Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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

TheVeryHungryDieter · 27/02/2018 21:12

Chair lifts I'm fine with. Button lifts freak me out because I'm sure my skis will hit a bump and I'll fall off and be stranded in the no go area halfway up a hillside.

Cmcc2206 · 27/02/2018 21:13

The very reason I don't ski with my husband and teenage sons. I can ski - I can get on a chairlift. They think I'm ridiculous but the fear is real

supersop60 · 27/02/2018 21:14

I went snowboarding once and had to use a bar type lift - you haver to perch on the bar and aim your board in the right direction. needless to say I fell off, and the operator was gesticulating wildly for me to get up - there was a ridiculously steep ravine on the side I had fallen. OP, I am with you all the way.

Lovewineandchocolate · 27/02/2018 21:14

NannyR
So funny.... and yet so true

Rosamund1 · 27/02/2018 21:14

theveruhungrybuttoner I ended up in no mans land on a button lift and had to do the ‘return of shame’

Cmcc2206 · 27/02/2018 21:15

Sorry - can't get on a chairlift!!!!

jenthehen · 27/02/2018 21:15

Many years ago, in Bulgaria, I stumbled and missed the chair lift. I caught the next one and then watched in horror as the wooden slatted seat bounced and fell Off about 40ft to the ground as the chain went over the pylon. It might have stayed on if I'd been sat on it but it was enough to leave me feeling very shaken. Have also been minutes away from having to be lowered out of a gondola style one which had broken down. Do know of a friend who witnessed a child having to poo in a carrier bag as they were desperate and the gondola was stranded.....neeedless to say I'm not a huge fan of skiing any more!

Foxsox · 27/02/2018 21:15

Nah! They are fun! Plus not tiring like a button/Poma.
Just relax,

PickleSarnie · 27/02/2018 21:15

Check out the drop of this one. It was a really ancient gondola. Probably older than me. And I'm old.

WickedGoodDoge · 27/02/2018 21:15

I messed up getting off a chairlift as a child more times than I can count.

Even worse, though was the tiny hill near our house that had a tow rope lift. You had to grab the rope, balance yourself and then cling on for dear life as your skis invariably went all over the place. Usually I’d fall at some point and have to scramble off before the next skier ploughed into me.

If there was a man made pile of skiers, they would stop the rope which was even worse because it would dip towards the ground and you’d be trying to cling on while maintaining your balance on the incline, never knowing when it was going to start with an almighty jerk- which would usually cause me to fall...

donajimena · 27/02/2018 21:15

nanny I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

Delatron · 27/02/2018 21:16

I'm fine on the chair lifts but my nerves were shot to pieces when my 4 and 5 year old had to use them.... Especially the 4 year old, so tiny, I just kept thinking he'd slip under the bar. I clung to them!

MrsJoshDun · 27/02/2018 21:17

I still remember with a laugh my first time ever on a ski lift.

Friends were good skiers and I’d never been before. Decided to snowboard and we were going to take the cable car up to the beginners area but the queue was massive. So I said I’d be fine on the chair lift.

Never been on one before and it was the first time I’d had a snowboard on my feet. Got nearly to the bit where you got off at the top, dh lifted the bar up. I panicked that I wouldn’t get off quick enough so decided to get off early and just leaned forward and fell out the chairlift like a tree being felled. Face planted the snow below. 😁

DownAtFraggleRock · 27/02/2018 21:19

I've clutched the hood of many a strange small person on a chairlift

Flashinggreen · 27/02/2018 21:19

I hate cable cars more than chair lifts.

Going skiing for the first time in 8 years at Easter, put my boots on the other day, got a slight sinking feeling.

DownAtFraggleRock · 27/02/2018 21:20

I won't get on a drag lift. Life's too short. Hardly any here anyway.

snowplop · 27/02/2018 21:20

NannyR I bloody love Kevin.

Give me chair lifts over drag lifts any day. My cheeks are burning now remembering once when I refused to let go of the damn thing despite having already fallen off. The Aussie lifties were killing themselves laughing at me...

Original poster

bbcessex · 27/02/2018 21:20

Supersop 😱😱 did you just ski off?

OP posts:

MrsJoshDun · 27/02/2018 21:21

And I hate it when the lift operator says something to me in French and lifts some random French toddler from ski school onto the chair with me. So I will have dd one side (who is quite good) and then some French 3yo the other side and I don’t speak enough French to ascertain how much help they need.

I’ve been faffing about so much before now making sure they’re ok that I fall over and they ski off flicking snow in my face.

Afternooncatnap · 27/02/2018 21:21

I fell off a chair lift. It was more embarrassing than anything.

I don't find them scary, I don't like heights but you just get used to them. Plus you get a rest, have a drink and a snack, a smoke if your so inclined.

stringbean · 27/02/2018 21:22

Please don't scare yourself watching those videos OP. The fact is that a most chair lifts are now demountable, meaning they come off the cable at the top and bottom of the mountain, and therefore move very slowly at these points. The chair comes round and scoops you up very gently - plenty of time to get comfy and ensure the bar is down before it moves off and picks up speed. Similarly, at the top, it slows down, so you have time to get up off the seat before moving away. There are fairly few left of the type where all the chairs move at the same speed, and whack you in the back of the knees before you sit down. As for being on one, the view is usually so breath-taking that I'm usually occupied with that

MrsJoshDun · 27/02/2018 21:22

There’s a very weird chairlift at Val d’isere which goes up to a ridge and then down the other side....don’t like that one.

Dahlietta · 27/02/2018 21:23

I once taught a boy who fell out of a chairlift, broke many bones and shattered his pelvis. He was off school for ages. It was horrendous! I always think of him when I see them.

NorbertTheDragon · 27/02/2018 21:24

I don't go skiing, but I have been on the chairlifts at Alum Bay on the Isle of Wight many many times as a child.

I look at them now and they look bloody terrifying and the thought of my youngest on one (we're going at Easter) makes me feel ill. I think we'll take the stairs. Better get fit!

Original poster

bbcessex · 27/02/2018 21:25

Rosamund - exactly!! There must be millions of accidents like that ..

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7