Ocean11 0 Posted February 25, 2002 Share Posted February 25, 2002 Paradox; as you get better at snowboarding, your experience gets worse. Sort of. If you can go fast, that means your runs are shorter relative to lift time. So you rocket down the hill and then get on the lift. The lift goes up really really slowly. Then you race down again. Boarding time 2 min max, lift time 5 min min. That's not a very good cost/benefit ratio. You can improve this ratio a little by riding the whole mountain and riding the slightly faster gondola, and the boarding time feels a bit longer. But if there's one run that you want to do over and over, there comes a point where you just get sick of riding the lift and give up. Maybe that's where MP3s come in. I'm going to get a PocketPC so that I can listen to music and read my mail on the lift. But there has to be a better way than this of getting up mountains. I'd like to share with you a vision of the future of snowboarding. Fast forward to 2018. Teleporters have replaced chairlifts at most resorts. A few places such as Wada Toge still have an old quad or double. They're no longer referred to as 'skilifts' as skiing died out around 2010. Teleporters had a rocky start. Sometimes they would transport boarders to the wrong place and put them down on the wrong mountain, in the woods, in the girls' toilet, and once famously, several boarders were deposited 3000 ft above Hakuba Village. Another glitch that took a while to sort out was DNA switching. Sometimes boarders, especially foreigners, would have the DNA of their Snickers switched with their human DNA. Riders were surprised to see giant Snickers whooping and catching big air in the half-pipe until they melted in the afternoon sun. However, eventually all these minor issues were resolved, and teleporting became a reliable means of getting quickly up the mountain. The first generation of teleporters were little booths that you stepped into to get zapped. At the bottom it looked like a lot of people queuing to go to the lavatory, and at the top, a whole stream of people would appear mysteriously from the booths. Then technical developments made it possible to mount zappers in a frame at the bottom and top of the courses, somewhat similar to those ETC gates on the highway that nobody ever goes through. Boarders would just pass into the gate and get teleported to the top again where they would come flying out of the ether at the same speed they went in. There were some problems encountered with this system too. Some people tended to hesitate or even wipe out just before getting through the bottom gate causing dangerous pile-ups at the top gate. Another problem was exhaustion, especially for older boarders wearing full body armour - the complete lack of rest time with the new system meant the unwary literally boarded till they dropped. I really hope we get something like this soon. Lift runs and gondola runs might disappear as result, although they'd be around for a while until they get overgrown. Does anybody else feel that lift time is nearly enough to make the whole gig a bit of a drag? Link to post Share on other sites
lineski 0 Posted February 25, 2002 Share Posted February 25, 2002 Yo! Ocean, in the year 2018,there'll be HOOVER-SNOWBOARD to ride you uphill... think about that! peace&cheers!! Link to post Share on other sites
ganja 0 Posted February 26, 2002 Share Posted February 26, 2002 That's one of the reasons I stick to the pipe on some days. No waiting in long lift lines, no long lift rides, no crowds on the slope, just a short hike up along the deck of the pipe and your ready to go. Link to post Share on other sites
lin 0 Posted February 26, 2002 Share Posted February 26, 2002 You're wrong Ocean11. Snowboarding will have died out around 2010, not skiing! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 26, 2002 Share Posted February 26, 2002 hey ocie, ol son, GET OFF THE GEAR bro.!!! you`re startin to show signs of loosin the plot. oh yeah, me mate, Juan told me yar other post was pointless too. maybe your time is up here don`t ya think? do us all a favor.......... Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted February 27, 2002 Share Posted February 27, 2002 Ocean11, dear Ocean. You seem to have a lot of time on your hands!! Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted February 28, 2002 Share Posted February 28, 2002 he has a lot of SUMthin on his hands, and a LOT of nothin in them. thats for sure! Link to post Share on other sites
cal 6 Posted March 1, 2002 Share Posted March 1, 2002 So when do you reckon teleporting will be with us Ocean? Any inside info. Those ETC gates on the highway are a pain in the bottom, aren't they...ever seen ANYONE using them? Link to post Share on other sites
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