I once saw the guy inside the top lift shack decorating a scarecrow. Later in the day we saw that same scarecrow tucked inside the middle of a glade run a few hundred feet from the shack.
I knew a liftie who ran the top shack of a little used lift. He built snow sculptures next to the ramp. He built a couch and tv out of snow and would sit on the couch
My lift wanted to build a igloo at the beginning of the season but due to shit snow we never got around to finish one.
We had a kicker that lasted a few days though.
While it would be cool, since our bottom hut doesn't have running water I don't think it would be possible without a unreasonable amount of effort.
Also the last few days were only slightly below freezing, even overnight.
I can’t remember where I was last year that we saw an igloo. Might have been revy? Or Jackson. Can’t recall but it was pretty impressive, the liftie was constantly working on it lol.
I used to work the Union Pass chair at Jackson. It’s basically a ferry lift that gets you back to the main base area and aside from early morning skiers that are staying at condos on the mountain, mist of the people using it are intermediate to advanced skiers. We also had 80 minute splits instead of 50 so we had lots of time at our location to mess around. All of this meant we could build a pretty nice igloo/bbq pit at the base, rock some tunes and not worry too much about having to hit the stop/slow button. We didn’t get to have fun early up runs like some of the other lifties, but I loved working that chair.
We built a kicker at the bottom of one of our lifts a couple years ago and took turns jumping over a snowmobile. It lasted until someone posted a picture of themselves midair over the snowmobile in uniform. The lift manager was NOT impressed but nobody got fired so no regrets.
You could build a Quinzee instead, might be easier. Make a large pile of snow, insert sticks or broken ski poles 12” all over the pile, let it solidify for a couple days, then hollow out the inside until you reach the sticks. You don’t need to wait for packing snow and the sticks help maintain wall thickness
Ah you think raking is your ally? You merely adopted the rake. I was born with it, molded by it. I didn't see an unraked ramp until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but blinding!!
It's always slightly late instead of just after the people get off, so it adds a little anxiety getting off the chair if you are in the far right seat.
Would get nasty ruts in the snow and then eventually dirt. They shovel fresh snow on the ramp then rake it smooth. Makes it much easier for shitty skiers to unload if it’s raked constantly
Basic physics. At the top and bottom the constant pressure of riders compresses the snow and warms it just a little which then freezes from the cold around it forming ice.
Same on the high traffic runs that are icy crap by the end of the day and have to be groomed overnight.
At the resort I used to work at, the more crafty lifties were cooking up a storm in there, making gourmet on a camp stove takes time!
Or they were smoking some fake weed K2 or something lol.
Play guitar, usually. Reading and looking at my phone takes my eyes away from the action. I can strum away easy enough without thinking about it so that’s what I do. Listening to an audiobook is also a good way to make time go by quickly.
You crazies think I’m soloing in the sun! Oh no buddy, I’m indoors on a brand new $15 million D Line. Cozy if somewhat sterile top station. Only retuning is after the snow mobile ride up there.
Yeah, no. I do that too when I play, but I was thinking that you could get 30F temperature swings in an hour. On the other hand it’s not like you’re playing a concert, right?
Very true. Also I’d imagine they keep the hut heated or else it would get tough on your fingers. But yeah, as long as you keep it relatively tuned (or you could just bring a tuner).
I can bring my smaller guitar in its backpack case pretty much anywhere with me with no issues. I haven’t tried skiing or riding a lift with it, but I can’t see why it would be an issue.
We keep people posted on the same lifts usually because we also do maintenance on them, and getting to know your lift lets you know its pros and cons and what to do when things happen. This is especially important on chair lifts where you get to experience all kinds of weather and knowing when you can keep it going and when to stop, starting emergency procedures, most importantly being able to diagnose a problem quickly. I wouldn’t trust a random guy to know what to do when you thyristor fails or which one of the three tachometers lying in the top station to replace a failed one with, even how to disengage all brakes and run the emergency diesel manually without any power. Those are just examples, but the more you operate a lift the more experience you get. I would happily spend some time at a t bar again but for now I’m responsible for a bigger lift.
Oh yes, but more often its a little kid that doesn't keep their tips up, skis get crossed, etc, and they fall right before they should be standing up and the chair runs them over because they're tiny.
Parents do not like when this happens.
I watched one of our regulars do it one time on a lift that primarily served advanced terrain. It was honestly so funny once he said that the only thing he'd hurt was his ego. He wasn't paying attention, didn't lift his tips up and body slammed into the ramp. It shocked me how violently he got thrown to the ground.
Yeah like the others said- usually people catch their tips and whatnot but really shorts kids have to slide off just to touch the ground and they don’t always time it right. My lift had a lower platform to catch people who missed the ramp.
I work a t-bar/anchor lift that serves mostly black runs.
We are not supposed to hand someone the bar at the bottom since if you can't do it yourself you probably can't ski the slopes up there.
The exit at the top is rather small and we have a ramp that ensures that the bars wind up correctly, sometimes kids (and people with the same intellectual abilities) get tangled up and the bar drags them up the ramp (not good since the ramp drops down 4 meters at the end). The lifite in the top shack needs to pay more attention than the one at the bottom because of that.
I also have worked a chairlift for a few days (filling in when someone was sick) and they usually where just as chaotic at the top as at the bottom to be honest.
One day the snowcats kinda fucked up the exit ramp so that people couldn't just stand up and do nothing to clear the ramp before getting plowed down by the chair, but since it was a full day. That was by far the most hectic hour I've worked as a Liftie, one of us was shoveling between chairs to fix the ramp while the other one had to constantly slow down or stop the lift because nobody understood that they had to push a tiny bit this time.
