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jeepers SKI, you kind of came out swinging without anyone prodding you (but then I didn't see the sheep pics. Don't get heavy on Cpt Stag, he likes all things wooly ;\) ). No matter, things seemed to have chilled here. But I will stick up for Fattwins, he has more good spirits than the next guy, doesn't deserve a bashing or ridicule. You would have to go a long way to find a better person to do a BC season with.

 

On the topic: I have ridden under some lifts, but not many. Here are some 'thoughts'

 

- I usually do not like breaking rules. If I don't like rules I complain but seldom break them as it makes me look arrogant in the face of the resort operators. Their resort, their rules.

 

- I don't break rules because I do not like being caught. Riding under a lift puts you in full view of everyone and flaunting it likes that deserves getting caught. when you do get caught, you look stupid.

 

- Lots of lifts in Japan seemed to be in gullies that from my uneducated stance seemed quite av prone terrain.

 

- I don't ride under lifts as I would rather duck a quiet rope and ride where no one can see me. This way I am being shy in my rule breaking and if I get in trouble, no one will ever see me and I will thaw out with the spring melt.

 

- I hate getting caught for petty things (like forged lift ticket etc). If I wont get caught then I will likely break the rules for my own enjoyment.

 

- If I were in Switzerland and was told not to ride under a lift then I wouldn't. For some reason I do not have nearly as much respect for Japanese rules. This is sad.... but true for more people than just me. It results from the strange way in which rules are formulated in Japan (from a gaijin perspective, which still doesn't make it right)

 

- I cant stand the childish music that they pollute the air with in Japan. I really did hate that aspect of Japanese resorts. Why ride under that??

 

- If you ride under a lift in full view of everyone on teh chairs then you have to rip it apart. Otherwise you look like a tool.

 

I do not claim that they are rational 'thoughts' and nor do I care.

 

Pretty soon I will never use a lift or resort again if I can help it.

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 Quote:
- If you ride under a lift in full view of everyone on the chairs then you have to rip it apart. Otherwise you look like a tool.
Amen to that. But at the same time when you're the one up above, chairlift commentry just isn't as fun without a complete tool-up by some rider below you.
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Ha Ha! What and old hairy chestnut this one is eh lol.gif . Hardly worth all the shouting really.

Ditto DB's comment about you FT, you might as well save your breath for the huge powder days we've got coming up.

 

I don't want to duck the ropes but they're just there sometimes aren't they. Riding under the lifts can see you located in a wide range of terrain, ranging from totally safe to potentially dangerous. The blanket rule approach in totally safe ares is part of the effort to 'appear' to be looking after safety. I guess it is also done to totally discourage any sort of freeriding, but this varies, of course, from resort to resort.

 

Many resorts doubt the ability of customers to think critically and carefully about their own safety on certain levels. Funnily enough this does not apply to one of the most dangerous areas of the resort, the park. In the park you're allowed evaluate for yourself just what it is you're capable of. Even though people die in the park ocassionally and frequently injure themselves the freedom remains.

 

Fair enough, it's a dangerous sport after all. I'd like to see this tolerance of personal risk taking extended to freeriders a little more.

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Well, i'll put in my two cents.

I was busted once for riding virgin pow under a lift in japan. I did not know it was against the rules at that point. The area under the lift was on the side of a run and not blocked off, but there were fences extending out into the run on either sides of the towers. So i went in and out between the towers and poached the goods.

All of the sudden, loudspeakers went off, and people were yelling. When i got to the bottom of the hill, some angry liftlees came running out and tried to take my pass. When they saw i was a gaijin, they backed off. I asked them why it was illegal to ride under the lift, and they said that a ski might fall on me.

 

So about following rules. To my mind, all rules are not created equal. If there is danger of getting air and hitting someone on a lift or something similar, ROPE THE AREA OFF. Not a big deal. Everywhere else but Japan (as far as i can tell) does not find falling skis enough of an issue to ban skiing under lifts. This is also in a country that had tried to restrict foriegn skis because 'Japanese snow is different from snow in other countries'.

Are all rules created the same? Should they be given equal respect?

