Light bars for lift ramps. This informal camera phone-video offers the experience of using a light bar from the skier’s perspective.
Dave Riley, GM, HoliMont NY
“Falling accidents usually happen where they always happen, right where the kid raises the restraining bar.
We want to keep those restraining bars down longer so that if they are going to fall out of the chair, they not going to fall as far. So we initially changed the signage on the towers to read “raise the bar at the flag,” and we placed a blaze orange flag on the com cable about halfway between the last tower and the top terminal. Nobody got it. Nobody figured it out. Nobody paid attention to it. It was after that I’m in Austria, and I see a light bar system and I was like — wow -this is much better way to do it. This is clearly the better system, so I plagiarized it.”
I reran the vidio anout 6 times and still didnt get what you were tying to show
Hi Gren – As a rider and approaching the unload ramp, you will see the light bar as red *keep the restaint bar down* until you are just over the bar where it the green light will appear in view. The rider now knows this is the point to raise the bar to unload.
Not your fault you didn’t see it! This tricky to spot and I didn’t explain it well enough.
This is on many chairlifts in Europe and is a very effective way to keep people in the chair. Takes a bit of getting used to but well worth it.
Well a couple of things: first not all lap bars are the same, some have rests for skis and snow boards. This is important because it takes time to get the ski or snow board off the foot rest. Some have hand holds while others do not. My suggestion would be as follows: 1. An orientation for new riders especially children in a mock up at ski school. 2. Publish a guide for patrons/parents of the importance of the patron to follow loading and unloading procedures. Having said that yes this systems looks like it has great potential as well! Keep in mind ADA requirements for folks who maybe be color blind…
This system is extremely similar to the “VASI” (visual approach slope indicator) light system used on the approach to aviation runways. They use 2 red lights and 2 white lights. As you approach you are looking for White over Red. If you are too high you see only white. If you are too low you see only red. The saying is “white over white, fly all night, red over red, you are dead. I think this is a great idea and intend to look into it.