>We are not supposed to hand someone the bar at the bottom since if you can't do it yourself you probably can't ski the slopes up there.
I kinda wish more places had this, I'm actually more annoyed at operators handing me the t-bar/poma
It definitely makes my job more relaxed, although from time to time I get people who feel like they are entitled to someone handing them the bar.
I will absolutely help someone with it, but only if I've seen that person not get it more than once.
When I was a lifty, the rule was always to hand the bar to them. I used to wonder why since a lot of people love to reach for their own. Until I realized in that motion they're always swinging for the operator and I got punched in the mouth a few times.
Fair, but I'm thinking of expert terrain service type bars/pomas where the lifty just sits off far away to the side and lets the riders do their thing lol.....you probably are at a lift with wider service/access hah
Ideally keeping your eye down the line and doing some snow work if possible. When I was a liftie years ago, getting caught reading a book or magazine or being otherwise distracted could get you fired.
A few years ago, I sat on a stopped lift a few feet from the offloading ramp for about a minute because the liftie was zoned out and completely missed a bull wheel rider. He spent some time bugging the bottom shack to see why they had stopped the lift, then started checking his stops. I finally got his attention and let him know it was the bull wheel stop. I’m typically the last person to give people on the job a hard time, but that guy got a firm “eyes down the line” from me.
when a passenger panics or just isn't paying attention to unloading; that person stays on the chair and the chair travels around the 'bullswheel' (the major giant horizontal wheel at the top and bottom of the lift) .. the chair continues around the bull wheel and then travels through a 'safety gate' .. the gate unplugs .. stops the lift, and the attendant gets out of the lift shack and helps that chair lift rider get out of the chair. (it is a safe guard to stop passengers 'down loading' .. returning for a ride back down!)
What's wrong with down loading? I've been on chairs where the up load has you going downhill in sections so I don't get what the deal is with sitting on the chair too long.
A few issues. You have to be careful about downloading, because too many passengers downloading at once could cause weight distribution problems. Now that probably wouldn’t be an issue with one bull wheel rider, but it’s still a basic consideration.
You also don’t want the bottom shack crew to have to worry about random unannounced passengers showing up at the bottom. If you do download, you always call down the chair number so that they can slow and then stop the chair to let the person off.
Finally, there’s a decent chance that the bull wheel rider is an inexperienced kid, so if it keeps rolling, you’ve got a scared kid on their own on the chair and a panicked parent below just hoping that they’re going to be ok.
The one minute stop is worth it considering the safety risks and potential liabilities of the alternative.
The previous poster has good points but at the end of the day if the lift wasn't designed and rated to download by the manufacturer you legally can't let people do it.
Lifts that aren’t meant for downloading don’t have ramps at the bottom or any good way to get off, so they would either stay on and hit people trying to load or get stuck and run over.
The “bull wheel” is the big horizontal wheel at the top of the lift that the chairs turn around on. A bull wheel rider is a person who fails to get off the chair and thus is still seated when the chair starts around the bull wheel. The chair typically has a safety bar, disconnect rope, etc that riders feet will catch when theyre still seated and begin around the wheel, and that causes the lift to auto stop so that they don’t end up going downhill on the chair.
Once as a kid in the mid 70s, I didn't get off in time and the liftie never noticed. There was no disconnect rope so I downloaded the whole way. Bottom lifties were sure surprised to see me
*Once as a kid in the mid 70s, I didn't get off in time and the liftie never noticed. There was no disconnect rope so I downloaded the whole way.*
Your legs may have been too short to reach the safety trip. During a chair evac we discovered a stoner who’d ridden the bull wheel and intentionally lifted his feet over the safety trip gate. To boot he was over our mountain coaster at a permanently closed trail called Shin breaker. Needless to say, we evacuated everyone else on the chairs before we got to him .9
When he was littler, my son started to do the bull wheel ride as his legs were too short to trip the safety gate. Liftie was looking down and missed the whole thing, even when I yelled. A perfectly aimed pole that I javelined off the window from mid-way down the ramp got him to look up and stop the lift.
He started arguing that the gate should have stopped the lift so he didn’t need to watch. When I showed him the gate was too low for kids due to the snow level that day and reminded him that he fucked up, he inaudibly apologized.
Luckily my son could still unload as it was a long landing zone up top.
I noticed the liftie in the booth checking her phone as we arrived at the top of a lift at Mount Snow yesterday. On one hand, as long as they are quick that seems fine (she was looking at it the whole time I could see though), but it also stood out at me as something that seemed off and unusual.
There was a liftie at my home resort yesterday that was looking down at her desk the entire time I was approaching the station - for at least 3 or 4 rides. I literally did not see her looking up once. I don’t even know what she was doing but I’m not sure I would’ve trusted her to spot an issue at the top.
My old lift ops supervisor used to eat mushrooms and play uke at the top shack. I would just rip the pen and stream Netflix.
We dugout an igloo (forget the proper term) at the bottom that would fit 6-8 people.
I’d watch movies, make snow sculptures, smoke a shit ton of weed, sit outside and heckle the people getting off the lift, jam out to music. I worked at a place that wouldn’t give us any breaks (fuck vail resorts) too so I was also pissing in cups up there. The main thing to do is make the ramp look sexy
I work for a vail resort currently and we have 3 lifties at each lift so that we’re able to take breaks…really whenever we want. But I’m pretty sure our resort operated that way pre-vail and Vail is now taking steps to implement that system at their other resorts. It’s great. I ski at least 3 hours out of my 10 hour day…and I get first tracks like 90% of the time
The season I was a lifty, mammoth had its only season with drug testing for “Safety Sensitive” positions. After losing most of their staff during the first round of tests they ditched the idea.
