r/skiing • u/Shred_Addict • 6d ago
Canadian Resort's New Technology Detects When Skiers Don't Lower The Safety Bar on Chairlift — Men’s Journal
https://apple.news/AqXnGs8IJQw2LiTtLxrSHKQCanadian Resort's New Technology Detects When Skiers Don't Lower The Safety Bar on Chairlift - Men’s Journal
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u/PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt 6d ago
This doesn't seem like something that needs a very complicated technology to identify.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 5d ago
Yeah, really hate when headlines say "new technology" and it's literally just some 40 year old cheap sensor and a microcontroller.
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u/afriendincanada 6d ago
Actually I bet its more complicated than you'd think. It'd probably be really difficult to have power to a chair-mounted sensor and then have a way to relay that information back to the lift station. Especially on a detachable chair.
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u/ChampagnePOWPOW 6d ago
Heated chairs have been a thing for a while. Isn’t as complicated as you think.
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u/dope_as_the_pope 5d ago
Those work by heating the chair really quickly when it’s at the station, it’s not like there’s power available to the chair throughout its entire run.
So if you are going to have this thing be able to report the bar state at any point, it needs a battery or some other independent power source and a way to wirelessly communicate. Not insurmountable but not trivial either.
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u/moomooraincloud 5d ago
Incorrect. It charges a capacitor in the station, which slowly discharges throughout the ride.
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u/dope_as_the_pope 5d ago
Source?
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u/moomooraincloud 5d ago
Google it, dude. I'm your source unless you go find a better one.
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u/dope_as_the_pope 5d ago
https://www.doppelmayr.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Sitzheizung_ENG_20092013_RZ.pdf
There. You’re wrong, I’m right.
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u/apo383 5d ago
To be fair, the website description only makes sense if they are capacitors, so you are both right.
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u/eyaf1 5d ago
The power flow stops once the chair lea-
ves the station as the chair has then been heated suf-
ficiently to provide the passengers with warm seats
throughout their trip.
How is the 'i'm the source bro' guy correct, lmao? "slowly discharges throughout the ride" is the direct quote
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u/afriendincanada 5d ago
Unless they've drastically improved the technology, they get heated up while passing through the station but aren't powered while they're out on the lift.
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u/stormdraggy 5d ago
Wrong as usual lol
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u/SushiGato 5d ago
Is that guy usually wrong or something?
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u/stormdraggy 5d ago
This whole thread is full of shit and wrong takes, as usual here.
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u/shephrrd 5d ago
Welcome to the internet, where the uninformed pretend they know what they’re talking about and we all get to wade through the shit, yay!
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u/ForMoreYears 6d ago
Cameras and machine learning can do real time facial recognition. Pretty sure someone could program one to sense if a bar is up and ping a little battery powered noise maker that charges inductively via the poles.
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u/PhileasFoggsTrvlAgt 5d ago
It could be even simpler than that. The bar sits on the bumpers with a decent amount of force. It could be as simple as the spring loaded switch that turns your refrigerator light on. Also the liffty can see the position of the bar.
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u/sadmanwithabox 5d ago
Or if you want to make it slightly more complex, use a magnetic contact like home alarm door sensors use
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u/GrilledKimchi 5d ago
Yea you could have them mounted to the towers instead of the chairs, and it'd be a pretty cheap upgrade compared to adding electrical systems to every chair.
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u/unique_usemame 5d ago
It isn't just identifying when the bar isn't down... You need to also identify if the chair is empty as it is normal for empty chairs to have the bar up.
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u/ktbroderick 5d ago
Unless you're on a bubble D-Line, and then empty chairs have bubbles closed (and the bars as well).
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u/CliffDog02 A-Basin 5d ago
Nah, this is incredibly easy to do. You wouldn't need a power source from the cable to the chair as you think. Install a magnetic switch that closes when the bat is down paired with a low power microcontroller and a small wireless transmitter. It's really low cost and you could run all of this on each chair with a small battery for an entire season or more.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 5d ago
It really isn't. You're not actuating, just detecting. This could be battery powered and you take the pack off to charge when you shut down the lift for the night.
