Is this just a thing in USA? In 300+ days riding in europe I've never been on a chair with the bar up.

 

My experience is it's far more prevalent in the U.S. In fact we have many chairs at ski resorts that don't even have bars. In the short amount of time I spent in Europe, my group was scolded for raising the bar too soon to get off a lift. I've never had that happen in the U.S., and I've also had people try to lift the bar when we're at a great height and still over 100 yards from the lift ramp. It's a weird cultural difference, but apparently all Americans really are cowboys.

 

There are some old ones around the world without, but probably more of a culture thing in the Yu Es, and maybe state by state, not like Europe where everyone adopted it, and manufacturers had it from the start.

 

Why would you not put it down??

 

At first I thought it was odd that a 25 foot drop killed him but if he was clearing snow from under his butt and lost balance, he probably plunged head first and broke his neck. Ouch.

 

Saw my first person fall off a lift this year. Luckily the lift operators were quick to react and managed to catch them with one of those massive pillows. Be safe out there!

 

I would be shit scared to ride in a chair 10 meters high without the bar.

In the promised land of lawsuits why resorts aren't afraid of legal problems when they let people use lifts without safety bar? Strange gap in otherwise quite security oriented US company culture?

 

Huh. I hate the bar. Usually prevents me from manspreading, pushes my board further below me than I want, or resting the board on a ski rest is awkward for my ankle. This past week I managed to go 2.5 days before anyone asked to lower the bar and it was a blessing.

 

The foot rest is my favorite part.

 

This isn't a US thing, it's a Western US thing. In the northeast it's required to put the bar down, it's actually state law in Vermont. I have seen people lose their day passes for repeatedly leaving the bar up. I don't understand it, I can't think of a reason not to put the bar down. I compare it to riding in a car without a seatbelt. It is not an inconvenience at all. People out west actually get angry sometimes if you try and put the bar down. Usually if you ask politely, people don't care about putting it down, but you get the occasional dick that refuses.

 

I have never felt unsafe on the chair with the bar up. Even in high wind, all I have to do is hold the bar on the side or put my arm around the back. I get more worried about getting hung up/caught on the bar lifting it up/down than I do riding the couch. As my Belgian buddies say, too much cowboy.

 

In Australia it is definitely bar down. Perisher had a fall a few years ago on Leichhardt Quad Chair. Aussies are not risk takers: seat belts, mobile phone driving laws, no drink/drug driving and raised safety bars....., no way Jose.

Gee, I forgot to add, in Australia we also don't open carry or wear MAGAt hats and worship a failed conman as our King. 🤡

Perisher snowboarder in hospital after plummeting from chairlift

The woman was filmed clinging onto the chair for up to three minutes before falling to the snow below and h...

www.9news.com.au

 

We have brains on the east coast so we put the bar down. I really dont like leaving it up when I'm West but if it walks like a duck and sounds like a duck when in rome stupid is as stupid does. I guess.

 

I’ve actually never thought though other places are all about the bar.. I ride only PNW and have had somebody put the bar down maybe twice and I was like, “interesting..” I never feel unsafe without it, but I don’t mind if somebody puts it down. Didn’t realize it’s the law in Vermont. I need to get out more.

 

More people would put the bar down if they take the scrotum smashers and footrests off them

Makes em a pain to have down

 

Besides safety I like bars exactly because I can put my board on a footrest. It doesn't feel comfortable at all hanging the board from one leg in the air. Agree sometimes it's hard to get your ankle in good angle but still it's more comfy than the alternative not having the rest at all.

Actually I've fell from a lift too but only from 2m/6 feet when approaching upper station. The damn seat was so slippery that when trying to change position ready for exiting I fell of. The lift was stopped and I had a proud moment everybody watching 😅 But yeah especially after that incident I wouldn't ride without the bar.

 

It's a close call, but I think I'd rather survive with a smashed scrotum than fall off the chair to my untimely death.

 

Thats fair, and i usually put it down. But more people would if there wasnt so manye obstacles

Scrotum smasher? You mean you guys straddle the vertical bars? I always sit between them and I'm kind of a fat ass and still plenty of space.

I go inbetween when i can, but when its a full quad you cant do that.

 

There are the enthusiastic bar droppers that don't mind smashing the pumpkin, my helmet has saved me bean a few times. Of course, these have been the tourista mom's and dad's with the kiddos... that I try to avoid riding a chair with. I never put the bar down and if tired, enjoy the couching ability with the bar up in which to grab a nap, look at the clouds or for some sun'n thing done.

Edit: The whole fear of death thing is a bit perplexing. A person is much more likely to die while off the chair lift. One could argue that riding the chair is one of the safest places to be on the hill (whether the bar is up or down).

