Waiting in line for ski lifts

I have noticed when reading through these boards that quite a lot of people have expressed irritation at the lack of manners exhibited by others when waiting in line for ski lifts - pushing in front, not queueing properly etc. I would just like to say that when we were in Austria this year, our instructor told us to 'bunch up' with others and not join the end of the line, otherwise the queue would have stretched out a loooong way. He called it 'active queueing'. This we did, though with as much charm and goodwill as we could muster. I don't think anyone minded. People seemed pretty cool. And if I made it clear that I wanted my daughter to stay directly in front of me, no one pushed between us. Though I wouldn't fancy being elbowed or pushed. :lol:
Allie

Allie you obvisouly werent in the queue with me or you would definitly have been elbowed!! :wink: (just kidding)

I definitley suffered from slope rage!! I didnt so much mind the kids squeezing in with their instructors, that really didnt bother me as if they had of waited in the queues while we were in Niederau they would have been lucky to ski down twice! the queues were so bad. I also think it depends on how the lif queues are laid out. At one point our queue was 10 people wide which filtered into 1! very annoying.

What did annoy me was kids (and adults) who would completely miss the back of the queue and ski to where it filtered to 1!. I think it is a british thing though, because in life you just would not dare jump the queue, ie waiting in line in Tescos and you push to the front, and you definitly would not encourage your kids to jump the queue. It is a different world out there in the ski world.

This has been raised a few times before.
Its a difficult one, because I have experienced extremely rude people in some queues who simply barge in, or try to sneak in from the side when you have been queuing orderly for a while, or people who stand on your tails, or shuffle right up behind you so their skis are through your legs!
We have probably all done it at some time ourselves, probably by feeling the need to adapt to the surroundings and either keep up or get knocked further back!
Queueing is a very British thing, and we get annoyed when people dont adhere to the unwritten queue regulations. However, Europeans in general dont appear to do queues like we do, and kind of surge together in a bit of a ruck. It can be a little unpleasant and I have seen arguements break out, but you have to join them if you cant beat them.
At the end of the day, we are all trying to get on the lift as quickly as possible so we all share the same goal. But its annoying when you have been doing it along with a lot of other people for 10 or 15 minutes and someone comes along and pushes right into the front and gets on in 30 seconds.
I have seen people - usually kids - stopped from going on a lift by an operator because of this kind of behaviour, but not often.

I dont think people mind a ski school bunching up and getting on together, although I prefer the seperate lanes to the edge of a queue for ski schools to use so they go on 1 at a time. However, its different when regular skiers do the sneaking in.

Its one of those things where you only know the best way to react when you find yourself there at the time. I dont like to be pushed, and if I get pushed I will react and probably say something to the person doing it behind me. Likewise, if they constantly stand on MY skis, as its different when they are your own and not rentals. I have also given one person a seriously good whack with a ski pole for barging through the crowd and getting on a lift in front of me, standing all over several peoples skis, but he was totally oblivious to it and didnt care at all.

Dont be shy would be my suggestion.

I read an amusing article in a copy of the Daily Mail ski mag last year about a couple of Germans who barged to the front of a queue for a gondola, they elbowed everyone out of the way much to the annoyance of everyone that had been queing patiently.

Just as the gondola doors closed the lifty calmly removed their skis from the rack to rapturous applause from the waiting crowd :lol:

There is a moral to this story I believe.

Tony, this is one annoyance you won't have to deal with in the States. Orderly, and well mannered lift queues are the norm.

Trencher

Ski a resort where there are no queues, there are some about you have only to look, or you can just follow the cattle, sorry crowds :wink:

This type of thing anoys me....a quick pole to the back of their bindings so when they push by their ski comes off works a treat....and when they turn round ,give them a gaelic shrug of the shoulders and say "excuse' moi dessole'"


jon.

Ian Wickham wrote:Ski a resort where there are no queues, there are some about you have only to look, or you can just follow the cattle, sorry crowds :wink:

The resorts people want to go to may have queues for lifts at certain times of the day/season, it cant be helped.