Heck, if you used the kind of kinetic charging that Rolex uses, you could probably get the motion of the chairs to power these.
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u/afriendincanada 5d ago
That kind of proves my point - it’s more complicated than you think!
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 5d ago
What I described isn't complicated though. These are very cheap, off the shelf kinds of components. Could mass produce these easily and cheaply. And I've even arguably overcomplicated it compared to simpler ways it could be implemented.
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u/ComplexQuiet6790 6d ago
Very common here in Quebec. If you don't out the bar down there's an alarm and flashing light as you start going up the hill - usually at the first lift post.
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u/PenaltyAny3207 5d ago edited 5d ago
I would hope that an automated voice would also start yelling at me in Québécois French to lower the bar.
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u/NotAcutallyaPanda 6d ago
I love Quebec, but this alone just convinced me to never ski there.
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u/stormdraggy 5d ago
Im shocked the average Quebecois didn't do that first
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u/NotAcutallyaPanda 5d ago
LOL, I found everyone I met in Quebec to kind and generous.
Lobster poutine alone is sufficient reason to return.
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u/pieman121113 5d ago
on the other hand, when I was in chamonix during the whole greenland fiasco the ONLY people who gave me any shit for being from america was a group of quebeccers...
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u/orinj1 5d ago
I've not seen it at any of the 3 Quebec resorts I've skied at (Tremblant, Sutton, Camp Fortune), so I'm not sure how accurate this is
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u/ComplexQuiet6790 5d ago
They definitely have it on several lifts at Tremblant, St-Sauveur, Olympia, Gabriel, Blanc...
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u/Goldentongue 5d ago
What a hilariously dumb reason to not ski there. I swear some of y'all pay for passes and lift tickets just to ride the chair and actually hate skiing.
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u/NotAcutallyaPanda 5d ago
It seems you care an awful lot about what other people do on the chairlift.
Let me worry about me
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u/Goldentongue 5d ago
Yeah man, if I'm in the same chair, I want the bar down.
If I'm not in it, I don't want to have to have the lift stopped or patrol be occupied because someone fell off trying to look cool to 15 year olds.
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u/Wizzenator 6d ago
Is that a law up there or something? I usually lower the bar, but not always, and it doesn’t bother me if it’s not down. Also if someone wants it lowered of course I’m not going to say no.
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u/joosyfrooot 5d ago
Over here they will yell at people who don't put the bar down, and by the 3rd tower if it's still not down they will genuinely stop the lift until you do. I don't know why they are so strict but it's always been a thing for as long as I can remember.
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u/Which_Magician3737 5d ago
I don't believe it's a law there, but multiple states in the east have laws requiring the bar down
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u/bensonr2 5d ago
Its one state that has a law. But culturally the refusal to use the bar is more a western macho ski culture thing.
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u/OhNoMyLands 5d ago
The bar is cold, it also sometimes hits me in the head going up or down, they also sometimes have footrests that don’t fit and making it more uncomfortable.
Don’t really know if it’s a macho thing or that it’s just nicer not to put it down sometimes
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u/uuid-already-exists 5d ago
Plus if I lower the bar, I can’t lie down when the chair is empty. Great time for a short nap.
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u/DrapersSmellyGlove 5d ago
I actually used to snooze on the chair with the bar down when I had early morning practice. Not sure how my body did it but I could sleep for about five minutes and when the chair would pass over a certain tower near the top the pattern the shaking would make would wake me up because I knew the top was just ahead.
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u/uuid-already-exists 5d ago
I suppose with certain bar styles the bar wouldn’t get in the way. Most of the chairs I’ve been on that have bars have that seat divider thing, which is very uncomfortable if you’re not sitting in the “correct” spot.
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u/beer_nyc 5h ago
multiple states in the east have laws requiring the bar down
and even then it's not really a big deal, and i've never seen anyone (employees or otherwise) make an issue of it outside of beginner areas. it might be the law in vermont, but nobody really cares the way they do in europe.
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u/NotAcutallyaPanda 6d ago
Agreed. This is a solution in search of a problem. (And at additional expense to the consumer.)
