Taking mountain bikes on chair lifts?

Boycey

Hey there,

I've been mountain biking for quite a few years now but I've never been anywhere where you go on a chairlift (i tend to go on continuous long trails through the woods). Something that I've always been wondering is how on earth do you load a bike onto a chairlift? When I'm skiing I'm paranoid about dropping my poles but the idea of dropping a bike is a little more serious.

I only ask because I'm hopefully going to California sometime this year (or possibly next year depending on funds) and I know that a lot of the mountain bike trails there are accessible only by chairlift. I just have this mental image of me trying to load my bike up and it all going crash so I'd rather go in with some idea of how to do things.


Cheers in advance,

Boycey

Garyh_GONP07

Your mental image is not far off being true!

I am not sure about USA, but brackets may be on the back of chairs to hold things like bikes, so it's worth checking this.

In 1994, I took my bike on the Crackenback Chairlift at Thredbo, in the Snowy Mountains (NSW), to access the higher level trail to Mount Kosiuszko. No chairlifts will particularly take kindly to being manhandled as they are constantly in motion.

You need to ensure bikes are actually allowed to be taken on chairlifts: it is not really safe with any error in judgement likely to result in injury to you, damage to the bike or lift and disruption to operations.

I've done this and watched other bikers do the same:

Get ready by placing the bike in front of you, with your hands firmly gripping the bars and seat post as the chair moves up behind you. Position yourself to dump into the seat pulling the bike up onto your thighs (just remember, after the platform, there is just air!). If the inertia of the chair is too much, you and the bike could potentially be throttled forward in a dangerous heap with chairs passing over the top of you.

As most chairlifts have an engineered mesh platform (most have a rubber mat in the loading area), falling on one could, I imagine, be quite painful, doubly so if you fall on a bike or if it gets tangled on the chair!!

Once you're in the chair, rest the bike on your lap/knees (DO NOT PLACE YOUR LEGS THROUGH THE BIKE FRAME!) and don't let go of it!

Getting off: plan a controlled step-and-walk as the platform comes up, pushing the bike off to your side so you have control over its direction (ie. AWAY from the lift). Do not land the bike sideways ie. you'll just crash on top of it. A lift attendant will no doubt see you have a bike (which is always difficult) and will grab the chair to momentarily halt it as you drop the bike in front and yourself get off in a hurry.

I suggest you 'case' the lift beforehand to get some measure of what is happening, and make a call to attendants and ask them for assistance BEFORE you get on so they can help. Maybe even speak to some bikers who have been up there and loaded/unloaded.

__________________
I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like."
—Freddie Mercury, 'Bicycle Race'

triguy98

The places I have been have had people there to load and unload the bikes for you. Purdy nice.

__________________
'05 GF Cake DLX SRAM X-9, 'Zocchi MX Comp, Avid BB7
Trek Equinox 7: 105, all stock, all fast
'99 GT XCR5000: LX/XT, Avid SDs, Judy XC
------------------------------------------------------
Life is short, ride hard. BONZAI!!!!