Night-Skiing: Don't Do It

As some of you know, the first time I skied Coronet Peak in New Zealand in 1982 it poured rain all day. About 3PM I was riding the Greengates chair at the far western edge of the resort when it stopped. In the miserable weather I could see no other skiers above or below me on the lift or on the runs underneath. After 5 minutes or so I became nervous that perhaps the lift was being shut down for the day. Fortunately it resumed after another 5 minutes, and I decided to make that my last run. Longest time stranded on a lift was ~55 minutes at Mt. High East in 1985. I was also on the old chair 1 at Mammoth in a blizzard when it derailed in 1983. But the snow was so deep I was able to jump off that time.
 
Nothing radical. The chair was stopped for ~15 minutes in gusty winds and blowing snow. Then we saw patrol climbing up the hill with ropes over their shoulders. So we knew the chair had a mechanical problem and was going to be evacuated. My seatmate (whom I did not know) shoved himself off the chair, did a 180 in midair and skied off. I figured that if he could do that I could crawl off, hang by my hands from the seat and drop probably less than 10 feet into 3 feet of powder.
 
Cool story. Also admirably honesty and modesty TC. I'da turned THAT into a serious tall tale! :lol:
 
Last winter I was stuck on the Collins lift with Marc_C and a couple of others for about 40 minutes. I think the others behind us were on the lift for over an hour.

There are no foot rests on that lift and my legs got numb. It was chilly, but not like here in the east, and the sun was shining, so we weren't too cold.

When I saw that trailer, all I could think was that the snowboard looked pretty darn heavy hanging from one leg.
 
Powderqueen":3dcmtsi8 said:
Last winter I was stuck on the Collins lift with Marc_C and a couple of others for about 40 minutes. I think the others behind us were on the lift for over an hour.

There are no foot rests on that lift and my legs got numb. It was chilly, but not like here in the east, and the sun was shining, so we weren't too cold.

When I saw that trailer, all I could think was that the snowboard looked pretty darn heavy hanging from one leg.
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And remember that the biggest issue when we finally got to the top wasn't being cold, but being able to stand up and walk/slide. Recall the patrollers on either side of the lift to assist people getting up off the chair.
 
And remember that the biggest issue when we finally got to the top wasn't being cold, but being able to stand up and walk/slide.
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I'm fairly sure that old lift at Mt. High East had a foot rest. And it was a typically sunny SoCal day, so not that uncomfortable, just boring.
 
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