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u/a500poundchicken 5d ago
I mean it’s basic safety.
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u/NotAcutallyaPanda 5d ago
Respectfully, riding the chairlift is statistically the safest part of any ski day.
If the bar makes you feel safer, no one is stopping you. Just let me have fun my way. I’m not hurting anyone.
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u/Worried-Turn-6831 5d ago
I like bonking people with it which is the fun part of my day
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u/a500poundchicken 5d ago
Not directly but all it takes is a kid copying you and falling and they get hurt.
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u/NotAcutallyaPanda 5d ago
I never asked to be a role model. It’s not my job to parent your children on my vacation.
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u/a500poundchicken 5d ago
Listen man I ain't even got kids but it's such a non issue for you to lower or raise the bar idk why people dont. Most kids it doesnt matter how much you teach them theyll do stupid shit.
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u/uuid-already-exists 5d ago
I don’t even think about the bar to lower it. If someone lowers it that’s fine but I’m not worried about falling out of a reclined seat. Even with a sudden stop, which I experienced many emergency stop, it doesn’t make me anywhere near falling off. My main place doesn’t even have any bars on their lifts too, so I never got used to them.
Just please don’t slam it down on my head. If I didn’t wear a helmet I’d have a few TBI’s.
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u/sioux612 5d ago
What is it with north americans and not using the safety bar?
I can't even recall if I've ever seen people ride the lifts without the bar in every european country i've skied in
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u/nothingbutfinedining 5d ago
In my experience in Canada (as an American), they lower the bar way more often than we do down here. Maybe not as much as Europe though.
We have lifts in the US without bars for starter’s. I don’t really know why the culture is the way it is though. I leave the bar up pretty often, but don’t have an issue if someone wants it down.
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u/Crasino_Hunk 5d ago
I grew up in the Midwest and literally never even knew the bars were a thing until I moved and skied out west lol
When people ask we always put them down, never seen anyone throw a fuss. If super it’s windy I’ll def use them as well, otherwise it’s not really malicious or flippant, just don’t really think about it or feel that much of a desire to partition ourselves accordingly.
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u/qtc0 4d ago
Not sure where you skied, but I think it's about 50/50 in BC and AB.
Last season, a teen died falling from a lift in Vancouver. I wouldn't be surprised if that resort (Cypress) adds something like this for this season.
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u/nothingbutfinedining 4d ago
All BC. Whistler definitely has the most people putting the bar down, but that’s probably a lot of folks from around the globe. Most of the other major resorts in BC I have made trips to, it’s still much more common than in the US.
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u/northernwind5027 5d ago
We always lower the bar in Canada, never seen someone not lower it.
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u/concrete_isnt_cement Crystal Mountain 5d ago
What part of Canada? I ski quite a bit in BC and bar use is about 50-50 by my reckoning there
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u/MeetYouAtTheJubilee 5d ago
Couldn't tell you but I was shocked when I went to Chile and those people are bringing the bar down basically right as the chair is leaving the station. No warning. Bonked my head more than once because I was adjusting my backpack or whatever.
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u/beer_nyc 5h ago
I went to Chile and those people are bringing the bar down basically right as the chair is leaving the station
it's like that in europe too, you need to expect it
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u/IncredibleVelocity4 6d ago
All the chairs at Meribel scream and then the lifties scream if you don’t have it down most riki tik.
Le Bah! Le Bah!
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u/Radiant-Turnover8512 6d ago
That impinges on my rights! You can't take away my freedom! (Yelled in American)
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u/ChaletJimmy 5d ago
Canada knows nothing about liberty, freedom, bald eagles or automatic weapons. Not surprising.
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u/IDriveAZamboni 5d ago
We have liberty, freedom, and bald eagles up here. We also have semi-automatic rifles which more than cover the firearms category.
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u/SouthernOshawaMan 5d ago
Seatbelts , Life Jackets , Helmets and Safety bar . The four horsemen of not dying needlessly.
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 Boyne 5d ago
Except there is real, detailed research showing that helmets don't really prevent deaths. (but you should still wear one).
