moving toward chairlift loading

[Kneale Brownson]

I haven’t thought “young” since 30-odd years ago when I hit a wall in physical activity and realized that the post-middle age decline had begun.

 

[Shawn]

In my mind at least, there's no question that resorts should prioritize efficient lift loading. I mean, right? It makes the guest experience smoother, less stressful, and maximizes value—should a skier choose to take advantage of it. If I were running a ski resort, I would certainly take this into consideration. It only makes sense.

Which brings up an interesting question: what does it take for a lift line to be most efficiently managed? It would be interesting to see an application of queueing theory to lift lines. There have been some interesting results elsewhere in life. For example, in checking out at supermarkets, it was long thought that it's most efficient to wait in a single line, and then go to the first available cash register (as opposed to waiting in separate lines for each register). But this research was challenged. It turns out that supermarkets had it right all along: it's faster to wait in separate lines (for various reasons.). Here's another example: in highway construction zones, when two lanes converge into one lane, it's most efficient for cars to go all the way down to the end of the lane, and then zipper-merge, as opposed to what you frequently see: cars merging well before the lane ends. That's not to say that any of these results are applicable to lift lines. It's just to say that queueing theory can produce some interesting results, for those who find this sort of thing fascinating!

 

[wyowindrunner]

just ski at places where lines are practically non existent.

 

[Wolfski]

In the T-Bar line yesterday, I loudly commented to the person in line with me that it was SO nice of people to share their music with us (some dillhole had one of those external speaker things - whyyyyy?).

So at least you were aggressive-aggressive instead of passive aggressive?

You want to listen to music, and I love loud music, have at it, but I feel like its a video game hearing one of those speakers going down a trail and all I'm missing is the rifle

 

[Kent]

in highway construction zones, when two lanes converge into one lane, it's most efficient for cars to go all the way down to the end of the lane, and then zipper-merge, as opposed to what you frequently see: cars merging well before the lane ends.

@esef Yes! And some of those drivers who merge too early get mad at those of us who do know this. Sometimes they even block both lanes to prevent cars from going up to the proper merge point.

 

[no edge]

We have a six pack and on crowded days an attendant directs singles into the main line to fill all of the chairs. It works quite well but gaps occur.

But the funniest or most irritating is when the teenagers are ready to load and someone fills in a space - they just stand there and let the chair go by without them. "We like to ride up by ourselves."

 

[Bob Simpson]

People can usually count to 4. Sometimes they can count to 6, but I think they're going to lose their minds counting to 8.
- 8 opens at BigSky

Here's a link to the Ramcharger 8, and various other Big Sky webcams. Thought you'd enjoy watching it during peak times. BS is really doing a nice job of getting folks semi-organized. It's really amazing to see how quickly the line of 8 moves! I wish they had a cam of the unloading area! That would be way more fun! ;-0
https://bigskyresort.com/webcams

 

[Monique]

But the funniest or most irritating is when the teenagers are ready to load and someone fills in a space - they just stand there and let the chair go by without them. "We like to ride up by ourselves."

I keep reading about this, but I don't remember ever experiencing this at Breck (or I'm oblivious). I just slide in at the last moment. Worst case, they ignore me. I did have one guy get really mad that I'd slid in to his right - he seemed ready to fight. Middle aged guy with a European accent. We still went up together, but he wasn't happy about it.

 

[no edge]

I keep reading about this, but I don't remember ever experiencing this at Breck (or I'm oblivious). I just slide in at the last moment. Worst case, they ignore me. I did have one guy get really mad that I'd slid in to his right - he seemed ready to fight. Middle aged guy with a European accent. We still went up together, but he wasn't happy about it.

Four people, kids, move up to the gates. Two other people join them. The gates open and they just stand there while the two ride up. The next group of six now are stuck, but the two open spots get mistakenly filled by two from the next group. Then everything gets screwed up. It's funny if it's not crowded. I watched it happen today.

 

[pchewn]

Four people, kids, move up to the gates. Two other people join them. The gates open and they just stand there while the two ride up. The next group of six now are stuck, but the two open spots get mistakenly filled by two from the next group. Then everything gets screwed up. It's funny if it's not crowded. I watched it happen today.

This is when the lift attendant should send them to the back of the line and get the next group onto the oncoming chair.

 

[no edge]

This is when the lift attendant should send them to the back of the line and get the next group onto the oncoming chair.

I suppose, but I can't get worked up... they are kids. Yes they should know better but I pulled plenty of $h!t in my day too. Then again, I got yelled at so I got the idea. These kids are so self-absorbed. Inexperience is part of the problem.

The six-pack is harder to load than say a quad. We usually have an attendant filling the chair, but people screw up. With the attendant it helps fill the chairs which is good for the singles line. Even on a busy day the wait is tolerable for singles.

 

[Wilhelmson]

While the people in Quebec are very friendly and pleasant, I noticed that they are very pushy in the lift lines. We quickly learned to be assertive in the gondola line or at merges in the lift mazes.