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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

OMG - how terrifying are ski lifts?

173 replies

bbcessex · 27/02/2018 20:34

😱😱😱 just watching a video on my friend’s Facebook page; she’s been skiing.

I’ve never been - quite fancy the skiing, but there is absolutely no way I could get on an open ski lift.. I don’t like ‘open heights’ - makes me tremble just watching the videos 😱😱

AIBU to think you have to be a dare devil for even the ski lift, met alone the black runs?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
CatsAndCairngorms · 27/02/2018 20:36

Errr... yes, YABU. Sorry Smile

DownAtFraggleRock · 27/02/2018 20:37

You know they have restraining bars, right? Grin

Justmuddlingalong · 27/02/2018 20:40

They terrify me. I've chosen to ignore that fact and have booked a summer holiday to the Austrian alps for this summer.

RoadToRivendell · 27/02/2018 20:41

I'm a keen skier, and I hate them. Not sure how I fit that together.

I was on the gondola in Chamonix during a pretty severe snowstorm over Xmas and I don't think I can deal with gondolas anymore, might put paid to my skiing career.

beyondthepaleandinteresting · 27/02/2018 20:45

I thought I was alone in my hatred of ski lifts. Particularly chair lifts. It has completely stopped me from skiing, or taking my children skiing (I really don't think my nerves could cope with the 3 of them on ski lifts of any kind). Wish I could get over it as I used to enjoy the actual skiing!

MelvinThePenguin · 27/02/2018 20:47

My brother (then aged about 5) shuffled off a ski lift a bit too early once. The bar had been lifted because it was my DM’s first time on a lift and she was terrified she’d miss the getting off point. He fell quite a few metres into thick snow below, so you could only see the top of his Marvin The Martian hat. He picked himself out and carried on. Didn’t help my DM’s worry!

At age 8, I got my glove caught in the mechanism of a button lift (goodness knows how). It carried me up and over the safety barrier and I continued round until someone shouted at me to take my hand out of the glove.

I still ski. Hate ski lifts because they’re cold, not scary.

HamishBamish · 27/02/2018 20:48

YANBU. If you look on YouTube the are loads of videos of people falling off chair lifts.

Violetrose123 · 27/02/2018 20:49

I’m with you OP. Just looking at a photo or video makes me feel all funny inside

DownAtFraggleRock · 27/02/2018 20:50

We have a heated one at our local hill - it's lovely!

PissedOffNeighbour · 27/02/2018 20:51

T bar lifts have to be the worst! Never knew how to work out which way to get off if someone else on there with you!

NannyR · 27/02/2018 20:52

This clip of inexperienced skiers dealing with the chairlift is hilarious.

Ellendegeneres · 27/02/2018 20:54

See I look back and remember them fondly (over 15yrs later). I struggled the first couple of times but wound up loving the cold air on my face and a bit of a buzz sliding off in time without panicking like the rest of my class and falling flat on their face

SueGeneris · 27/02/2018 20:55

YANBU

I booked myself a series of hypnotherapy sessions to cure my fear of chair lifts after my first go on one. I had not really thought about what it would be like to be on one but it sent me into a primal panic. I just wanted to be on the ground. It was terrifying. Every instinct in my body was telling me to get off get off now as we got higher and higher.

I was OK with the gondola, and the hypnotherapy did help with the next holiday I had, but I totally agree with you. I'm not sure how I would feel now. I really wanted to be able to snowboard (and I did) but it was a big issue for me.

PickleSarnie · 27/02/2018 20:56

I didn't use to let my kids play out in our quiet culdesac by themselves. And still don't feel massively comfortable with it. But when my eldest was 5 (he's 7 now) he went to ski school and up lifts essentially by himself. They stand in the ski school lift, the lift operator asks random strangers if they'll keep an eye on the small child then he flings the small kid onto a lift with the strangers. Then the small kid gets off the lift and then skis to meet all the other strangers in his ski group. It's quite scary if I think too much about it

Although the seat next to the ski school line have extra handle things that go between your legs to stop small people sliding off

NinjagoNinja · 27/02/2018 20:56

Ski lifts are really scary!!!!! Worst part of skiing. I felt sick with fear the first few times - getting off them at the right time is not as easy as it looks.

NannyR · 27/02/2018 20:58

Sorry, it's this one that has the chairlift at about 3 mins in.

Original poster
bbcessex · 27/02/2018 21:03

You’ve all confirmed my thoughts.. I am DEFINITELY NOT BEING UNREASONABLE (except a couple of you but I’m ignoring you!!).

I’m terrified even reading your experiences 😱😱😱😱😱😳😳😳😳😳😱😱😱😱

OP posts:
andhardlyanywomenatall · 27/02/2018 21:05

Pickle, it is bizarre isn’t it?

I like chairlifts but small kids could fall from some of them.

Original poster
bbcessex · 27/02/2018 21:07

Nanny - that is SO funny - but exactly what I’m worried about!!

OP posts:
MelvinThePenguin · 27/02/2018 21:09

I’ve just watched those clips. Kevin is an absolute liability!

Cleebope2 · 27/02/2018 21:09

Yes they terrify me too and I often fall getting on or off but I feel the fear and do it anyway.

Liara · 27/02/2018 21:10

Depends on the ski lift. Some have a bar that goes down between the legs so kids can't slide down them. Dc call them the happy mummy bars. When they don't have them, I put my poles in front of ds2 and hold them on either side of him.

There's one particular chair that no safety bar can reconcile me to - it goes DOWN a steep gorge and then up the other side. I had to sing the whole time to distract myself (while clutching the dc for all I was worth). Dc thought it was hilarious Hmm.

I hate hate hate gondolas though - but I love the high runs you can only ever reach through them, so I breathe in and put up with them. Until a really crowded one I was on one broke down and I was stuck for 1/2 an hour...and I'm claustrophobic. Took me a few years to brave another one after that.

PickleSarnie · 27/02/2018 21:10

I'm terrible when I get on ski lifts with the kids andhardly I'm so stressed and constantly telling them to sit back, don't move and hold on. Even though my eldest has been getting on and off by himself during his lessons. And this year my youngest will be doing the same. Aaargh

halfwitpicker · 27/02/2018 21:11

Yes I do feel slightly sick at the thought, tbh

Rosamund1 · 27/02/2018 21:12

I thought the bar came down automatically, like on a rollercoaster.
Well, it fucking does not.
I waited a few seconds for it to come down and we were already moving. So I reached to pull it down, about 10 m in the air already. The skis were over balancing me and I thought I would fall out. I’m surprised I didn’t wet myself. No H&S at all.

YANBU