Gapergenuity

[Jiehkevarri]

I don't like taking my (bulky) pack off on lifts. As it is I'm usually balanced on the front of the seat. If the lift emergency stops I'm going flying. I like the bar down and I'm always ready for it if someone else does it.

Seconded.

Maybe American lifts are designed for some fat asses so common there (=way more room for the lard there). Heh.

[Telski]

How far forward are some of you bitches leaning forward to get whacked. I'm 6-4 and it takes a bit. On a new HS quad - never happens. On old school quad/triple.

But can't you tell when the gaper goes for the draw? They're not that fast.

Gaper with kids = 100% chance of a fast draw. You're at fault.
Gaper & Gaperette = similar
Gaperette = She cannot reach the bar that easily. Slow.
Gaper Gromettes = Very slow to the draw.
Lone Gaper = Tough ones. Stealth. Bar can come crashing at any point. Even mid ride.

[rungsp]

SnowHeads is the nearest thing to this place in the UK.

Here is a thread about lifts and safety bars....some interesting comments, some very funny, some are true gapers (in the sense that they are once a year holiday groomer skiers)

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=24727

[Beder]

Local Sun Valley genius was having a little nap on the lift, leaning forward slightly. Gaper lifts the bar, seperating said bright boy from four of his teeth.
That's the story anyway.

[iceman]

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=24727

Man those people suck at English as bad as we do.

[rungsp]

Man those people suck at English as bad as we do.

and that comes from somebody who knows what he is talking about....having singlehandedly introduced assbaskets, shitweazel and fucknozzle.

Where do I sign for language classes?!

[Dexter Rutecki]

The funny thing is that since I started wearing a helmet I get hit about 10x more often than I used to--I never used to get hit, so I guess that I used to routinely be within an inch of getting hit and rarely realized it. Or, with the helmet, I'm just more slow witted about it.
But I can't imagine getting pissed about it (I mean unless some idiot really smashes it into your head, as some of them seem intent on doing), especially not if it's someone who has kids and is paranoid about them falling off. Riding lifts with my four year old daughter is pretty scary, actually, as she seems to enjoy sitting right at the edge of the chair. I always tell her to sit back, but it does make her skis stick straight up in the air (not that I'm relying on the bar to keep her in as she'd just slide under--I've often got the death grip on her, as it is really scary to think about her falling off).

[Tye 1on]

I'm with icemang.

I don't like taking my (bulky) pack off on lifts.

Reminds me of a story [uh oh], at Big Sky back in...89? 90? We used to ski off the backside of Andesite Mtn down to a little old loggers cabin that is now part of the Yellowstone Club property. Totally south facing, always had the nastiest boottop dogfuck crust. All but one of us had passes, and we used a bud pass for our other buddy. He wasn't used to riding chairs, and his pack got caught up in the chair as he got off and started around the bullwheel. It was a little tense for a sec as we were still trying not to get caught scammin...[didn't say it was a good story!]

[philippeR]

and that comes from somebody who knows what he is talking about....having singlehandedly introduced assbaskets, shitweazel and fucknozzle.

Where do I sign for language classes?!

Introduced where ?

[Jer]

this sport needs all the people it can get

... it does?

[iceman]

... it does?

Only if you care about new skis being produced, resorts staying open, that kind of shit. So I guess your sport doesn't need people, but mine does.

[Jer]

... it does?

Of course! Without the fifty thousand bazillion dollars that gapers pump into the industry every year, how else would resorts be able to afford things like huge 5 star hotels, rampant expansion and high-speed six-pack lifts (with safety bars). Just think of where the sport would be without gapers.

[Jer]

I don't buy it.

Look at the rate of gear innovation and resort growth.
Compare to skier & boarder number growth.
Consider what level of service (in terms of gear, resorts, and snow - groomed, tracked, or untracked) you actually want or need.

You could halve the number of skier visits and still have a flourishing ski industry. (After cleaning up all the splatted bodies on Wall Street - but they weren't about skiing anyway.)


Even amateur radio -- now there's a dying breed, every meeting ends with a "state of the hobby" report, in which the graybeards bemoan the lack of youth building their own radios out of rocks and tin cans -- but they've got more and better gear, coming out at ever-higher rates, than their predecessors ever dreamed of.

[philippeR]

Of course! Without the fifty thousand bazillion dollars that gapers pump into the industry every year, how else would resorts be able to afford things like huge 5 star hotels, rampant expansion and high-speed six-pack lifts (with safety bars). Just think of where the sport would be without gapers.

We would be left with you !

[Tye 1on]

We would be left with you !

better than a fuzzy little foreigner.

[gh444]

i always end up getting hit with that stupid bar three ways. it hits my head, then it hits my poles that are under a leg, then the stupid handle always pinches what ever flesh it can find.

-aaron

[iceman]

I don't buy it...

We'll have to agree to disagree on your premise, but let me ask you this: Why would you want less people to enjoy the sport that you at least in theory love?

Usually people with an enthusiasm like to expose people to it, to share it, but you want to get rid of everybody. Why is that?

[Jer]

I think the confusion here stems from the fact that iceman is talking about an industry and d.w.'s talking about a sport.

[iceman]

I think the confusion here stems from the fact that iceman is talking about an industry and d.w.'s talking about a sport.

I don't think there's any confusion, I just think DW wants the Wasangeles backcountry more or less to himself.

[Jer]

I don't think there's any confusion, I just think DW wants the Wasangeles backcountry more or less to himself.

That's a pretty huge leap!

[365wp]

That's a pretty huge leap!

Should have put the bar down.

[stantonbum1]

I would have thought that with all the litigation in the US that every lift would have a bar that you HAVE to lower. I have also heard a rumour that some US resorts go without bars because the bar increases the liklihood that the can be sued as it gives a false sense of security - no idea if this is bullshit having only skied in yurp.

With a helmet and a backpack on you get hit on the head on pretty much every lift you get onto.

[pechelman]

pfft

screw a safety bar
where are the 5-point harnesses and airbags?

then the bitching will turn from getting hit in the head, to gapers sitting on my seatbelt

[Jer]

We'll have to agree to disagree on your premise, but let me ask you this: Why would you want less people to enjoy the sport that you at least in theory love?

Usually people with an enthusiasm like to expose people to it, to share it, but you want to get rid of everybody. Why is that?

Your question is based on multiple false premises. So either you're an idiot - which seems unlikely, given your posting style - or you're executing a rhetorical stratagem rather than engaging in productive debate - which seems likely, given your posting style and the online forum culture in general.

But let's take the serious fork anyway.

In just the last year, I have introduced & encouraged multiple n00bs into skiing - AT, telemark, resort, backcountry. Even snowshoeing, if that's what they felt up to. Been doing that for years.

[Tye 1on]

Jer is it time for an avatar realignment yet?