Snowboarding Etiquette; the Unwritten Laws of the Chairlift

Toni Shaw    Adventure Sports & Travel Thoughts     austria, France, Italy, ski, Skiing, snowboard, Snowboarding, Switzerland

The chairlift is undoubtedly the most tedious part of any day on the piste. With that in mind, picture this all too familiar scene:

You’ve been waiting for what feels like hours, slowly shuffling your way to the front of the queue amongst the sea of fluorescent jackets. Finally, you’ve got one neat line of heads before it’s your turn to get on the chairlift, and you patiently queue behind one of the four Grand National-esque entrances. The gates open and 3 of the skiers scramble forward, poles clashing and bums rearranging on the seats.

But there’s still one head left.

“Why didn’t he get on?” you silently scream, settling instead for the most audible tuts you can make. He tricked you. He inconsiderately deceived you into thinking he was going to get on with the rest of them and then backed out at the last minute, leaving you and your perfectly-sized group of 4 with a conundrum; do you split up and grant him his solitary ride, or do you wait as another practically empty chairlift glides by?

If you’re guilty of occasionally being that single skier – next time, GET ON THE LIFT! Don’t try and hold out for a four-seater all to yourself, and by all means, fill in that little gap that’s currently occupied by someone’s imaginary friend. It’s simply the law of the lift…and whilst we’re at it, here are some other rules of etiquette that should be abided by…

Stick with your own – there’s nothing more uncomfortable for a snowboarder than having skiers sitting either side of you on the chairlift, pointing straight forward. You have to awkwardly contort your legs so as not to rest your board on the back of their skis and there’s always the risk of running over them as you all get off the lift. Just imagine how much more harmonious it is with 4 goofy snowboarders all hanging in coordination!

Concentrate! We all know its hard for poor beginners, barely being able to master standing up, demonstrating moves resembling the moonwalk, but if you fall off the lift, at any point (or cause the lift to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n to a crawl), you’re just creating a scene and making it more awkward for us to dodge you as we effortlessly disembark from the chair.

On the same note, don’t be the one that gives us a good giggle at the sight of a helpless ski pole or abandoned glove dropped from the lift into no-mans land….

Here’s a tricky one – do you talk to the stranger sitting next to you? Headphones = no. Good-looking and seemingly alone = yes.

Try and chill out. It’s always irritating being sat next to the person taking the opportunity of sitting down as an excuse to…’fuss’. Erratic wringing of hands, searching every pocket for the least snotty tissue, readjusting boot straps, finding your point on a piste map; all perhaps necessary tasks, but when this causes digging in our ribs and general fidgety behaviour, you’re depriving your fellow traveller of a relaxing ride.

If all this seems too much of a hassle, maybe its best to boycott a lift all to yourself – besides, if your fast enough, no-one will catch up with you anyway!

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Toni Shaw wrote 2 articles on this blog.

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