just a preference for slow lifts because i ski in some Shangri-la. Most my rides on fixed-grip chairlifts are on the highest lift-served terrain in NA with fierce winds coming over the continental divide (30-50mph wind gusts common.) The good news is that skiing at the coldest places in the Rockies or Sierras is still child's play compared to bike commuting year-round in Minneapolis.

Disclaimer: I've had one too many, or one too few fernets tonight.

 

[markojp]

Dudes. whatevs.. I grew up skiing Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin. 70 below windchill has been tolerated many times.. but then we were always less than 5 minutes from the lodge on those cold little hills. It can still get pretty damned cold and windy up at 5,500 feet in western NC. And, FWIW I HAVE skied Stowe on a -10 f day.. neck gator, hat, and lots of layers go a long way, especially in the post wool thinsulate and gore tex era. The problem there was keeping the feet warm. My friend's boot cracked open on the third run of the morning mid mountain. That was pretty damned cold, but very much a part of "skiing" where standing at the bottom shouldn't be.. at least not as much as riding the lift and "skiing"..

I'm not about to argue cold ski weather with the MT and WY crowd... Cold AND altitude/exposure.

When heading back to MI, I'd much rather do high speed laps at Bittersweet than do the painfully slow fixed double lifts at Timber Ridge... Small hills, give me speed for lots of laps!

My favorite high speed lift of a misspent youth... The original Poma lift! Not the same hill of course:

 

[Core2]

I can take or leave those nut busting T-bars.

 

[Philpug]

I can take or leave those nut busting T-bars.

If thats the case..you were doing it wrong.

 

[Pete in Idaho]

I like my old fixed grip chair - rode it for years on the front on Donner Ski Ranch. When they took it out and replaced with a new fixed grip triple I helped tale down the mid lift ramp and brought this home.

 

[David Chaus]

For those who have fond memories of rope tows, Stevens Pass has one (actually two, side by side) still in use. It's a quirk of the base area, the lodges are uphill of the two main chairs (both detachable quads) out of the base. So you click into your skis and ski down to the lift lines. When it's time to return to the base lodges, you take the rope tows. It's kind of amusing to watch new-to-Stevens skiers negotiate this. (Evil chuckle).

 

[markojp]

My romance growing up on rope tows went away after about 20 seconds at Hickory Hills (MI) a couple winters back. They just weren't quite like I remembered. Or maybe my memory just sucks.

 

[Prickly Jones]

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I wax nostalgic about Mad River Glen or Alta back when it was all slow lifts. On the other, I scrupulously avoid the back side of my own hill, which is served by a fixed lift. Why, I wonder.

Here's the thing. If you ski at a mountain that's all fixed lifts, you get into -- and maybe enjoy -- that rhythm. But if there's a choice -- my mountain, for example, has good terrain off that fixed chair and good (really, better) terrain off its tram -- it can be maddening. You're sitting on a slow lift thinking, "let's go, some axxhole over that ridge is stealing my line," or some such.

 

[Lauren]

I must say I have a love affair with the luxurious Spruce Triple at Sunday River and nearly cried when I got the news the top lift station fell over (a tear may have been shed). The thought of this being replaced by a detachable quad was too much to bear. Luckily it wasn't long before they announced it will be replaced with a new fixed-grip triple. This is one lift on the mountain that there's rarely a crowd, and gives access to some of my favorite places, not to mentioned the "luxurious" part of it...when you hit this lift on a sunny, spring day. The sun hits it just right, it's slow enough you just bask in the sun without wind in your face. Plus foot rests! Luxurious!

 

[tromano]

I love fixed grip lifts, if they take me to where I want to go.

 

[crgildart]

T-bars and rope tows were the preferred transport mechanisms on super cold and windy days.

 

[steamboat1]

Mmmhmm. Come ride the Fourrunner at Stowe with me on a day that's -10 with a 20mph wind coming over the ridge and through the Notch. When that route was fixed grips, they had to give out blankets at the bottom so people didn't freeze to the chairs by the top.

I always found the Big Spruce double going up a wide open Main Street to be the longest, coldest lift ride at Stowe. Man that chair was slow & no blankets.

 

[crgildart]

T-bars and rope tows were the preferred transport mechanisms on super cold and windy days.

I will admit that on a cold windy day a detachable usually is a faster lap time because there aren't many people out skiing. No line and the fixed grip lap will be slower. Big line and they are close to even with people waiting at the bottom for the detachable with fewer chairs on available on the cable because they are spaced farther apart. Both can only move people at the same rate unloading and offloading when packed. Stoppage time variable depends on terrain served..

 

[SBrown]

Maybe I just have a wonderful skiing crew, but I love chair lifts. The banter. The drink. The music. The scenery. Chairlifts are something I have no need to speed up. They are a wonderful place of forced socializing and intimacy (a 4-pack is quite cozy with 4-people.)

And this isn't just a preference for slow lifts because i ski in some Shangri-la. Most my rides on fixed-grip chairlifts are on the highest lift-served terrain in NA with fierce winds coming over the continental divide (30-50mph wind gusts common.) The good news is that skiing at the coldest places in the Rockies or Sierras is still child's play compared to bike commuting year-round in Minneapolis.

Disclaimer: I've had one too many, or one too few fernets tonight.

I so agree with you -- except I was having a negroni -- I think riding a slow lift is just so relaxing. Every first day of the season, I feel like I could just ride the lift around the bullwheel a few times, a couple laps between ski runs would be cool. Look around, soak it all in.

I was kinda chuckling at all the back-and-forth going on in the thread, as in "lighten up," when I realized, We have really really great scenery here. Riding lifts at ABasin or Loveland is just therapeutic, whether you even get to ski or not.

 

[markojp]

T-bars and rope tows were the preferred transport mechanisms on super cold and windy days.

Like there was much of a choice?

 

[scott43]

My romance growing up on rope tows went away after about 20 seconds at Hickory Hills (MI) a couple winters back. They just weren't quite like I remembered. Or maybe my memory just sucks.

I don't know how many pairs of gloves I burned through on rope tows...

 

[MikeS]

I always found the Big Spruce double going up a wide open Main Street to be the longest, coldest lift ride at Stowe. Man that chair was slow & no blankets.

I can imagine. My tenure at Stowe started after Sensation went in, and that's still a cold ride. But at least you might have the sun on Spruce side. Mansfield side, you're in shade most of the day in January.

 

[crgildart]

I don't know how many pairs of gloves I burned through on rope tows...

Well the thick pigskin glove protectors were only half the price of a GOOD pair of new gloves and lasted longer than a cheap pair of gloves.

 

[x10003q]

I always found the Big Spruce double going up a wide open Main Street to be the longest, coldest lift ride at Stowe. Man that chair was slow & no blankets.

The Big Spruce double sucked for cold. We rarely went over there because it was so cold.