abubob
Is there a grade limit for a surface lift?
What’s the steepest surface lift you’ve ridden?
Finally are surface lifts the answer to wind holds?
lotsoskiing
Don't know of limit. Steepest I have been on: Bottom pitch of the race hill at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Poma lift that is gone now. Terrifying. I also recall one of the old rope tows at NYLSAPPED Silver Mine was scary steep, but I was a little guy then and everything was steep to me...
I have seen t-bars held for wind, as the empty t's swung too wide as they approached the bullwheel. Pretty rare, though.
newpylong
How about the one that was at the Eaglebrook school in Deerfield? That thing was steeepppp. Also Giant Killer Poma at Pico.
MrMagic
I did both of the platters at bear tooth basin the upper one was killer steep. Never rode the one at pico but that must of been a monster too !!
lotsoskiing
Giant Killer was steep...
Chuckstah
Off the top of my head, the steepest for me are likely Giant Killer, Horseshoe Bowl T at Breck, the upper Cannon duel T's, and maybe the #3 T at the Loaf. I'm sure I'm forgetting something in Europe. I remember falling off one of the upper Cannon T's, my first time on it I think, when I was quite new to skiing.
NewEnglandSkier13
Steep T-bars are easier to ride because you can more or less sit down on them. The T-bar at Abram is quite steep and is one of my favorite to ride. And yes, if it's too windy to run a T-bar, I probably wouldn't want to be skiing.
lotsoskiing
I remember being airborne on the old summit t-bar at Oak Mt. when I was a wee one...
conrad
The old Kennebago T-Bar at Saddleback picked my little brother up off the ground. He spun around backwards and managed to stay on for a while, in the air the entire time, but eventually he couldn't hang on.
joshua_segal
conrad;c-66948 wroteThe old Kennebago T-Bar at Saddleback picked my little brother up off the ground. He spun around backwards and managed to stay on for a while, in the air the entire time, but eventually he couldn't hang on.
Loved that T-Bar. Between that and the Cupsuptic, I think Saddleback was the last major ski area in which one could go from the base area to the summit exclusively on surface lifts
TomWhite
I grew up skiing at Hidden Valley, east of Pittsburgh. In the 60s they had 4 pomas and a rope tow. The Thunderbird poma was very steep. Of course that was long ago. I've skied Giant Killer, after the poma was removed. I would say, though not as long, it was close to that steep.
newpylong
joshua_segal;c-66949 wroteconrad;c-66948 wroteThe old Kennebago T-Bar at Saddleback picked my little brother up off the ground. He spun around backwards and managed to stay on for a while, in the air the entire time, but eventually he couldn't hang on.
Loved that T-Bar. Between that and the Cupsuptic, I think Saddleback was the last major ski area in which one could go from the base area to the summit exclusively on surface lifts
Couldn't get to the bottom of Cupsuptic on a surface lift.
Kayaker
The steepest T-bar I ever rode was at the now lost Frontenac Ski camp at Plymouth NH. NewEnglandskihistory.com has it at a rise of 250 ft and an installed length of 850 ft. That gives a percent grade of 30%. That was steep for a little kid.
z1000307470
The Plattekill T-bar was steep. Anybody ever ride the Pico t-bar that served Little Pico/A/B/C slopes? That line is a bear.
skirick
The old upper T bar at Jiminy was pretty steep, for the little kid that i was.
frozenforever
Either the old Platekill T-bar or (still around) Hickory Poma #2. My father used to tell tales about the Dartmouth Poma back in the day.
powderstud
I've ridden both the Cannon T-bars and the Kennebago T-bar at Saddleback in their days. Yet the T-bar that to me was the steepest and scariest to ride was the upper poma lift at Mt. Ste. Anne in Quebec (which I skied in the late-1970s), skiers right from the summit (it's long-since been replaced). Not only was it steep as hell (and steeper than both the above-mentioned T-bars), but it also had a nasty turn that you had to prepare for and carve into about 1/3 of the way up (and there was a lift attendant stationed there to prepare skiers for it). A significant portion of lift riders couldn't navigate the turn and found themselves involuntarily ejected. I remember the first time I went up it and was terrified because several of the skiers in front of me didn't make the turn and found themselves thrown off. Thankfully I did make it - and never was a casualty. But the lift was terrifying, even if it served what I found to be the best terrain on the mountain.
I suspect that only a few die-hards ever missed the lift.
powderstud
....or maybe it was a T-bar at Mt. Ste. Anne. I honestly can't remember whether it was a lift for one (poma) or two (T-bar). But it was seriously challenging to navigate.
powderstud
I just checked on skimaps.org - and it was actually a J-bar. Indeed, if you look at the map from 1978, you can see that the lift did not run in a straight line up to the summit. I wonder when they replaced that J-bar at Mt. Ste. Anne?
ski_it
Summit Platter lift at lake Louise. Had a steep head wall section IIRC.
