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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
andhardlyanywomenatall · 28/02/2018 09:30

this thread needs a warning at the top! not sure any good comes of reading it.

andhardlyanywomenatall · 28/02/2018 09:30

apart from the On the Piste Clips of course....

SparklyMagpie · 28/02/2018 09:35

For every poster's terrifying experience or terrifying ski lift videos, I rewatch Kevin falling on his arse 😂😂

Flomper · 28/02/2018 09:35

yes they are improving! In France thisbyear I noticed a couple of old rickety chairlifts had been converted into 6 seaters with heated seats and pull down canopies. Makes the whole experience more enjoyable, especially in a blizzard, although, of course we got the one chair where the canopy was broken! They also slow down a bit to gently ease you on at the beginning, rather than whacking you in the back of the legs like the old ones.

One type of lift I hate is the ones where you have to grab onto a rope that hauls you up a flattish bit. Theres always some prat further up whos holding it really high so it bisects my armpit and yanks my arns out. My 7y old flattly refuses to use them now and just side steps up the slope, which takes hours if not days. This is after he caused a mass pile up when he fell off in the middle and every time he got up and out of the way, he just slid back down into the path of the rope again. About 40 people backed up into him, accordion style, and they all ended up in a huge pile in the middle as there was nowhere to go really. It was hilarious to watch, I was laughing so much I couldnt ski down to help for a few minutes.

andhardlyanywomenatall · 28/02/2018 09:41

Where is Kevin now? I think we should be told. He is a national treasure.

bluetongue · 28/02/2018 09:45

The place I’m skiing at the moment in Japan a couple ‘pizza box’ single chair lifts (google them Grin )

The worst for me though ar the big cable cars. Before I went on one for the first time I thought they looked cool and exciting. Truth is usually they just try and jam as many people in them as possible! Not great if you’re short and get claustrophobic like me.

andhardlyanywomenatall · 28/02/2018 09:45

Anyone off sledging today to recreate the joys of On the Piste?

cambodianfoxhound · 28/02/2018 09:45

I think I do skiing wrong. I am always either freezing and terrified or a hot sweaty mess trying to scramble ungraciously up a slight incline. No matter how long I am in the resort, I never manage to work out what lifts lead to where or what slopes I should take down to get me home. This leaves me paralysed with fear I will get left behind and die in a snow storm.

I can't carry skis elegantly. I don't swoop down slopes effortlessly, I am either careering dangerously across icy patches or not picking up enough speed to get to the end, with my companions having to watch me struggle awkwardly whilst they stand around looking care free and stylish.

What is the secret to it? I want to look and ski like I should be part of the annual Royal Easter trip.

Lizzie48 · 28/02/2018 09:51

On a more humorous note, this has reminded me of Bridget Jones trying to go up a chairlift and pretending she knew how to ski. I'm sure it's possible to find it on You-Tube, but I don't know how to do that.

It was hilarious, she couldn't get off the chairlift. Grin

PorkFlute · 28/02/2018 09:52

I went sking with the school and while I found the cable cars that took us up to the piste a bit scary the chair lifts I liked. I think because it seemed like even if you did fall it probably wouldn’t be far enough to kill you.

GhostsToMonsoon · 28/02/2018 10:23

I'm happy to go on them myself but was worried my 7yo would fall off when people lift the bar up at the end, or have trouble getting on and off.

Someone on my ski lesson told me about the film Frozen (not the Disney one) which sounds like a ski version of Open Water - don't think I'll be watching that one!

frankchickens · 28/02/2018 10:24

They scare the crap out of me but I manage as I love skiing

Flomper · 28/02/2018 10:43

This has got to be the worst ski lift fail ...

OMG - how terrifying are ski lifts?
TigerTrumpet · 28/02/2018 10:47

Ski lifts are the reason I don't ski. Cable cars, fine. Ski lifts, nope. Glad I am not on my own.

givemesteel · 28/02/2018 10:48

Omg I hadn't even thought about bringing small children on them, I was only thinking of how much I hate them myself.

My dc are little but had talked about introducing them early to skiing so they end up being decent skiers (unlike me). Would have to research the safest resorts to start with, my nerves would be shredded.

The only way I can cope is to look up not down. But wouldn't want to transfer fear to dc.

GhostsToMonsoon · 28/02/2018 10:50

Those people in the 80s skiing clip make me look like an Olympic pro in comparison! And weren't they freezing without hats?

I had a snowboard lesson this holiday - never again - I had enough trouble just staying on the button lift.

MissionItsPossible · 28/02/2018 10:52

I've never been skiing but YANBU.

This is just terrifying.

Original poster
bbcessex · 28/02/2018 13:02

GhoststoMonsoon - I’ve watched the non-Disney Frozen.. definitely did nothing to allay my fears!!

OP posts:
Original poster
bbcessex · 28/02/2018 13:05

Mission 😱😱😱😱😱

OP posts:
problembottom · 28/02/2018 13:14

DP hates ski lifts, especially when they stop and swing in the breeze for a bit. I on the other hand love them, chance to put my feet up and think about all the wine I'm going to drink at lunch.

Sadly there aren't many chair lifts when we go to an old school Italian resort every year with family. Mostly drags, some very steep, they go right to the top. DP once fell off an icy button and had to trek through trees in thigh deep snow with his skis on his back to reach the slope. He was bloody terrified! We were all drinking cappuccinos at the bottom, wondering why he'd taken an hour to do a red run.

bestbefore · 28/02/2018 13:43

@Firesuit - ha yes I forgot about that one...properly scary when you start going down.

Liara · 28/02/2018 19:54

Firesuit - that's the one I had to sing my way through...Dc thought it was hilarious. Once and never again.

There are actually other perfectly civilized ways of getting to the other mountain, in fact, so on top of it all its just gratuitous.

Original poster
bbcessex · 01/03/2018 22:03

Forgot to say that I was really laughing at the thought of a MarvintheMartian ski hat sticking out of the snow!!!

OP posts:
NinjagoNinja · 01/03/2018 22:37

I fell off a button lift. It was my first time on one and nobody explained what I had to do. I grabbed the pole with my hands and tried to sail up the mountain with my legs dragging behind me until gravity kicked in and a fell off the bloody thing. I can still remember the horrified looks on the faces of all the people I passed on my way back down.

The shame.

MelvinThePenguin · 01/03/2018 22:47

‘Twas a brilliant hat OP! Very detailed, complete with bright yellow brush on the top. A veritable homing beacon when all 3 ft of your being is buried in snow.

I had a Bugs Bunny version, with ears. Sadly it wouldn’t fit me now, so I have a dinosaur one with a long tail. You would never guess it, I’m a strait-laced, very smart dresser normally!

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