Why did you leave your skis on riding up the lift? In a scenario where the lift doesn’t break, they won’t do any good that I can see, as at both the top and the bottom you will be walking out of skis to load/unload the toboggan. In this video, they were a seemingly unnecessary nuisance.
It can be hard to understand without any context, or if you aren't a skier or don't work in the ski industry. As ski patrollers, everything we do is on skis. In this particular video, the back-story is that someone got injured on the mountain in what many ski areas would consider a "back bowl", where the only way out for anyone is via chairlift back up the mountain where there's access to the front side slopes & subsequent infrastructure, facilities, roads, etc. So lets say someone got hurt a third of the way down in a "back bowl". Ski patrol goes in on skis with a toboggan & packages the patient, & transports down to the base of the lift where we then need to transport back up to the very top via chairlift. We aren't going to just leave our gear at the bottom of the lift in a "back bowl". Our skis come with us... its our personal & primary means of getting around. On a normal day when lifts run without issue, which is 99% of the time, once we get to the top, we would unload ourselves by skiing off the unloading ramp (skis attached to our feet like everyone else), then take our skis off, then remove the toboggan, then drag the toboggan across a short flat section to the loading dock of the tram & send the patient down to the base via tram on a gurney where follow-on medical facilities exists.... all-the while we continue to keep our skis with us in our possession... It's much easier & faster to stay in our skis as much as possible, & click out only when absolutely needed... Carrying skis is much more cumbersome than leaving them attached to your feet. Also, what's the alternative as far as securing your gear when going up the lift? Lashing them into the toboggan with the patient is not ideal. I don't feel like I'm doing a very good job of explaining it, but its just something that would make complete sense if you saw the whole operation unfold.
Makes sense as you describe the size of the mountain. The mountain I’m on the youth patrol with has short enough lift rides we usually just set our skis on the next chair. Similar to if a guest lost a ski loading the lift.
What resort are you? The frame has always been around as long as I've worked there (possibly built around 2004-2005 ish), so I don't know how/where it came about. But if you contact me via e-mail, I may be able to send you some different pics of what the frame looks like & possibly point you in the right direction for a contact who might know more about it.
I'm a little confused here. What scenario would cause you to lower a litter from a chairlift? I'm scratching my head on this one other than the chairlift stopped working? Also, not to nitpick but when your man unclipped from one anchor to the other while standing on the rail that isn't good practice. He should have had a secondary point of contact. Hanging on tight doesn't count.😃 Or maybe it does? I dunno but it certainly wouldn't have been allowed in a SPRAT or IRATA environment. Anyway, still good work. Always interesting.
Exactly. Chairlift stopped working & full evacuation of all chairs. It's good to nitpick. And yes you are correct. The rescuer's connection should be continuous the moment he starts to stand on the chair. But it becomes a delicate balancing act between speed/efficiency vs. safety vs. complexity, while at the same time trying to balance the spirit of the laws/standards vs the letter. The risk/consequence for that transition was definitely recognized & we made a conscious decision to temporarily assume more risk based on rescuer comfort level, confidence, & speed of transition. Was it right or wrong? Appropriate or inappropriate? Reasonably safe of unreasonably dangerous? I think the arguments could go either way, but we felt justified in our decision... Also, the rescuer was standing on the seat for that, definitely not the rail/safety restraint bar.
It’s fairly common practice to take toboggans up a lift if there isn’t a skiable route to the aid room. Each hill has a policy and procedure, but having a toboggan on a lift means you need to be able to get it down in case of evac.
Why did you leave your skis on riding up the lift? In a scenario where the lift doesn’t break, they won’t do any good that I can see, as at both the top and the bottom you will be walking out of skis to load/unload the toboggan. In this video, they were a seemingly unnecessary nuisance.
It can be hard to understand without any context, or if you aren't a skier or don't work in the ski industry. As ski patrollers, everything we do is on skis. In this particular video, the back-story is that someone got injured on the mountain in what many ski areas would consider a "back bowl", where the only way out for anyone is via chairlift back up the mountain where there's access to the front side slopes & subsequent infrastructure, facilities, roads, etc. So lets say someone got hurt a third of the way down in a "back bowl". Ski patrol goes in on skis with a toboggan & packages the patient, & transports down to the base of the lift where we then need to transport back up to the very top via chairlift. We aren't going to just leave our gear at the bottom of the lift in a "back bowl". Our skis come with us... its our personal & primary means of getting around. On a normal day when lifts run without issue, which is 99% of the time, once we get to the top, we would unload ourselves by skiing off the unloading ramp (skis attached to our feet like everyone else), then take our skis off, then remove the toboggan, then drag the toboggan across a short flat section to the loading dock of the tram & send the patient down to the base via tram on a gurney where follow-on medical facilities exists.... all-the while we continue to keep our skis with us in our possession... It's much easier & faster to stay in our skis as much as possible, & click out only when absolutely needed... Carrying skis is much more cumbersome than leaving them attached to your feet. Also, what's the alternative as far as securing your gear when going up the lift? Lashing them into the toboggan with the patient is not ideal. I don't feel like I'm doing a very good job of explaining it, but its just something that would make complete sense if you saw the whole operation unfold.
Makes sense as you describe the size of the mountain. The mountain I’m on the youth patrol with has short enough lift rides we usually just set our skis on the next chair. Similar to if a guest lost a ski loading the lift.
What type of device do you use for loading the toboggan on the back of the chair?
A bunch of hands. Unless you are referring to the steel rack frame that's a custom fabrication.
@@Propeller_Head I was referring to the frame. I'm currently trying to find something similar for my mountain.
What resort are you? The frame has always been around as long as I've worked there (possibly built around 2004-2005 ish), so I don't know how/where it came about. But if you contact me via e-mail, I may be able to send you some different pics of what the frame looks like & possibly point you in the right direction for a contact who might know more about it.
I'm a little confused here. What scenario would cause you to lower a litter from a chairlift? I'm scratching my head on this one other than the chairlift stopped working?
Also, not to nitpick but when your man unclipped from one anchor to the other while standing on the rail that isn't good practice. He should have had a secondary point of contact. Hanging on tight doesn't count.😃 Or maybe it does? I dunno but it certainly wouldn't have been allowed in a SPRAT or IRATA environment.
Anyway, still good work. Always interesting.
Exactly. Chairlift stopped working & full evacuation of all chairs.
It's good to nitpick. And yes you are correct. The rescuer's connection should be continuous the moment he starts to stand on the chair. But it becomes a delicate balancing act between speed/efficiency vs. safety vs. complexity, while at the same time trying to balance the spirit of the laws/standards vs the letter. The risk/consequence for that transition was definitely recognized & we made a conscious decision to temporarily assume more risk based on rescuer comfort level, confidence, & speed of transition. Was it right or wrong? Appropriate or inappropriate? Reasonably safe of unreasonably dangerous? I think the arguments could go either way, but we felt justified in our decision... Also, the rescuer was standing on the seat for that, definitely not the rail/safety restraint bar.
It’s fairly common practice to take toboggans up a lift if there isn’t a skiable route to the aid room. Each hill has a policy and procedure, but having a toboggan on a lift means you need to be able to get it down in case of evac.
Impressive
Yea. It works okay