Barb Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 So the boys' dad took them up this weekend and I just got a call that my youngest fell 15 feet off the lift. This is his 5th season on skis and he knows how to get off a lift, but for some reason this season he is scooching his but up on the chair way too far and early. I have talked (and yelled) about it many times with him. I told his dad to say something to the race coach this weekend since he wasn't listening to me. He's fine, good thing we had a lot of fresh snow. Quote
boardin_nerd Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 woww. that totally bites... did he break anything? guess 15 feet really isn't too high.. Quote
C1erArt Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 Ouch, the chairs were slippery this weekend. Never could convince my race kid to put the safety bar down unless I was with him. Quote
toast21602 Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 at least he is okay. maybe now he wont be sitting too far forward on the chair. was the bar down? seems like something as simple as a lap bar could have prevented the whole thing. Quote
mbike-ski Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 glad he's ok - that was one of my biggest fears when ours were little - i don't think too much about it now, our youngest is 10. how old is he? Quote
Mixilplix Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 A 15 foot fall can do some damage..Glad he's OK...Sometimes we need to learn the hard way. Quote
toast21602 Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 I'm a bigtime advocate of safety bars..not only to rest your feet but for piece of mind.. me too. as you know, i get the bar down asap. Quote
EAZY-Emuntz Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 from my trips to jf i have noticed that the chairs there are slippery as hell when its snowing Quote
HouseMuzik Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 from my trips to jf i have noticed that the chairs there are slippery as hell when its snowing I was at Bear creek on the lift with an individual who said her friend fell off the lift at Big Boulder and got seriously injured not too long ago... guys stop being tough and put the bar down. there's a reason why its there Quote
ThinkSnow Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 I noticed yesterday at JF that the seats were pretty slippery with the snow and cold, even got a little too far forward once myself. 15 feet can definitely cause some damage if you're landing isn't just right. Quote
moe ghoul Posted January 11, 2009 Report Posted January 11, 2009 Good to hear he's OK. A few months from now, it'll be the coolest story he'll tell everyone about. A future Heli jumping, BC hucker is born.............. Quote
Barb Posted January 11, 2009 Author Report Posted January 11, 2009 Yeah, he is very lucky he's ok. In a way its good this happened to him because it scared him enough that he won't creep his behind up too far anymore. And yes he always puts the bar down. He usually lifts it up the last or second to last tower and that's when he starts getting ready to get off, way too soon. He actually didn't want his dad to call me because he thought I would yell at him. I'm kind of glad I wasn't there to see it because, as the mom, I would have probably made things worse by being to freaked out. Quote
JFBBMomski Posted January 12, 2009 Report Posted January 12, 2009 That is so scary Barb and I'm glad he's okay. I always worry about my kids on the lifts. My daughter likes to lean forward and look over at everything. Scares me to pieces. I also noticed how slippery the lifts were Saturday because of all the snow. My son and I had a fun one Saturday - the lift operator accidently flipped the seat up on us at loading. I sat down with Jake and no seat, just bars. Luckily she noticed and stopped the lift in time. I had to drop down a few feet to get off. That was fun. All I could think of was the picture of that poor guy who ended up upside down with his pants down around his ankles, free to the breeze. Quote
RootDKJ Posted January 12, 2009 Report Posted January 12, 2009 That is so scary Barb and I'm glad he's okay. I always worry about my kids on the lifts. My daughter likes to lean forward and look over at everything. Scares me to pieces. I also noticed how slippery the lifts were Saturday because of all the snow. My son and I had a fun one Saturday - the lift operator accidently flipped the seat up on us at loading. I sat down with Jake and no seat, just bars. Luckily she noticed and stopped the lift in time. I had to drop down a few feet to get off. That was fun. All I could think of was the picture of that poor guy who ended up upside down with his pants down around his ankles, free to the breeze. So that's how that happens.... All sillyness aside, I'm glad your kid is ok. I'm sure he'll think twice before doing that again. Quote
