I have a lot of photos of chairlifts. I don't really know why I take them other than they freak me out so much. I figured out that I spent over 8 hours on just one chairlift a few ski seasons ago. I'm not kidding. Plus it was only one chairlift that I rode that ski season. So I'm thinking I'm going to put my chairlift photos on my side bar. It's something to do anyway..Last weekend I rode a chairlift exactly like this one with a little ski school kid who was only four years old. He was so small that they had to lift him up and put him on the chair. His legs stuck straight out and his skis straight up off of the end of the seat. So I put my ski poles infront of him as a restraint and I reached around and grabbed his hood with my hand. There was no way he was going to fall off of my chair while he was in my care!
I've ridden that chair with a lot of little ski school kids. Some of them will talk your ear off and some of them won't say a peep, and usually they all wiggle around. This little guy talked a little and I had a hard time hearing him because I had my helmet on and my ear buds in my ears under it. When we got to the top I asked him if he could get off by himself and he said yes, but when the moment came he seemd to say on. so I reached around and grabbed him by the hood and lifted him up and off of the chair and put him down on the snow.
When I started this blog it was going to be about conversations on the ski lift with strangers. It became clear that there wasn't going to be enough material for just that so I blogged about other things. But I still love getting on the chair with someone I don't know and having a conversation with them. It really is like a box of candy in that you never know what you're going to get.
4 comments:
I've never been on a chair lift. i've done the rope tow thing and the t-bar. LOL Haven't been skiing in AGES, but something tells me I'll be doing it very soon. I'm looking forward to learning to ski again.
I can't imagine the sheer number of people you've conversed with along your ski journeys through the years. Really, it must be fun and I'm sure it makes you smile after you've had a great convo with someone. :) Some of my best conversations have been with strangers on a bench in the mall, or waiting in line at the bank, or whatever. It's nice when you leave a situation like that with a smile on your face.
Finally, on behalf of all mothers out there, thank you for being so watchful of the little ones on the hills!!!
If you can do a rope tow and T-bar you can do chair. It's a lot less work. All you have to do is stand in front of it and when it comes up from behind just sit down on it.
You want to look in to the center pole of the chair while you sit down. I've heard some people instruct to look out, but if you do that you can rotate out. Just like in gymnastics, your body will rotate the direction you look. I always look in at the center when I sit down.
Then when you get to the top just stand up, the chair will push you forward and down the ramp.
It's fun to ride the chairlift!
Sweet story! And what a fun theme to think about a blog or a book or any project based on those chairlift conversations. I heard an interesting podcast on The Candid Frame the other day with a photographer who shot subjects on subways. He talked a lot about personal space and how we navigate it so differently in those situations. Subways and other means of public transportation seem to be natural subjects, but I don't think many folks have considered "life on the lift." :)
I've had some people I really wanted to spend more time with and others I couldn't wait to get away from.
One old guy I got on the chair once with said to me in a stern voice, "I smoke!" and so I said, "Well as long as you don't catch on fire.." He got a big laugh out of that and we had a nice conversation on our way up the hill then.
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