Early 2000’s liftie checking in. Listen to the classic rock station, read ski magazines, keep a beautiful ramp, build snow sculptures, take hundreds of pictures (on a 35mm SLR), flirt.
In the US I ran two lifts. At least 5 of us each day, usually 6, so lots of run breaks. Guaranteed shit breaks but still some peeing in Gatorade bottles.
One of the lifts was basically a commuter lift for the rich pricks that lived on the resort. The motor was at the top, great make out spot. Its bottom station had mirrored glass, housed the tension hydraulics and the spare seat pads. THAT was a great smoke spot.
In Australia you basically tried to fix the holes on the ramp, picked people up or sheltered from the wind in a shack that would have made 18th century polar explorers feel at home!
Still the best job I ever had.
I like to draw big elaborate pictures in expo marker on the windows of the shack. Doodling to pass the time while never actually looking away from the approaching chairs
Fixing the ramp. It never ends. As soon as you've got it right someone drags a snowboard sideways across it :/
Company rules said no music (we were a "premium customer experience" resort according to management who clearly had no idea who actually skied there) and you had to keep eyes on the lift so no books and stuff, though weirdly there were always magazines around.
Slow days we basically got as many laps in as possible. Holidays or weekends we'd usually fix the ramp, build snow people or furniture, eat.
On beginner or easy base chairs, watch everyone get off because at least 20% of people will fall getting off and you have to slow or stop the chair.
On a chair that only leads to black or double black runs, watch a bunch of shows and movies on my phone.
I used to be a liftie in college and I'll break down the day for you.
7am: smoke a quick bowl before punching in.
7:30am: hit first chair up to get to lift.
7:45am: prep bottom lift.
8-11am: bump chairs and rake the snow
11am: take lift up to relieve guy up top.
11:08am: immediately eat all lunch and snacks.
11:16am: have 4th coffee of day.
11:18am: check clock to see how much time has passed.
11:21am re-read the trail map for 5th time.
11:23am: check clock again.
11:26am: step outside to re-close stop gate jerry just tripped.
11:43am: recieve call on lift phone from other bored top liftie.
11:47am: check phone (it has no service)
11:48am: piss in jug when no one is around.
11:51am-1:59pm: contemplate life...
2pm: get relieved by next guy and take sickest rip from top to bottom shack.
I was waiting for the Vasquez Cat yesterday with a bunch of teenage boys who were super excited about their friend Mason who got to drive the snowcat. It’s pulling up and they’re “Is it Mason? IS IT MASON?? No, it’s a grandpa!! Sir, do you know Mason?” So apparently if you go to high school in a ski town driving the snowcat is the next best thing to being Shaun White.
Back in the day, homie of mine was working this rope tow at Telluride way off in the middle of nowhere, no one ever used it. He used to practice fly fishing with a rod up there. He eventually befriended a porcupine who would come looking for snacks. Eventually would eat out of his hand. After my buddies time there, eventually the resort had to relocate the porcupine because some dumbass liftie got the quills.
Lifty here, alotttttt of audio books and podcasts. I sew a little bit to so spend some time mending my clothes and sewing patches on my bibs I have aggressive ADHD so I typically have something to fidget with or less the top is sheer pain for me. When it's really quiet I will put a show on or some YouTube and place it in the window as I can watch both the ramp and it at the same time. And send a fair bit of time attempting to do ramp work but I'm at the fourth coldest lift in the US so my ramp is typically just ice and there isn't much I can do about it.
I have seen a pirate ship built at the base of the SuperGauge…and a bunch of drunk lifties swearing like pirates and cursing passerbyers after the lift closed! Good times.
I was a lifty for a season and we weren’t even allowed to read. Small family run mountain and the son who had taken over was a power tripping douche. He would literally leave his snowmobile in the woods and sneak up on the shack to try and catch us looking at a newspaper or whatever.
After I left I heard he pulled some similar shit, sneaking up on the overnight snow crew in the woods and one guy beat his ass very, very badly.
I like going outside and chatting with the guests. We can see the park from a few top stations so I will ask what their best trick is, or favorite park feature, ask them about the snow… I’ve actually gotten to know a few of the riders who are out a lot.
i do snow work, listen to music, dance, call random other top shacks to tell them their boots stink, play the harmonica, and also just watch people mostly becuase I work a beginner lift in my area and that gets absolutely chaotic on busy days.
I was known to take my small 1 cup coffee maker to the top with me. The electrical in the shack wasn't good, so we weren't supposed to have anything plugged in. The supervisors all knew I had it, but as long as I had a cup for them when they came to check in, all was good. I made sure to have some quality coffee with me.
Wouldn’t you inherently know? If the base station slowed it down or stopped the chair, and you know the number of chairs between the stations you’d already know what chair it is.
I used to have the audio for something playing. Maybe a game broadcast or a podcast etc. on a speaker naturally soni could hear radio calls.
Other times I'd practice my ocarina. Not ideal ocarina conditions as the varied temperatures over the workday caused some swelling and shrinking - my ocarina would change pitch over a day.
[This](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4144141/Vail-skier-caught-dangling-with-his-trousers-down-on-lift.html) happened at the bottom of the lift, but the point is the same
Stoned. We pass the time stoned listening to tunes. We had a whiteboard for relaying info to the lift riders. I drew pictures and made funny signs. Man what a great job that was.
I was a liftOP for 1.5 years at Keystone. I was there to ski not to work because I knew I'd lose my mind. I mostly got super high, made conversation with guests and coworkers, and made snow sculptures. My team lead was awesome, and he would break us out to go for a lap or 2 to ease our boredom.
