The safety bar on a chairlift can be a bit of a controversial subject in North America. Some places, mainly Vermont, require by law that the bar is put down, and some ski resorts have bars that come down automatically as you leave the lift terminal, but most ski areas leave it up to the rider.
Here’s the deal: if you don’t want to put the bar down, don’t, but if someone else on the lift wants the bar down, you have to let them put it down. HOWEVER, if you’re the person on the lift putting the bar down, make sure you let everyone on the lift know that it’s coming down. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been hit in the head or crushed in some way because another person ripped the bar down without a heads up.
This guy managed to capture one of the wildest chairlift experiences we’ve ever seen that doesn’t include someone falling or jumping off. After the guy next to him puts the bar down without warning, the cameraman receives an unwarranted lecture on using the safety bar.
Now there’s a cut in the clip, so we don’t know if the cameraman said something more after the bar came down. But as the video reveals, he notices that the bar is coming down without warning, clearly displays his displeasure at the move, and tries to warn everyone else that the bar is coming down. Then the guy next to him, who was the original person to bring the bar down, starts lecturing the cameraman about the number of snowboarders he’s seen fall off the chairlift. Do you think the lecture is warranted?