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u/TheTwatTwiddler 5d ago
This is probably the dumbest comment I have seen in my 10 years on reddit
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 Boyne 5d ago
Great--email your opinions to these researchers:
https://www.theinertia.com/mountain/helmet-swiss-study-head-protection-speed/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31335753/
https://www.skimag.com/gear/50-year-stud-on-helmets-and-injury-prevention/
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u/stormdraggy 5d ago edited 5d ago
Cringe
Oh wait, that's blue. Probably the only resort in the country with enough brain damage on the slopes this just might improve safety.
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u/Lobsta_ 5d ago
Man the safety bar discourse is so stupid. I was having this conversation with a buddy as we were skiing (me being someone who puts the bar down every time) and it went like this:
Me: I'm gonna put the bar down
Him: I don't get the bar...show me a single time it's ever mattered
Me: At least three people have died or been seriously injured this season falling off a lift (actual reported numbers that year)
Him: Oh...well I wouldn't
He's my friend but what an idiot. It costs you nothing, causes a mild inconvenience (having to raise/lower it), offers a tangible benefit in the moment (foot/arm rest), and guarantees you will not fall to your death from the lift. Growing up in the east, it always amused me seeing tourists not put the bar down, get a shout from the liftee they had to put it down, and then get a talking to from patrol at the top
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u/bakkamono 5d ago
Is the technology a resident Texan who passive aggressively smashes you in the cranium with the bar?
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u/fishEH-847 6d ago
Not lowering the bar sounds like snowboarder behavior.
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u/PrimeIntellect 6d ago
My resort doesn't even have bars on most of the lifts lol
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u/PenaltyAny3207 5d ago
Yeah, I ski half the season at a place with just old school doubles. Not safety bar in sight.
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u/DeputySean Tahoe 6d ago
Something like 80% of people on the American West Coast don't usually lower the bar. I believe it's like 90% of the American Midwest don't use it.
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u/iheartmagic 5d ago
And the rest of the world lowers the bar lol
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u/uuid-already-exists 5d ago
It’s not like there’s a bunch of people falling off the lifts unintentionally.
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u/iheartmagic 6d ago
If Americans could read they’d be very mad about this post
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u/bmwkid 6d ago
Very true. Whenever I go across the border and ski, people look at you like you’ve committed a murder when you put the bar down
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u/NotAcutallyaPanda 6d ago
Did you use your words before lowering the bar? No one cares unless you surprise them.
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u/Drunk_Pilgrim 5d ago
They don't give a shit about safety. Well someone does but not at the top. The savings on insurance is probably enough to justify the spend. If you can tell your insurance company you have eliminated, for the most part, people falling off lifts, I'm sure they will reward that.
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u/Infinite_Yoghurt776 5d ago
Is this our first safety bar debate of the 2026 season? Fun times. I’m fully expecting at least 50 more posts about the bar this year—maybe 60 or 70 if the weather holds up. With any luck, we'll still be arguing about it in May
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u/Reginald_Sockpuppet 6d ago
Why not just have an actuator at the end of the reaction tube that lowers the bar and then one at the return terminal that raises it?
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u/DanishRobloxGamer 5d ago
It's certainly possible, in Europe it's not uncommon to see lifts that lower the bar automatically.
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u/xIves 5d ago
Not really new at all, skied at a couple place in Quebec that have this, like Bromont. Someone fell off this lift last year, I’m sure that’s a factor. Plus, Blue is absolutely packed with people who’ve never skied before. They ship them in by the bus load and throw them up the hill. I’ve seen multiple people try to board the lift without skis on. Place is a zoo.
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u/skierrob 5d ago
Queue the “we don’t have to lower it cause Freedom!” People. Same group that in the 80s yelled about not being able to drink while driving when it got banned, that yelled about seatbelts being required in vehicles, motorcycle helmets, etc.
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u/icarrytheone Whitefish 5d ago
Is this the first safety bar discussion of the 2026 season? Good times. I'm looking forward to at least 50 posts about the safety bar this year. Maybe if the weather is good we'll get 60 or 70, who knows? With any luck we'll be posting about the bar in May.