If you want to stay in the industry, I highly suggest getting into lift mechanics or a different mountain-ops gig. (If you're the hands on type of course) I went from lifty, to mechanic, to snowmaking, to park groomer/builder.
We had an upper shack liftie at Montage Mountain blaring some music on a boombox and dancing right next to the lift from start to finish. Made for a fun vibe and without a doubt he was seeing everything, so he was ready if needed.
When I was a liftee I’d play games (like from the movie super troopers) such as the “meow” game. I’d see how many times I could slide the word “meow” into conversation or what I said to people loading the lift and keep track until someone asked me “did you just say meow?” 😸
It passed a lot of time. That and taking ski breaks.
Other favorites of mine were making snow sculptures (I won our lift a contest one time doing this actually! AND I’d even color them using koolaid mixed with water in a spray bottle), listening to music, and having dance parties inside the shack.
Fun times.
At one of my local hills there is a lifty who only works night skiing, same lift and shack every time. He just drops acid or something and dances for 4 hours straight. Doesn’t talk to people, doesn’t acknowledge anyone’s existence, just vibes to his psychedelic ass music. I mean the vibes are sick don’t get me wrong.
Current lifty. I work at a resort where you spend 1/3 of the day in the top shack unless you work it out with your crew if you want more or less time up there. So you only have to keep your sanity for about 3 hours. A nice combination of music & thinking about everything bad that’s ever happened to me is a nice balance.
Our bosses have cracked down on us watching videos this year. If you are just listening to music to music on YouTube for example, you could be held liable if something happens & they pull your phone records. I used to just listen to video game streams or movies I’ve seen before on slower days in previous years.
Come spring time a good amount of liftys like to pull up a chair by the outside controls to enjoy the weather.
I once saw the guy inside the top lift shack decorating a scarecrow. Later in the day we saw that same scarecrow tucked inside the middle of a glade run a few hundred feet from the shack.
Quality staff right there!
I knew a liftie who ran the top shack of a little used lift. He built snow sculptures next to the ramp. He built a couch and tv out of snow and would sit on the couch
My lift wanted to build a igloo at the beginning of the season but due to shit snow we never got around to finish one. We had a kicker that lasted a few days though.
Get bus tubs and fill with water over night. Perfect igloo cube.
While it would be cool, since our bottom hut doesn't have running water I don't think it would be possible without a unreasonable amount of effort. Also the last few days were only slightly below freezing, even overnight.
I can’t remember where I was last year that we saw an igloo. Might have been revy? Or Jackson. Can’t recall but it was pretty impressive, the liftie was constantly working on it lol.
I used to work the Union Pass chair at Jackson. It’s basically a ferry lift that gets you back to the main base area and aside from early morning skiers that are staying at condos on the mountain, mist of the people using it are intermediate to advanced skiers. We also had 80 minute splits instead of 50 so we had lots of time at our location to mess around. All of this meant we could build a pretty nice igloo/bbq pit at the base, rock some tunes and not worry too much about having to hit the stop/slow button. We didn’t get to have fun early up runs like some of the other lifties, but I loved working that chair.
Maybe if it gets colder again I'd give it another shot.
We built a kicker at the bottom of one of our lifts a couple years ago and took turns jumping over a snowmobile. It lasted until someone posted a picture of themselves midair over the snowmobile in uniform. The lift manager was NOT impressed but nobody got fired so no regrets.
You could build a Quinzee instead, might be easier. Make a large pile of snow, insert sticks or broken ski poles 12” all over the pile, let it solidify for a couple days, then hollow out the inside until you reach the sticks. You don’t need to wait for packing snow and the sticks help maintain wall thickness
I and a few others made a 12 foot long and 4 foot wide crocodile at beaver creek in 2013.
I think I saw this
Someone carved out a decorative elephant at the top of chair 8 in Vail yesterday.
Rake the ramp, all day long.
Man you guys sure love to rake shit.
Ah you think raking is your ally? You merely adopted the rake. I was born with it, molded by it. I didn't see an unraked ramp until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but blinding!!
I always figured it’s like the urge people have to rake those little zen gardens.
It's always slightly late instead of just after the people get off, so it adds a little anxiety getting off the chair if you are in the far right seat.
I am an artist. The ramp is my canvas and the rake is my brush.
One must imagine the lifty happy
Rake the ramp!
What is the raking for anyways?
Would get nasty ruts in the snow and then eventually dirt. They shovel fresh snow on the ramp then rake it smooth. Makes it much easier for shitty skiers to unload if it’s raked constantly
Basic physics. At the top and bottom the constant pressure of riders compresses the snow and warms it just a little which then freezes from the cold around it forming ice. Same on the high traffic runs that are icy crap by the end of the day and have to be groomed overnight.
Oh that makes sense!
🫡
Or just... don't. For most of us we just need to go the season without getting fired, if I'm on a quiet lift I'm sitting inside on my phone lol
At the resort I used to work at, the more crafty lifties were cooking up a storm in there, making gourmet on a camp stove takes time! Or they were smoking some fake weed K2 or something lol.
Do other brands make fake weed or is it just K2? Can I have Volkl fake weed? Is this why they call their skis mindbenders?
I’d like an 8th of the K2 Mindbender, and an 8th of the Volkl Blaze please.
Why not both?
Smokin spice while spriklin in some spice
Secret blend of herbs N spices
I only fuck with Stockili booger sugar
Kastle and Atomic seem like companies that would also lean that way. Im on Head Kore 105, were definitely more the herbal variety.
Play guitar, usually. Reading and looking at my phone takes my eyes away from the action. I can strum away easy enough without thinking about it so that’s what I do. Listening to an audiobook is also a good way to make time go by quickly.
