Colora-d'oh

Hi, my name is Tina and this year skiing I fell off a chairlift.

Now, wait just before you get all panicked about whether I'm still able to use my legs let me explain.

The story starts right at the beginning of our trip when Megann and I were exchanging our Christmas and birthday gifts. One of the worst things skiing is having to carry your skis while walking in your ski boots. That is certainly the least fun thing about skiing, and certain resorts make you carry them a long way. Winter Park, I'm looking at you!

Megann, realising this, took action with her gift to me by getting me a back pack which has different straps to carry your skis with (or snowboard, if you are so inclined). Megann usually skis with a small back pack anyway, but I just filled my pockets with everything. But now that I had a backpack to use and one that so handily doubled up as a ski carrier, then why not!

Things were all fine, skiing with the backpack. It takes just a minor adjustment to your skiing, and it proved quite handy that I could take more stuff on the mountain. Well that was until C-chair.

We were skiing in a new area of the mountain and came upon C-chair and we decided to take it. It was the smallest chairlift we'd taken this trip, just two seats and as we were in the line I noticed how it didn't really slow down any for people getting on. It also seemed to undulate once you were on. In fact on the way up we joked that C was for seasick!

The chairlift was long and quite slow. Eventually we got to the top, lifted the bar (which didn't have footrests like 90% of chair lifts), lifted our ski tips to set on the off ramp (I'm sure that's not the term) and stood up.

Except I couldn't. I tried not to panic, and just said to Megann  "I can't stand up!". I tried again, but no, something was stopping me from standing up. I said it again, with a bit more emergency in my voice. I sat back down again as Megann skied down the ramp. You only really have seconds to get off a chairlift and my two attempts had used up all the time I had. A vision flashed before me of me heading all the way back down the mountain and having to travel back up on the slowest chairlift in history.

But I needn't have worried. For all its slowness travelling up the mountain, C-chair picks up speed as it goes round the corner to head back down. The centrifugal force forced me off the chair and into the pile of snow about 4 feet below. Unfortunately whatever was stopping me standing up wasn't enough to hold on to me round the corner.

When I landed I was surprised I wasn't more hurt. Or even hurt at all. But I looked round and saw everyone at the top just staring at me. Oh die. The chairlift operator came running over to see if I was ok. She said  "you didn't need to bail, I stopped it". I looked and saw that the chair lift was indeed stopped a couple of feet on from where I had fallen. I replied (in a tone one might expect when one had just fallen off a chairlift) that I didn't 'bail', I fell and not through choice. She helped me get my skis and moved me out of the way so that she could start the chair lift again. Well the show must go on.

I can't be absolutely sure, but I am fairly confident that it was the backpack that was stopping me standing up. The bar must have trapped it with the back of the chairlift and so I wasn't able to stand up to get off. Even though it was mostly to do with the rinky dink chairlift we were on; the single bar with no footrest and the fact it didn't slow down at any point going around, I decided that my few short days of skiing with a backpack were done. I would now be stuffing my pockets again. Well, it's only vanity to want to take your woolly hat to cover up your helmet hair at lunchtimes anyway.

Even though I wasn't hurt, I was fairly shaken up after it. Megann said I was as white as a sheet. Thinking back on it, I think it was more the fear once I realised I couldn't get off that was worse rather than the actual fall. I did manage to get back on a chairlift again, well they are fairly crucial to the whole skiing experience. I just drew the line at getting on C-chair again.

Megann waited a few days before telling me there was a ski lesson full of kids going on right beside 'the incident'. The ski instructor used me as an example of how not to get off a chairlift.

"Sometimes that happens when you don't get off". Yes, yes it does.