Riding a rope tow on a cold, windy day keeps you warmer because the physical effort required to hang on and remain upright keeps your muscles warmed up and takes your mind off of anything other than the task at hand.
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Homage to the Fixed-Grip Chair
Mt. Baker has 8 fixed grip quads, no detachables. Over the past 20 years or so they paid for each of them with cash, no loans. The savings went into skiers' pockets because it keeps the price of lift tickets and passes down. I can get more than enough vertical in a day, and the views are stellar with every ride. What's not to love?
Trish, how'd you make it look so big? 
One thing I recall clearly is how hard it was to hold onto the ropes when it got really cold.. It's like they were coated with teflon.
I think we would go up in summer just for lift rides
. Must add the little orange chairs to that list. Good for the mini me types and their friends, too.
Those are stock from their Facebook Page. I don't have to tell you, when I learned to ski there, that slope looked massive, incredibly steep.Trish, how'd you make it look so big?
I don't mind a fixed grip chair at all so long as the terrain beneath it is interesting. Pallavicini at A-Basin, Challenger at MJ for instance. But if bombing groomers is what's on the menu, high speed quad please.
Surface lifts are not up in the wind above protection from the trees too.. On really cold days it's warmer skiing the bottom half of the mountain if you have that option.. and surface transport over elevated lifts.
I used to take a mid lesson break and teach or practice fishboning and side stepping up part of the trail to warm up cold folks and cold feet.
I know that place!This is an old friend from my home hill back in Michigan.
I was thinking about lift capacity at Red Mt; all their lifts are fixed grip chairs, a couple really old lifts and two that are relatively newer fixed grip quads. On the Grey Mt lift, the fixed grip quad is the farthest away from the main base area, and practically no groomed runs, so it's the least busy part of the resort, with the longest chairlift (close to if not longer than the old triple Motherlode on Granite Mt) and the most capacity. It's really weird on a X-mas holiday riding up a quad fixed grip lift, with chairs spaced pretty closely as with most fixed grip lifts, and to see mostly empty chairs top to bottom.
Even more cool when the bottom is in the fog and the top half is in brilliant sunshine.
Even more cool when the bottom is in the fog and the top half is in brilliant sunshine.
If you've only rode the Sensation quad how could you possibly know how cold riding the Mansfield single & double were? The Big Spruce double was still there long after the original Forerunner hsq went in. Forerunner went in 1985. Big Spruce double removed 2005.
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Trish, how'd you make it look so big?
She had plenty of lessons from Phil.
Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone going to Blackcomb or Breckenridge, or many areas in Europe. Nope. No surface lifts above tree line there.
Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone going to Blackcomb or Breckenridge, or many areas in Europe. Nope. No surface lifts above tree line there.
Hmmmm....Storm King. Maybe it's not technically a surface lift anymore once the wind hits 60 mph or so?
Ya well those ones above 10K past the tree line aren't protected the way the others are but still warmer than the chair lifts. <My point was that the surface lift will always be less cold than the elevated chair all other things equal. Last time I skied Breck the t-bar was the only way up there other than walking. Longest t-bar I've ever been on, but really pretty damned exciting ride on my first really nice Rockies powder day..Shhhhhh! Don't tell anyone going to Blackcomb or Breckenridge, or many areas in Europe. Nope. No surface lifts above tree line there.
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I generally use whatever lift is available to get where I want to go. I suppose one could always hike or skin though.
But all things are not equal. I have been on the poma at Copper in 75mph winds. You can't do that on a chairlift.
Indeed!
I would invite @FairToMiddlin to return to Blue Mountain Pa., where he skied as a kid, and ride any of the 3 fixed grip chairs still remaining. I doubt this reality check would live up to the fond memories. My truth = I hate those damn chairs, slow and always stopping, give me a high speed quad any-day. The Blue high speed lifts can be easily lapped every 10 minutes (without liftlines) on a weekday morning. Read any review of Elk Mountain, everyone's favorite eastern Pa. mountain, all lament having to ride fixed grip slow chairs. I enjoy watching the views as much as most while riding up-hill, but, I much prefer the freedom and joy of skiing down.