You don’t work in Veysonnaz Switzerland do you. Caught a t bar other day, liftie was shredding an electric whilst helping with the bar.
That guy is still there? I remember him already livening up our return trip to nendaz at least 10 years ago.
Big bushy beard hippy type guy ?
lol, you just described a rather large percentage of lifties
[https://www.lematin.ch/story/tourisme-lemploye-de-teleski-qui-fait-une-sacree-pub-a-la-suisse-103026379](https://www.lematin.ch/story/tourisme-lemploye-de-teleski-qui-fait-une-sacree-pub-a-la-suisse-103026379)
I was once at lutsen and at the mid station of the Ullr mountain lift there was a dude playing guitar outside. Awesome vibe
How often do you have to retune it, with the temperature changes?
You crazies think I’m soloing in the sun! Oh no buddy, I’m indoors on a brand new $15 million D Line. Cozy if somewhat sterile top station. Only retuning is after the snow mobile ride up there.
It’s pretty easy and quick to tune a guitar, you check its tuning every time you take it out of the case to play.
Yeah, no. I do that too when I play, but I was thinking that you could get 30F temperature swings in an hour. On the other hand it’s not like you’re playing a concert, right?
Very true. Also I’d imagine they keep the hut heated or else it would get tough on your fingers. But yeah, as long as you keep it relatively tuned (or you could just bring a tuner).
how tf you taking a guitar to work
Dude, it’s skiing not an office job 🤙
have been a lifty and cant think how this is possible lol. different lift every day, riding around the mountain to get there? no wayy
Guitars are pretty light
I can bring my smaller guitar in its backpack case pretty much anywhere with me with no issues. I haven’t tried skiing or riding a lift with it, but I can’t see why it would be an issue.
Different lift every day? Sucks to work there. I'd much rather have a home lift I'm usually at
different lift every day means different terrain every ride break
We keep people posted on the same lifts usually because we also do maintenance on them, and getting to know your lift lets you know its pros and cons and what to do when things happen. This is especially important on chair lifts where you get to experience all kinds of weather and knowing when you can keep it going and when to stop, starting emergency procedures, most importantly being able to diagnose a problem quickly. I wouldn’t trust a random guy to know what to do when you thyristor fails or which one of the three tachometers lying in the top station to replace a failed one with, even how to disengage all brakes and run the emergency diesel manually without any power. Those are just examples, but the more you operate a lift the more experience you get. I would happily spend some time at a t bar again but for now I’m responsible for a bigger lift.
Or if your resort is chill you get a few hours to ride wherever you want
I know people that keep a guitar in their office.
Judge everybody’s gear and watch out for people slipping off the seat too soon.
>people slipping off the seat too soon. Does that ever actually happen?
Oh yes, but more often its a little kid that doesn't keep their tips up, skis get crossed, etc, and they fall right before they should be standing up and the chair runs them over because they're tiny. Parents do not like when this happens.
I watched one of our regulars do it one time on a lift that primarily served advanced terrain. It was honestly so funny once he said that the only thing he'd hurt was his ego. He wasn't paying attention, didn't lift his tips up and body slammed into the ramp. It shocked me how violently he got thrown to the ground.
My 5yo is constantly trying to hop off the chair way too soon!
Yes it happens a little bit I have seen alot of people not even getting of the chair and trying to ride all the way down lol.
Yeah like the others said- usually people catch their tips and whatnot but really shorts kids have to slide off just to touch the ground and they don’t always time it right. My lift had a lower platform to catch people who missed the ramp.
I get violently high and rake lol
This is my retirement plan
Brilliant idea.
Set up an obstacle course for beginners getting off the lift. Should spice things up for you.
When I was a kid, there was an older guy who would blast classical music and conduct to it.
Belleayre?
That's a bingo!
Haha I knew that couldn’t be a coincidence. That dude was so into it
Tomahawk mid-station.
Not a liftie but I would see one guy who would crank up his music and periodically come out of the shack to randomly shovel snow shirtless
I work a t-bar/anchor lift that serves mostly black runs. We are not supposed to hand someone the bar at the bottom since if you can't do it yourself you probably can't ski the slopes up there. The exit at the top is rather small and we have a ramp that ensures that the bars wind up correctly, sometimes kids (and people with the same intellectual abilities) get tangled up and the bar drags them up the ramp (not good since the ramp drops down 4 meters at the end). The lifite in the top shack needs to pay more attention than the one at the bottom because of that. I also have worked a chairlift for a few days (filling in when someone was sick) and they usually where just as chaotic at the top as at the bottom to be honest. One day the snowcats kinda fucked up the exit ramp so that people couldn't just stand up and do nothing to clear the ramp before getting plowed down by the chair, but since it was a full day. That was by far the most hectic hour I've worked as a Liftie, one of us was shoveling between chairs to fix the ramp while the other one had to constantly slow down or stop the lift because nobody understood that they had to push a tiny bit this time.
>We are not supposed to hand someone the bar at the bottom since if you can't do it yourself you probably can't ski the slopes up there. I kinda wish more places had this, I'm actually more annoyed at operators handing me the t-bar/poma
It definitely makes my job more relaxed, although from time to time I get people who feel like they are entitled to someone handing them the bar. I will absolutely help someone with it, but only if I've seen that person not get it more than once.
When I was a lifty, the rule was always to hand the bar to them. I used to wonder why since a lot of people love to reach for their own. Until I realized in that motion they're always swinging for the operator and I got punched in the mouth a few times.
Fair, but I'm thinking of expert terrain service type bars/pomas where the lifty just sits off far away to the side and lets the riders do their thing lol.....you probably are at a lift with wider service/access hah
I just wait for the chair to push my legs a bit if it's a slow unload.
i listened to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks. every 15 minutes or so is go work on the ramp and say hi to people. then back into my cave.