method9455 Posted January 12, 2009 Report Posted January 12, 2009 Glad he's ok, he will learn from it. I did it around age 6 or 7 at Craigmeur in NJ from about 10 feet and my Dad paniced and jumped out after me to see if I was ok since it was actually just after we had got on. I was fine but we still laugh about it sometimes. One thing I notice is that newer skiers tend to lift the bar up way to early..I've had people two-three towers from the top upset because the bar is still down..even high speed lifts only go about 10 mph at the most..I'd rather wait until a few seconds before..and with the bar up..have my arm gripping the back or side of the chair. I don't want to get owned on the lift... Yea, I'm not sure what is up with that except that with snowboarders it takes longer to untangle everyone from the foot rest. I generally drop my board or skis off the foot rest about 2 or 3 towers out, but I dont lift the bar until we are at a height I would be ok to fall from, especially if I'm wearing a backpack. A kid from the race team at my HS fell from the quad at South Peak of mountain creek and died in the early 90s because they didn't have the bar down and he was horsing around with his friend. That lift gets pretty high, I would bet he fell about 40-50 feet. Its dumb to be macho on a lift over hardpack or rock, this isn't out west with powder to cushion your fall. Quote
gdthomas Posted January 12, 2009 Report Posted January 12, 2009 I heard from some of the instructors that he fell off cause he like turned around in his seat kinda to scrape the ice or something and slipped off. Quote
CanisLupus Posted January 12, 2009 Report Posted January 12, 2009 yes, somene from my high school fell off the lift at boulder about a month or so ago. paralyzed from the waist down. not something to mess around with Quote
Barb Posted January 12, 2009 Author Report Posted January 12, 2009 (edited) I heard from some of the instructors that he fell off cause he like turned around in his seat kinda to scrape the ice or something and slipped off. Guess I'll never know the whole story. He wanted to leave the mountain right away because he was embarassed. I just know it scared the crap out of him and he will definitely be more careful from now on. Edited January 12, 2009 by Barb Quote
bigdaddyk Posted January 12, 2009 Report Posted January 12, 2009 Guess I'll never know the whole story. He wanted to leave the mountain right away because he was embarassed. I just know it scared the crap out of him and he will definitely be more careful from now on. At least he didn't get his pants ripped off. Quote
CanisLupus Posted January 12, 2009 Report Posted January 12, 2009 At least he didn't get his pants ripped off. Excellent point ha. Quote
jordan Posted January 12, 2009 Report Posted January 12, 2009 it sucks that he fell, but safety bars are a false sense of security. More kids fall off the chair trying to put them down or bring them up than they would if there was no bar at all. Thats why many ski areas out here simply don't have safety bars. Quote
toast21602 Posted January 12, 2009 Report Posted January 12, 2009 it sucks that he fell, but safety bars are a false sense of security. More kids fall off the chair trying to put them down or bring them up than they would if there was no bar at all. Thats why many ski areas out here simply don't have safety bars. i really dont even believe an ounce of that statement. Quote
Kyle Posted January 13, 2009 Report Posted January 13, 2009 i really dont even believe an ounce of that statement. i can see the logic behind it but idk if its completely true Quote
method9455 Posted January 14, 2009 Report Posted January 14, 2009 it sucks that he fell, but safety bars are a false sense of security. More kids fall off the chair trying to put them down or bring them up than they would if there was no bar at all. Thats why many ski areas out here simply don't have safety bars. No, many ski areas out there don't have safety bars because you get more snow so the landing isn't as bad, and the liability laws in Colorado are a lot different than in PA because the ski industry is so important to their economy the government tries to protect them, where as the 7 hills in PA don't do jack shit for the state as a whole. I agree that kids fall off trying to put it down or bring it up, but saying that no bar at all is safer is ridiculous. The real solution is to have an adult put the bar down so I wouldn't be sending kids up that aren't big enough to close the bar alone. Quote
RootDKJ Posted January 14, 2009 Report Posted January 14, 2009 Barb - if you kid has a good sense of humor, I highly recommend getting him a badge of honor to remember this event by.... Quote
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