And the whole smashing scroto thing. If your bag is squashed... well I guess having the bar down might prevent you from thrashing off the chair... so there is that. But it's a chicken and egg thing.

 

The original post in this thread is about a guy who died falling off a chair lift because he didn't put the bar down. How is a fear of that happening to you perplexing? Seems like a reasonable fear of something that is quite possible.

 

Well technically it was the landing, not even falling off the chair and certainly not because he didn't put the bar down. More likely it was because he didn't want his scrotum damp and didn't understand that his new fancy pants and a bit of snow on the chair can be damm slippery. Besides, why did he wait to fiddle with the snow on the chair until there was some elevation/height. It sounds like a dumbass meets an underpaid newspaper hack. I propose that there be a federal law that notes that each time, while standing in line for a chair, that each person is required to watch a 10 minute video and then sign a waiver before being allowed to sit on a chair... each time! That would fix the problem.

The perplexing fear thing. Fear is a good thing; it helps up to be able to get a bit smarter. But skiing and riding as there are many activities that are quite dangerous especially if you are not paying attention. The issue with fear is that it is an anticipated response that is learned from experience and/or a built in survival thing. There are a host of things on the hill to be fearful of. But one needs to learn to manage the fear and mitigate their behaviors so that they don't die. The guy was likely uninformed, did not know what the hell he was doing and thus focused on the wrong thing... the fear of a wet scrotal area instead of falling off the chair. Of course, kids and teens are generally unaware of both fear and of the ability to mitigate their behaviors so that they can maintain their health and safety. It is unfortunate that the guy had not learned and thus fell off the chair.

 

2 years ago I watched a kid fall off a lift at sugarbush from 30-40 feet. It happened within sight of the base. It was one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. The kids friends were holding on to him as long as they could before he ultimately fell. The terror in the kids pleas for help while he was hanging there fucked me up for a while.

 

Scrotum smasher? You mean you guys straddle the vertical bars? I always sit between them and I'm kind of a fat ass and still plenty of space.

 

Well, sure, skiing and riding is dangerous. But we weigh the risks against the benefits. What exactly are the benefits of keeping the bar up? Lowering it seems like a pretty low-cost way to increase your chances of avoiding severe injury and/or death. Arguing against that feels kind of like arguing that you don't bother to wear a seat belt because you find it uncomfortable. Or you don't want to wear a helmet. Etc.

It doesn't seem perplexing to me for a person to take reasonable precautions against injury even when doing dangerous things.

 

There aren't even bars on some of the lifts at a couple of resorts where I ride in Colorado. That's a pretty far cry from them being legally mandated in Vermont. I wonder why there's such a big cultural difference between the East and the West. I'm personally indifferent to the bar. I'm more likely to use a bar without scrotum smashers or footrests, but I still forget to put it down most of the time- if it's even there.

 

I've got 4 dents in my (just retired) helmet and have never fallen off a lift. If someone asks to put down the bar while not wearing a helmet, I'll comply, but I'm having a chuckle over their stupidity.

 

Never wear a helmet, always put the bar down. Head has never been bashed in the process.

 

I am shocked by the amount of safety bar hero's here. Nothing wrong with it at all but, like, I view chairlifts as zero risk. If you wanna put it down, as long as you say something first and lower it slowly go for it. if it has a foot rest and Im dead, maybe I'll lower it to to give my leg a break.

But in the thousands of chairlift rides in my life I have never once thought about the bar as any actual safety precaution. Darwinism kills people on chairlifts so frankly, we should probably just ban safety bars for the improvement of the species

 

I don't have a problem with the bar itself. I do hate the kooks that just drop it, without checking, i've had my helmet smashed, elbow pinched, leg pinched and almost been thrown from the chair by having the footrest smash my board/boot too many times. The footrest is my biggest issue with the safety bar, i'm of a height where my knee is at a weird angle using the bar and not using the bar my bindings straps frequently rub it and i get all paranoid about ratchets releasing. Plus the footrest on a fully loaded 6/8 pack chair is nuts

 

Most of the lifts at my local don't have the vertical scrotum smashers or footrests, so I never quite understood why people wouldn't use the bar. I find it pretty comfortable to have the bar to lean and rest against. When I did go on a lift with the bars and footrests, it was a pain - my lower legs are apparently pretty long, so getting the board on the footrest is awkward, but not quite long enough that I'm comfortable dangling underneath.

Weirdly, I've had a couple moments this year (with the bar up) where I suddenly get very nervous about the height. I was never really afraid of heights and never had a problem on the chairlift anywhere before.. Not sure what that's about, but either way, having the bar down seems to stop that fear from creeping in, so I'm always kinda glad when the chair mates bring it down. As long as they don't bash me in the back of the head.