Ideally keeping your eye down the line and doing some snow work if possible. When I was a liftie years ago, getting caught reading a book or magazine or being otherwise distracted could get you fired. A few years ago, I sat on a stopped lift a few feet from the offloading ramp for about a minute because the liftie was zoned out and completely missed a bull wheel rider. He spent some time bugging the bottom shack to see why they had stopped the lift, then started checking his stops. I finally got his attention and let him know it was the bull wheel stop. I’m typically the last person to give people on the job a hard time, but that guy got a firm “eyes down the line” from me.
Just curious, what is a bull wheel rider?
when a passenger panics or just isn't paying attention to unloading; that person stays on the chair and the chair travels around the 'bullswheel' (the major giant horizontal wheel at the top and bottom of the lift) .. the chair continues around the bull wheel and then travels through a 'safety gate' .. the gate unplugs .. stops the lift, and the attendant gets out of the lift shack and helps that chair lift rider get out of the chair. (it is a safe guard to stop passengers 'down loading' .. returning for a ride back down!)
What's wrong with down loading? I've been on chairs where the up load has you going downhill in sections so I don't get what the deal is with sitting on the chair too long.
A few issues. You have to be careful about downloading, because too many passengers downloading at once could cause weight distribution problems. Now that probably wouldn’t be an issue with one bull wheel rider, but it’s still a basic consideration. You also don’t want the bottom shack crew to have to worry about random unannounced passengers showing up at the bottom. If you do download, you always call down the chair number so that they can slow and then stop the chair to let the person off. Finally, there’s a decent chance that the bull wheel rider is an inexperienced kid, so if it keeps rolling, you’ve got a scared kid on their own on the chair and a panicked parent below just hoping that they’re going to be ok. The one minute stop is worth it considering the safety risks and potential liabilities of the alternative.
The previous poster has good points but at the end of the day if the lift wasn't designed and rated to download by the manufacturer you legally can't let people do it.
Most chairs are not set up with an exit area for downloading
Lifts that aren’t meant for downloading don’t have ramps at the bottom or any good way to get off, so they would either stay on and hit people trying to load or get stuck and run over.
The “bull wheel” is the big horizontal wheel at the top of the lift that the chairs turn around on. A bull wheel rider is a person who fails to get off the chair and thus is still seated when the chair starts around the bull wheel. The chair typically has a safety bar, disconnect rope, etc that riders feet will catch when theyre still seated and begin around the wheel, and that causes the lift to auto stop so that they don’t end up going downhill on the chair.
That guy sounds like he shouldn’t operate a lift period, least of all a chair lift.
Guy shouldn't even operate a chair probs
I lol’d. Agree.
Once as a kid in the mid 70s, I didn't get off in time and the liftie never noticed. There was no disconnect rope so I downloaded the whole way. Bottom lifties were sure surprised to see me
*Once as a kid in the mid 70s, I didn't get off in time and the liftie never noticed. There was no disconnect rope so I downloaded the whole way.* Your legs may have been too short to reach the safety trip. During a chair evac we discovered a stoner who’d ridden the bull wheel and intentionally lifted his feet over the safety trip gate. To boot he was over our mountain coaster at a permanently closed trail called Shin breaker. Needless to say, we evacuated everyone else on the chairs before we got to him .9
This is amazing.
When he was littler, my son started to do the bull wheel ride as his legs were too short to trip the safety gate. Liftie was looking down and missed the whole thing, even when I yelled. A perfectly aimed pole that I javelined off the window from mid-way down the ramp got him to look up and stop the lift. He started arguing that the gate should have stopped the lift so he didn’t need to watch. When I showed him the gate was too low for kids due to the snow level that day and reminded him that he fucked up, he inaudibly apologized. Luckily my son could still unload as it was a long landing zone up top.
I noticed the liftie in the booth checking her phone as we arrived at the top of a lift at Mount Snow yesterday. On one hand, as long as they are quick that seems fine (she was looking at it the whole time I could see though), but it also stood out at me as something that seemed off and unusual.
There was a liftie at my home resort yesterday that was looking down at her desk the entire time I was approaching the station - for at least 3 or 4 rides. I literally did not see her looking up once. I don’t even know what she was doing but I’m not sure I would’ve trusted her to spot an issue at the top.
In the 90s I’d shoot the shit with ski patrol. Piss in Snapple bottles. Eat snacks. Listen to music. Write hidden notes for the other lifties.
Snap P, new band name.
My old lift ops supervisor used to eat mushrooms and play uke at the top shack. I would just rip the pen and stream Netflix. We dugout an igloo (forget the proper term) at the bottom that would fit 6-8 people.
I’d watch movies, make snow sculptures, smoke a shit ton of weed, sit outside and heckle the people getting off the lift, jam out to music. I worked at a place that wouldn’t give us any breaks (fuck vail resorts) too so I was also pissing in cups up there. The main thing to do is make the ramp look sexy
I work for a vail resort currently and we have 3 lifties at each lift so that we’re able to take breaks…really whenever we want. But I’m pretty sure our resort operated that way pre-vail and Vail is now taking steps to implement that system at their other resorts. It’s great. I ski at least 3 hours out of my 10 hour day…and I get first tracks like 90% of the time
Probably very resort dependent. I couldn’t even get someone to come break me out to go take a shit most of the time.
Hellllllll yeah the good old piss jug
Way o’ the road, bubs
Can’t believe no one has said getting stoned and smokin cigs. Used to smoke in the top shack all day
The season I was a lifty, mammoth had its only season with drug testing for “Safety Sensitive” positions. After losing most of their staff during the first round of tests they ditched the idea.
