In fact when lift lines are short, most of we experienced advanced skiers let groups, especially mixed couples ride by themselves considerately giving them a chance to talk with each other privately. Thus on say a quad chair with few groups in a maze, even though I could add to a another double or triple, may ride solo or will load with other singles if they just happen to be arriving at the next load block about the same time since most of we singles tend to be gregarious.
This is new to me. I believe that an empty seat is an affront to all that is holy. At the very least, I do have sort of a "bad luck" superstition about it. I definitely ski up alongside groups all the time, especially on six packs because, as many have noted, humans cannot effectively count to six and line up without help. (I include myself in this observation.)
Then again, I'm also the lift police and start acting as a traffic cop when there's any sort of a wait and people are being idiots. "Hey, there's a group of three ahead - why don't you join them?" I guess I'm kind of aggro that way. I didn't realize how much I do it until a friend pointed it out to me. Then again, she doesn't shoot for nearly as much skiing as I do in a day ...
With intelligently structured lift mazes and lift attendants guiding group combinations, all this can run smoothly with just a few occasional chairs loading at less than capacity.
I wish. See François's post below.
What we need for the lifts is a traffic person who directs traffic into the gates at the lift loading area. Many resorts have that person and it works well. Some resorts don't want to have to pay that extra wage.
I keep saying - Breck, if you're going to insist on installing 6 packs, you gotta pay to keep this shit organized. In fact, I put that on my last feedback form. Hmm ... they haven't emailed me asking for my input since then ;-)
For that matter - I wonder what the feedback process is for employees at lift lines. Is there any? Some lifties are amazing at organizing lines; others don't try. Is that because the former are paid to organize, or because they're just better at their jobs? Does anyone notice?
Similarly, I love our double chairs, but they really smart unless a liftie slows the swing for you. I wonder if there's a supervisor paying attention to these types of details.
I'm guessing not, or that it doesn't matter, because I can't imagine there would be a big pay difference, anyway. My bet is that some people just do a good job whatever the job, and some people just ... don't. And I don't know that I can blame them at that pay scale.
You know what annoys me? Groups that use the singles line in an attempt to get ahead of folks who are courteously standing in line. The "I am more important than you" attitude is killing society. Stop it.
Is that a thing? If I'm skiing with a friend or two, we might get into the singles line, but we then act as independent singles. Three separate chairs (potentially). Sometimes it's faster that way. Not always. You do lose the ability to hang out with your friends.
Maybe you should find a few friends to ski with, then you wouldn't have to get annoyed standing in the singles line.
Rude.
I sure hope so!
