And your non skiing friends, relatives, spouses are now horrified and think we're all gonna die like that if we ever go skiing again..
fishnski wrote:
Yeh..and im not driving anywhere anymore since Im thinking every bridge will collapse on me..u r a Different Cat there CDart...interesting Study...
I still ride Thunderstruck.. Riding a lift is safer than getting on an elevator or escalator. Like I said, non skiing public sees it differently after watching lift accident footage.
Since CNN picked up the story, it's getting coverage in all sorts of places where most people don't ski. Like St. Louis or Cleveland. Sounds like the time between the initial stop and the start of the rollback was pretty short. So people who had just loaded had very little time to react.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/europe/georgia-ski-lift-accident-intl/index.html
'Course, I don't know what's worse: their "possessed" chairlift, or Timberline's "re-possessed" chairlift! LOL
There is *some* skiing in Cleveland. I grew up in a suburb west of Cleveland and skied every Saturday January-March at Boston Mills. I think they have about 200 ft of vertical, but for a kid it was a lot of fun.
When people find out I learned to ski in Ohio I always share the same thing. To a middle school kid the hills were fine, and who cared if there were long lift lines. It was just a chance for all the boys and girls to flirt with each other.
Most people in Cleveland who are serious about skiing drive to W NY, which is about 2-3 hours away depending on where you go.
I grew up in a nice community and a large percentage of friends are skied. That included local trips, NY trips, and trips to CO each year. I'd venture that most are still taking a few trips annually out west.
So yes....It's possible to get bitten by the ski bug in a flat landers paradise. Since graduating college I moved to W PA, where I can ski more often at better places, while still escaping to Utah each year. I will never convince my wife to move out west, so this is good enough..
marzNC wrote:
Since CNN picked up the story, it's getting coverage in all sorts of places where most people don't ski. Like St. Louis or Cleveland. Sounds like the time between the initial stop and the start of the rollback was pretty short. So people who had just loaded had very little time to react.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/europe/georgia-ski-lift-accident-intl/index.html
oddballstocks wrote:
There is *some* skiing in Cleveland. I grew up in a suburb west of Cleveland and skied every Saturday January-March at Boston Mills. I think they have about 200 ft of vertical, but for a kid it was a lot of fun.
When people find out I learned to ski in Ohio I always share the same thing. To a middle school kid the hills were fine, and who cared if there were long lift lines. It was just a chance for all the boys and girls to flirt with each other.
Most people in Cleveland who are serious about skiing drive to W NY, which is about 2-3 hours away depending on where you go.
I grew up in a nice community and a large percentage of friends are skied. That included local trips, NY trips, and trips to CO each year. I'd venture that most are still taking a few trips annually out west.
So yes....It's possible to get bitten by the ski bug in a flat landers paradise. Since graduating college I moved to W PA, where I can ski more often at better places, while still escaping to Utah each year. I will never convince my wife to move out west, so this is good enough..
marzNC wrote:
Since CNN picked up the story, it's getting coverage in all sorts of places where most people don't ski. Like St. Louis or Cleveland. Sounds like the time between the initial stop and the start of the rollback was pretty short. So people who had just loaded had very little time to react.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/16/europe/georgia-ski-lift-accident-intl/index.html
Since my non-skiing husband was born and raised in the midwest (mostly near Chicago), I know plenty of people who travel regularly to ski at big mountains either in the northeast or out west. He went on a few ski outings in college. One of my ski buddies (with a non-skiing wife) for mid-season trips is in Cleveland and has lived in the midwest all his life. My brother-in-law who stills lives in Chicagoland spent time and money taking his kids skiing when they were growing up. Even drove to Colorado with his son and another father & son for a few years when the boys were in high school.
What I found interesting was how many news outlets in the flatlands of the midwest picked up the CNN story early on. A Google search had those near the top less than 24 hours of the incident. Even now the top hits from local media are from Florida, Washington DC, and other places that are not in ski country. Of course, who knows how Google is choosing what to display on Page 1 of search results.
"Washington DC, and other places that are not in ski country".
Ah isn't the Washington DC Ski country the whole point of this web site?
Not saying...just say'in ;)
oldensign wrote:
"Washington DC, and other places that are not in ski country".
Ah isn't the Washington DC Ski country the whole point of this web site?
Not saying...just say'in ;)
There is "ski country" based on geology aka mountains, and then there is "ski people country" that has nothing to do with how many hours it takes to get to a ski area with >1200' vertical. Clearly DCSki folks are "ski people" or more accurately people who are passionate about sliding on snow in any way, shape, or form. I bet there are even some who like snow tubing. ;-)
But I doubt folks who read DCSki regularly would be hesitant to ride a chairlift after watching the videos of a rollback accident or some other accident involving a chairlift. It's not as if this is the first time it's ever happenend. The Sugarloaf rollback happened in March 2015.
Crazy! I have actually skied at Guduari and have been on that chairlift many times! My wife and I were posted to Azerbaijan for two years at the U.S. Embassy in Baku and I had the pleasure of skiing Georgia and Azerbaijan. The snow in Georgia is significantly better than Az. The equipment in both countries are actually pretty good and fairly new.
Now the lifty training? That's a whole different scene. In both countries, lifties just hang out and chain smoke cigarettes. I hesitate to think how much training they've received. Although that being said, the ski resort in Azerbaijan was run and managed by some Italians.
It makes me wonder what the lifties were doing when it started to go backwards and if they knew what to do.
nakedskier wrote:
Crazy! I have actually skied at Guduari and have been on that chairlift many times! My wife and I were posted to Azerbaijan for two years at the U.S. Embassy in Baku and I had the pleasure of skiing Georgia and Azerbaijan. The snow in Georgia is significantly better than Az. The equipment in both countries are actually pretty good and fairly new.
Now the lifty training? That's a whole different scene. In both countries, lifties just hang out and chain smoke cigarettes. I hesitate to think how much training they've received. Although that being said, the ski resort in Azerbaijan was run and managed by some Italians.
It makes me wonder what the lifties were doing when it started to go backwards and if they knew what to do.
Read somewhere that the lift had stopped for 10 minutes before the rollback started. Supposedly lifties were pushing buttons but nothing was working.
Were the people mostly on skis or snowboards? I noticed a lot of boarders in the videos.
marzNC wrote:
nakedskier wrote:
Crazy! I have actually skied at Guduari and have been on that chairlift many times! My wife and I were posted to Azerbaijan for two years at the U.S. Embassy in Baku and I had the pleasure of skiing Georgia and Azerbaijan. The snow in Georgia is significantly better than Az. The equipment in both countries are actually pretty good and fairly new.
Now the lifty training? That's a whole different scene. In both countries, lifties just hang out and chain smoke cigarettes. I hesitate to think how much training they've received. Although that being said, the ski resort in Azerbaijan was run and managed by some Italians.
It makes me wonder what the lifties were doing when it started to go backwards and if they knew what to do.
Read somewhere that the lift had stopped for 10 minutes before the rollback started. Supposedly lifties were pushing buttons but nothing was working.
Were the people mostly on skis or snowboards? I noticed a lot of boarders in the videos.
There were a lot of snowboarders there but I think there was a good mix; half and half. But they're all mostly from Russia. A lot of the people I met drive 48 hours non-stop from Moscow to go to Guduari. They organize themselves well. About 12 of them would go in on a Mercedes mini-bus rental with a driver and they just sit in the back, party and drink until they get there. And god forbid the driver gets tired; he just keeps on truckin'!
And they have to drive through Chechnya to get there. So wild that part of the world...