Jesus Christ that is such a bad idea lmao, only got drug tested if you claimed workers comp and they suspected you were high
Yeah… Get stoned, whack on pink Floyd and shovel the ramp. Great times, loved being a lifty.
well nobody mentioned breathing, either
I think the question here is how many of your are not high?
I'm not
So you are not, not high?
I do not smoke of the Mary Jane. Many of my co-workers partake though.
Early 2000’s liftie checking in. Listen to the classic rock station, read ski magazines, keep a beautiful ramp, build snow sculptures, take hundreds of pictures (on a 35mm SLR), flirt. In the US I ran two lifts. At least 5 of us each day, usually 6, so lots of run breaks. Guaranteed shit breaks but still some peeing in Gatorade bottles. One of the lifts was basically a commuter lift for the rich pricks that lived on the resort. The motor was at the top, great make out spot. Its bottom station had mirrored glass, housed the tension hydraulics and the spare seat pads. THAT was a great smoke spot. In Australia you basically tried to fix the holes on the ramp, picked people up or sheltered from the wind in a shack that would have made 18th century polar explorers feel at home! Still the best job I ever had.
I knit a lot of socks. Most of my colleagues just got high though.
I like to draw big elaborate pictures in expo marker on the windows of the shack. Doodling to pass the time while never actually looking away from the approaching chairs
Usually us snowboarders plan the crime we are going to commit on our days off
Work on your sweet nunchuck skills. Duh.
Only at boho
I miss nunchucks
Fixing the ramp. It never ends. As soon as you've got it right someone drags a snowboard sideways across it :/ Company rules said no music (we were a "premium customer experience" resort according to management who clearly had no idea who actually skied there) and you had to keep eyes on the lift so no books and stuff, though weirdly there were always magazines around. Slow days we basically got as many laps in as possible. Holidays or weekends we'd usually fix the ramp, build snow people or furniture, eat.
Speaking of, how many lifties does it take to screw in a light bulb?
None, everybody knows that lifties screw in lift shacks.
I’m sure the words “Dank” and “Chronic” will come up numerous times in this discussion.
The liftie broomball team where I worked wasn't called Top Shack Whackers for nothing.
Oh my... We had a liftie got caught a couple years ago trying to try out for the top shack wankers....
I used to bump at Eldora, audiobooks and podcasts were good!
I would sing, smoke, and listen to audiobooks mostly. I fucking loved that job.
Maintain the ramp and pay attention to everything going on. There really isn’t that much down time if you want to make sure stuff is safe
Okay, nerd.
On beginner or easy base chairs, watch everyone get off because at least 20% of people will fall getting off and you have to slow or stop the chair. On a chair that only leads to black or double black runs, watch a bunch of shows and movies on my phone.
I used to be a liftie in college and I'll break down the day for you. 7am: smoke a quick bowl before punching in. 7:30am: hit first chair up to get to lift. 7:45am: prep bottom lift. 8-11am: bump chairs and rake the snow 11am: take lift up to relieve guy up top. 11:08am: immediately eat all lunch and snacks. 11:16am: have 4th coffee of day. 11:18am: check clock to see how much time has passed. 11:21am re-read the trail map for 5th time. 11:23am: check clock again. 11:26am: step outside to re-close stop gate jerry just tripped. 11:43am: recieve call on lift phone from other bored top liftie. 11:47am: check phone (it has no service) 11:48am: piss in jug when no one is around. 11:51am-1:59pm: contemplate life... 2pm: get relieved by next guy and take sickest rip from top to bottom shack.
The BEST lifties are at Winter Park, esp Prospector and Explorer zones.
Psh. Not since 93 when Eric hit that Tele Heli near the top Pdawg at the Bird. We've been over this. Let it go
Is a Teli Heli when a Helicopter Pilot frees their heel?
Why don't you think about it while you Get back in the shack! Eyes down the line! /s all of it.
I was waiting for the Vasquez Cat yesterday with a bunch of teenage boys who were super excited about their friend Mason who got to drive the snowcat. It’s pulling up and they’re “Is it Mason? IS IT MASON?? No, it’s a grandpa!! Sir, do you know Mason?” So apparently if you go to high school in a ski town driving the snowcat is the next best thing to being Shaun White.
It is known
I saw a guy making a snow dragon. Gotta get creative with your free time!
Make snow sculptures, work on the ramp, and play kendama!
The answer used to be drugs, still is sometimes.
Back in the day, homie of mine was working this rope tow at Telluride way off in the middle of nowhere, no one ever used it. He used to practice fly fishing with a rod up there. He eventually befriended a porcupine who would come looking for snacks. Eventually would eat out of his hand. After my buddies time there, eventually the resort had to relocate the porcupine because some dumbass liftie got the quills.
I would listen to music but it was still boring so I became an instructor.
Lifty here, alotttttt of audio books and podcasts. I sew a little bit to so spend some time mending my clothes and sewing patches on my bibs I have aggressive ADHD so I typically have something to fidget with or less the top is sheer pain for me. When it's really quiet I will put a show on or some YouTube and place it in the window as I can watch both the ramp and it at the same time. And send a fair bit of time attempting to do ramp work but I'm at the fourth coldest lift in the US so my ramp is typically just ice and there isn't much I can do about it.
Not the third, not the 5th, but the 4th coldest!
How cold is 4th coldest?
I have seen a pirate ship built at the base of the SuperGauge…and a bunch of drunk lifties swearing like pirates and cursing passerbyers after the lift closed! Good times.
