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Must be lonely being the gaijin on the 8lift! ;)

LOL :lol:

 

Having laughed... I saw sixes going off with singles all the time in Europe. With queues!! You would want to be checking your deodorant, no?

 

Annoying when there are real queues and seeing things like that happen. Even worse with a 6 lift!!

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Have seen a few six pax. Cant say I've seen an eight pax yet. New tecnology is nice. However sometimes it's nice to go old school and earn your turns :lol:

define 'earn' :lol:

I well and truly 'earned' the joy of some untracked knee deep beautiful beautiful pow - took a couple of lifts in foul weather and negotiated the nasty whiteout conditions with a heap of other die hards, but rather than drop off following the crowds we went a little further - conditions got worse and the world seemed to spin, difficult to tell up from down so of course ended up 'down' and had to walk a little bit of an incline for a while to the next glade, which no one else could see. Vision cleared and pure heaven lay before us. I reckon THAT is a 'payday' ! Lift assisted but earned nonetheless.

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Still reckon the high speed ropeway/gondola at Furano is the best I've been on. 100 people or so to the top of the mountain in 4 minutes. 2 carriages so 200 peeps every 8 minutes... Why a little place like Furano can afford one, where other big resorts are surviving on old quads (some are really slow!) I don't know.

 

The one thing I love about Japan (or the resorts I've been to at least) is no J/T-Bars... I hate them, as all it takes is a slight lapse in concentration or a slip of the foot on the stomp pad and you are splat on the ground and need to do it all over again, whilst trying not to take out the people behind you. Also, the cables vary in resistance, some are sloppy while others could nearly hold your body weight off the ground...

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The one thing I love about Japan (or the resorts I've been to at least) is no J/T-Bars... I hate them, as all it takes is a slight lapse in concentration or a slip of the foot on the stomp pad and you are splat on the ground and need to do it all over again, whilst trying not to take out the people behind you. Also, the cables vary in resistance, some are sloppy while others could nearly hold your body weight off the ground...

 

Definitely

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The Kurohime quads at Zao left an impression on me. Those things went FAST.

 

And talking about fast, the Hakkai-san ropeway really whizzes up there. Though generally I'm not a fan of ropeways/gondolas, lots of hassle. Much prefer a good quad.

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The Kurohime quads at Zao left an impression on me. Those things went FAST.

 

And talking about fast, the Hakkai-san ropeway really whizzes up there. Though generally I'm not a fan of ropeways/gondolas, lots of hassle. Much prefer a good quad.

What about a combi Muika? Same lift line, high speed detachable quad followed by a quad gondola, and repeat. I thought that was incredible....brilliant idea. People coming up from the funicular below, or loading from the restaurant, or requiring a spell out of the cold would load into Gondolas on the skiers left. The people lapping that lift line who wished to stay clipped in loaded onto the chairlift on skiers right. Big queue for the Gondie? No problem, bypass it by putting your skis or board on and walking around the other side!
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Not sure I understand how that works Mamabear.

You still have to take your skis off, right?

That's the bit I don't like.

I know, I'm fussy. ;)

Yes Muika, but you have a choice! :D

 

If you stop in the lovely restaurant for a hot chocolate or a meal, or stop for a bathroom break your ski's are already off right?

And if you are on the way up from the Village the only way to access is via Funicular Train, and you'd look a right goose wearing your skis trying to climb the steps alongside the carriages! ;) So you just go from Funicular carriage to Gondola Carriage.

 

But then on the runs where you just want to lap it, you don't have to use the Gondola, you can just slide on in to the no queue quad lift.

 

WIN WIN :D

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The one thing I love about Japan (or the resorts I've been to at least) is no J/T-Bars... I hate them, as all it takes is a slight lapse in concentration or a slip of the foot on the stomp pad and you are splat on the ground and need to do it all over again, whilst trying not to take out the people behind you. Also, the cables vary in resistance, some are sloppy while others could nearly hold your body weight off the ground...

 

Definitely

 

promblem as i see it is - they don´t maintain the course we are on being on the T-bar. Gets shredded, bumpy, uneven that it can catch your edge sometimes.

Have been on a T-bar that goes up 40 degrees, it´s not too bad but very intimidating.

I had some steering problems ( still do sometimes ) and fell into the trees and nearly into a tree well. Nearly into a brook, too. There are some dodgy ones with no nets to catch you ...

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There is a T-Bar at Perisher-Blue Cow in NSW that is the only way to get back up the top. (Brumby T-Bar). There is no way to avoid it so if you can't use a T-bar properly (like when you've torn your front knee out) then you are screwed... There's no nets to catch you, so if you fall off, its either unstrap and try walking the passage back up (Kills all your energy, or slide down and try again. Stupidest idea ever.... I wish they would get rid of it and just put a single seater on the same line instead.

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As much as I hate T-bars (thank god Japan doesn't use these!!), the worst thing I've used has been this.....

 

Mick Rich_200.JPG

 

Mamabear mentioned them earlier - nutcrackers!! They use these in the NZ club fields to keep costs down and they're so difficult to get the hang of!! :angry:

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Here are my easy-to-follow instructions:-

 

Step 1 - Pray!

Step 2 - Make sure no-one's watching you!

Step 3 - Pray again!

Step 4 - Having previously tied the red belt around your waist, open up your nutcracker and flick it over the moving rope, hopefully grabbing it as it comes back under the rope! At the same time grab the rope with your other hand and hopefully you're now underway!!! I did say hopefully, didn't I?

Step 5 - Lean back, let the belt take the strain of your weight and breathe a sigh of relief!

Step 6 - Don't relax because if you loosen your grip the nutcracker will come off the rope and you will fall over!

Step 7 - Get ready for the fast-approaching pulley wheel;

Step 8 - As you reach the pulley wheel, take your hand off the rope and rely on the nutcracker to not come off!

Step 9 - Breathe deeply before the next pulley wheel, then repeat step 8 until you reach the top of the rope tow;

Step 10 - Disembark by "simply" relaxing your grip on the nutcracker and falling over!

 

Easy! ;)

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