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Mountain Operations
HOLIMONT GIVES THE GREEN LIGHT
TO RAISE THE BAR ON CHAIRLIFT SAFETY
BY REBECCA W. AYERS, EDITOR
DESPITE SKI AREAS’ BEST EFFORTS to educate guests about away, the rider’s line of vision eventually rises, so that the red
chairlift safety, many kids (and some impatient adults) still lights are blocked by a divider in the clear plastic tube, and
tend to raise the restraint bar too early—at times, way too early. the row of green lights comes into clear view.
Raising the bar before reaching the unloading ramp increases
the risk of falling, and in some cases the fall can be significant. “Both the red and green lights are on at the same time,
it’s just a question of your vantage point,” Riley said.
Even those who should know better may forget about lift
safety etiquette when distracted—whether lost in thought, Helping draw guests’ attention to the lighting is newly
texting, caught up in a conversation, absorbed in Pokémon developed signage on the tower closest to the unloading
Go or, thanks to music blasting through earbuds, are obliv- ramp that says “Prepare To Unload: Raise Bar At Green
ious to instructions called out by lift personnel. HoliMont Light.” But even for those distracted guests mentioned ear-
Ski Area in Ellicottville, New York, has found an innovative lier, it’s hard to misconstrue the commonly understood
way to keep guests from getting too far ahead of themselves meaning of red and green lights.
and others on the lift: give them the green light, literally,
when it’s time for them to make their move. Riley got the idea for the lights a couple of years ago
during a visit to Austrian and Swiss ski areas to look at new
HoliMont installed a lighting system at the top termi- lift technology being installed in Europe. He became fas-
nal of each of its seven chairlifts that clearly indicates when cinated by the unloading lights he saw in Austria—which
guests should raise the bar—and the approach is having a are required by law—noting that the Austrians would raise
positive effect on their behavior as they prepare to unload, the safety bar at the last second before unloading, where a
says Dave Riley, HoliMont’s general manager and a member fall from the chair would only have been a few feet and far
of NSAA’s Board of Directors. less injurious. He also observed that no one had any unload
problems as a result of the “late” (by North American stan-
Just in front of each unloading ramp is a 4-foot horizon- dards) lifting of the restraint bar. The same technology was
tal clear tube encasing two rows of lights—one red and one used for detachable chairs as well as fixed grip chairs, the
green—but only one row is visible from the chair depend- only difference being the location of the light bar was closer
ing on how close the chair is to the ramp. As each chair to the unload ramp for a detachable lift.
approaches the terminal from several hundred feet away, the
red lights come into view. When the chair is 20 or 30 feet Knowing that it would be easy to replicate the light-
ing panels back home, Riley recruited his lift department at
Working from the premise of a traffic light,
HoliMont’s lights on unloading ramps signal
when it’s time to raise the restraint bar.
Courtesy HoliMont Ski Area
46 | NSAA JOURNAL | FALL 2016