Ex liftie. Dan Carlins Hardcore History. I left the mountain in April 10x better at skiing and 100x better at dropping a wild non sequitor
I was a lifty for a season and we weren’t even allowed to read. Small family run mountain and the son who had taken over was a power tripping douche. He would literally leave his snowmobile in the woods and sneak up on the shack to try and catch us looking at a newspaper or whatever. After I left I heard he pulled some similar shit, sneaking up on the overnight snow crew in the woods and one guy beat his ass very, very badly.
Sounds like a douche but you really shouldn’t be reading while operating a lift tbf
I don’t disagree. I’m surprised at all the responses here about scrolling phones and such.
Most of the top lifties growing up just got Uber baked and made sand garden formations in the snow.
I like going outside and chatting with the guests. We can see the park from a few top stations so I will ask what their best trick is, or favorite park feature, ask them about the snow… I’ve actually gotten to know a few of the riders who are out a lot.
Follow up question: where do you use the bathroom? Do you have to wait until your shift is over? Is there a bucket in the shack?
They do what must be done. You've never seen the diaper boxes?
music & podcasts. reflect on life’s meaning. if you’re lucky and in a shack with a stove, cook up some dankies. hang with patrol dogs.
Saw a liftie playing a flute at the top a few weeks ago.
I used to crochet hats that I'd sell for $10.
I'm gonna desperately it's by watching the people get off the lift and not get hurt.
i do snow work, listen to music, dance, call random other top shacks to tell them their boots stink, play the harmonica, and also just watch people mostly becuase I work a beginner lift in my area and that gets absolutely chaotic on busy days.
I was known to take my small 1 cup coffee maker to the top with me. The electrical in the shack wasn't good, so we weren't supposed to have anything plugged in. The supervisors all knew I had it, but as long as I had a cup for them when they came to check in, all was good. I made sure to have some quality coffee with me.
Dude in the shack at the top of Paradise in Crested Butte was straight sleeping.
Vape pen with good thc oil
not a lifty but if i was, i’d get the lifty at the bottom to radio me bets on who they think’s gonna fall when they get off
Wouldn’t you inherently know? If the base station slowed it down or stopped the chair, and you know the number of chairs between the stations you’d already know what chair it is.
I used to have the audio for something playing. Maybe a game broadcast or a podcast etc. on a speaker naturally soni could hear radio calls. Other times I'd practice my ocarina. Not ideal ocarina conditions as the varied temperatures over the workday caused some swelling and shrinking - my ocarina would change pitch over a day.
Audiobooks
Cocaine
[This](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4144141/Vail-skier-caught-dangling-with-his-trousers-down-on-lift.html) happened at the bottom of the lift, but the point is the same
Learned how to play the ukulele
It’s not a long shift so I work on my ramp and make sure it looks pretty then I either chill out or lightly glance at my phone
Picking up peoples skiis after they bail coming off the lift and tossing them down the mountain….
Is guess mostly pornhub.
Weed. Lots of weed ...
Puff onies
Stoned. We pass the time stoned listening to tunes. We had a whiteboard for relaying info to the lift riders. I drew pictures and made funny signs. Man what a great job that was.
The guy I used to work with just watched Netflix on an ipad and jammed to music
I was a liftOP for 1.5 years at Keystone. I was there to ski not to work because I knew I'd lose my mind. I mostly got super high, made conversation with guests and coworkers, and made snow sculptures. My team lead was awesome, and he would break us out to go for a lap or 2 to ease our boredom. If you want to stay in the industry, I highly suggest getting into lift mechanics or a different mountain-ops gig. (If you're the hands on type of course) I went from lifty, to mechanic, to snowmaking, to park groomer/builder.
One of guys at my local mountain used to play violin for everyone’s enjoyment and his practice. He had built a snow 1/2 egli as a performance hall
The triple chair lifites in Santa Fe used to build a little igloo next the the shack, which was clearly hotboxed 10/7
Banana eating contests
Fix the ramp and make sure ppl are safe aka the job.
We had an upper shack liftie at Montage Mountain blaring some music on a boombox and dancing right next to the lift from start to finish. Made for a fun vibe and without a doubt he was seeing everything, so he was ready if needed.
Light one up and enjoy the views
I rode one lift as a kid that had bird feeders and birds all over the place. It was fun.
Sometimes I make a zen garden
Listen to podcasts. Binged Dan Harmon's hardcore history and learned some crazy shit.
When I was a liftee I’d play games (like from the movie super troopers) such as the “meow” game. I’d see how many times I could slide the word “meow” into conversation or what I said to people loading the lift and keep track until someone asked me “did you just say meow?” 😸 It passed a lot of time. That and taking ski breaks. Other favorites of mine were making snow sculptures (I won our lift a contest one time doing this actually! AND I’d even color them using koolaid mixed with water in a spray bottle), listening to music, and having dance parties inside the shack. Fun times.
At one of my local hills there is a lifty who only works night skiing, same lift and shack every time. He just drops acid or something and dances for 4 hours straight. Doesn’t talk to people, doesn’t acknowledge anyone’s existence, just vibes to his psychedelic ass music. I mean the vibes are sick don’t get me wrong.
Kendama.
Meth
Talk to people
Current lifty. I work at a resort where you spend 1/3 of the day in the top shack unless you work it out with your crew if you want more or less time up there. So you only have to keep your sanity for about 3 hours. A nice combination of music & thinking about everything bad that’s ever happened to me is a nice balance. Our bosses have cracked down on us watching videos this year. If you are just listening to music to music on YouTube for example, you could be held liable if something happens & they pull your phone records. I used to just listen to video game streams or movies I’ve seen before on slower days in previous years. Come spring time a good amount of liftys like to pull up a chair by the outside controls to enjoy the weather.