Believe it or not, the chairlifts that we use today weren’t designed for snowboarders. In fact, even though snowboarding was invented in 1965, it took until the late 1980s for many ski areas to allow us snowboarders in! Can you imagine a resort today without snowboarders carving down the slope? Until ski areas worldwide decide they like snowboarders as much as skiers, we will continue to face the dilemma of how to support the weight our boards on the chairlift. Today I’m going to look at the different options we have available, so you can decide for yourself how you’d like to carry yours.
The Most Common – The Dangling Board
The majority of us leave our boards to dangle as we go up the snowboard chairlift. Now, although this accommodates for our skier friends, your kindness is bound to leave you with an intense, piercing pain in your foot by the time you reach the top. Needless to say this is good for our knee and ankle over the long run! Obviously, this isn’t the sensation you want to have when you could be shredding or enjoying some waist deep snow. If you’re hitting the slopes for a single day, this isn’t such an issue. But if you’re someone who’s for riding days at a time, you might need the chairlift rides to rest. The Seemingly Strategic Alternative – Resting your Board on your Back Foot.
In an effort to save the leg pain and prevent knee injury, many of us rest our boards on our back foot. But be warned! This solution will dig deeper into your wallet than you could ever hope to dig into the snow. The sharp edge of your board can easily cut the toe box of your back boot. That might lead to damaged boots sooner than you’d like. Sure, there are ways of minimizing the damage, for example by taping a boot protector on, (as suggested here) but you may find this turns out to be a quick-fix solution to a problem that keeps coming back to haunt you.
Another Alternative – Board Possum
The Board Possum is a great snowboard chairlift assist that is very effective. It prevents the pain, damage and potential danger of the options listed above. It’s also a very reasonable price at USD$28, and it looks like its chance of breaking is low. However, from this Youtube video:
you can see that the attachment method seems to be a little troublesome. You need to use multiple different tools to bolt in the product in multiple places.
Another Alternative – The RideEasy Line
All of us snowboarders truly want the chairlift rides to rest. Whether it’s looking at the great views, engaging in some awesome spur-of-the-moment conversation, or just getting in the zone for your next run, the last thing you want on your mind is the blistering pain in your back foot and potential knee injury. The RideEasy Line offers you this opportunity. A durable, lightweight and portable snowboard chairlift assist, it will help you ride higher and for longer. This investment will avoid you pain when you reach the top of the chairlift, it will prevent you from having to buy protective tape for your boot, and it will keep you and others safe on the slopes! What’s more, the device also works as a snowboard lock that’s installed onto your binding, so that by locking it you can rest assured your board is always safe and sound.
