Snowboard Tips: The Chairlift

One of the more frustrating things for the new rider is the chairlift. The first few days on the hill, this thing can become a person`s personal demon. Many instructors do not spend any time providing their students with good information and tips that will make negotiating this beast a piece of cake. As riders we all see it; that poor "newbie" starfishing on the unloading ramp or the human debris pile as all of the occupants of a given chair end up in a tangle of limbs and snowboards. Much of this can be avoided with some simple tips, thus avoiding embarrassment for the "victim" and frustration for the other riders waiting to unload.

Loading the Chairlift

As you skate through the maze and await your turn to load, remember to keep your shoulders parallel and over your board. Lead with your shoulder; don`t turn your upper body to face forward as this will ultimately cause your lower body and board to rotate. As soon as the person in front of you is in the loading position, be ready to immediately skate out right behind their chair as it passes in front of you. Don`t delay here, or you will set yourself up for trouble by being chased by your chair. When you are in the loading position, remember to remain standing sideways, that is with your board pointing the direction the chair is going to take you. When the front edge of the seat nudges you in the leg, sit down on the butt cheek attached to your back (free) foot, grasping the back of the chair with your back hand, lifting your back foot up out of the snow. Once seated, keep your board straight and keep the tip lifted. The reason you do not want to sit back right away and let your board rotate across the direction of travel is because it can catch in the snow and pull you off of the chair. Usually the very next thing that occurs is the chair hits you in the back of the head. As soon as you leave the ground and have the clearance, go ahead and sit back comfortably and enjoy the ride.

Unloading the Chairlift

Just like an aircraft on final approach, you need to lower the landing gear and prepare for landing. As you start coming toward the unloading area, say at the last tower, you need to position your body to ride off of the chair. Do this by raising the safety bar if you had it down and grabbing the back of the chair with your back hand. Slide yourself around so you are now sitting half on-half off of the chair. You are simply moving your body to the same position it was in to load the chair. Your front foot should be hanging down relaxed and tip of your board should be pointing the direction of travel (no sideways boards here, keeping your board straight and true is crucial to getting off of the chair smoothly). One tip that seldom gets passed on is, as you are about to land, put your back foot on your stomp pad, or on your board next to the rear binding. The idea here is to simply stand up and ride away without having to stand up one footed and find your board with the free foot as you`re gliding off of the ramp. Just like that aircraft coming in to land, you need to flare by raising the nose of your board so that it makes contact with the snow under your bindings. At this point, all you need to do is stand up. Use the chair for balance as you are getting up. I recommend putting the flat of your rear hand on the seat cushion and pushing off of it gently. Again, there is nothing special about this; you are now in position to perform a basic, simple glide away from the chairlift. One of the biggest problems for the new rider is they lean back when getting off of the lift and their board goes out from under them, dumping them on their butts.This is alleviated by aggressively leaning forward (toward the nose of your board). Leaning back is a recipe for disaster...DO NOT LEAN BACK! . When getting off of the lift, if you think you are leaning too far forward, you are probably just about right. Don`t let the steepness or iciness of the ramp freak you out. They all have good runouts usually. The steeper the ramp, the quicker your board will take off and the farther you should lean forward; stay ahead of the board and be ready to anticipate how it is going to react! Also, keep your knees bent so you can shift your weight as needed for balance. Try not to worry about turning or doing anything fancy when gliding away from the lift other than avoiding other riders or fixed objects of course.

Multiple riders on a chair

A lot of new riders get freaked out on a high speed quad loaded with 4 other happy riders or skiers. Don`t let this scare you. If possible, ride on the outside of the chair. This allows you a clear escape route away from your chairmates. If you are very new to riding, it is almost always true that your chairmates will ride away much faster than you do, so be patient and let them get out of your way, taking the rear position. Ideally, the two outside riders will steer a bit away from the center path, keeping it clear for the center riders. Think of it like a four lane street coming to T intersection. Two right turn lanes and two left turn lanes. Don`t try to turn right from a left turn lane!

When you fall

I say when not if because we all sometimes fall for a variety of reasons...alcohol being a big factor! The number one thing on your mind when you fall getting off of the lift, should be getting off of the "runway" as you have landing traffic right behind you. This is not the time to adjust your bindings, or brush snow off, get the hell out of the way ASAP! Having said that, be very careful about raising your head up as there may be a chair right above you. Stay low and crawl or slide left or right, whichever is closest to leave that runway clear. Then get up an act like it`s no big deal because as long as you get out of the way, it is`nt.

Additional thoughts

(1) Get in the habit of collapsing your rear binding highback while waiting in the lift line; often there is not much clearance under the chair and highbacks get broken when caught under the chair.

(2) If you are loading on either end, sit as close to the end as possible and give the middle people room to load.

(3) If you have the option, regular riders should favor sitting to the right and goofy riders to the left so boards are pointing in opposite directions under the chair during the ride up.

(4) Always Make sure no loose clothing has become looped around or stuck in the chair.

(5) When exiting the chair, try to ride angled away from each other so as to provide maneuvering room.