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Wow! eek.gif

 

Weve really been busy now havent we? I think that, with all things Japanese, theres that deep down feeling of WTF? 何故??? Take for instance some areas on the mountain that are closed. While, Im sure some are closed for very good reasons many are not. It is those places, which are not dangerous, that need to be reviewed and rethought and opened up to skiers/boarders.

 

You always here Japanese saying abunai about everything!! So what? Its not abunai people, many times it comes down to common sense. If you have the equipment, the knowledge/experience, the ability, and youre not in anyway causing harm to others, then I see no reason why some runs should be closed. Resorts in Japan need to follow Canada/States/Europe by enforcing a "take responsibility for your actions" policy.

 

Im sure in many places SKI views under the lifts as dangerous, I can understand that. You may catch a ski/board in your face and loose 25 teeth. Fine. Ill second that. But, there are also many places where the lifts are 50 feet above you with no chance of getting hit by somebody on the lift, that are closed just because somebody at the resort said it should be.

 

If you arent causing any harm or endangering anybody then youre alright by me. Lets put that in a peace pipe and smoke it cool.gif

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anybody thought about smackin into lift towers?

Ive noticed over the las tfew years, myself poaching lines under lifts, that very few of the lifts have tower pads on them.

Had a mate in Nesiko wrap himself around a lift tower and broke his femur. Ski patrol refused to rescue him until he groveled himself onto the ski run nearest, it took him 3 hours as he was alone, bloody near died. While I dont condone it I do it myself if the conditions are right and I have scoped out the line first, just like I do in the trees. Coming from an ex-patrollers point of veiw, if they opened all these areas up, imagine all the tools and weekend warriors jumpin in with no experience and no thought to there own safety and the safety of others, just a nightmare, in saying that Japan does take things to the extreme here.

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Why would lift towers be any more dangerous than other obstacles including other punters? I was a 'weekend warrier' jumping into all sorts of places, but somehow always managed to avoid those big brown towers.

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O 11 your right about them not being anymore dangerous than trees or other punters but back home towers seem to have so sort of amazing punter magnet on them, everyday a couple of tools would smack into them and still end up in pretty bad shape even though they had pads on them. They seem to cause more damage to the body than a tree. Maybe its the steel ladders on the up hill side? Who knows.

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More people might hit a lift tower because they kind of form jumps on the up hill side. People going to get some air off them might fall into the tower hurting themselves.

 

Also as runs are open areas you might be going faster than you would be in the trees and thus causing more damage when you hit the tower.

 

At my local and favorite hill there is only 2 cut runs. The chair goes up the side of one of them. Last year by mid season my skis were dragging in the snow in some sections yet the run was still open. I think it added a little extra fun to the run as you had to dodge out of the way of the chair in certain areas.

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Well so far the silent majority seems to have it.

I must say Im surprised. After quite a few years in Japan I was almost convinced that all foreigners were trouble makers, Ill have to rethink that. Its looking like the majority are voting for the dont break the rules option. It seems like most people consider under lift riding to be a bit of a wanker pastime, Japanese resorts and Snow Japan readers alike.

No comment on the rights or wrongs of it from me though. No doubt there are plenty of perfectly safe roped off areas out there but thats not the question.

Never mind... theres heaps of fresh snow out there!

I wonder which option I should vote for.......

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I'm surprised there aren't more 'rebellious'..."Resorts have no right to stop you skiing under their lifts. If they try to stop you, you have every right to make a big scene. Argue, fight and shout all you like."...responses.

 

Only 2? You a bunch of girly puffs or what? ;\)

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Reminds me of the darwin award nomination involving those ski towers from a few years back.

 

A group of friends went onto the slope and stole the big mats used as padding on the towers. Took it to the top of the run and used it as a sledge. Which was all well and good until they hit a ski tower - the one from which they stole the padding - apparantly the results weren`t too good!

 

Maybe it`s these sort of horrific accidents that the ski fields are trying to cut down on?

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That does not sound like a very good idea.

:rolleyes:

Does anyone know (actually know) what happens if someone does have an accident like that at a resort? How involved must the resort become in the ensuing big problem . perhaps the guy from Arai could let us know.

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Sorry, I might have missed this in this thread or elsewhere.

 

But did we ever clear up for certain about whether the resorts can legally tell us whether we can ride or not in specific areas of their resorts (and beyond the slopes)?

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