# t-gnarbar



## XxGoGirlxX (Jan 15, 2016)

I rocked the t bar today big time for the first time in years! Attacked my first painted jumps, lovin life, etc. 

At the time i noticed all the force of the t bar pull being sent thru front ankle to binding, and now that foot is obviously a lil tweaked.

Any t-bar tips or force direction or angles I should be aware of here? I assume those lil tiny foot/ankle muscles will beef up, but if theres anything else past grab hold and coast please share  thanks! I was loading up my weight on my nose and twisting shoulders which ya was making me twist that front leg funny...
Edit: i was the only rider dumb or gutsy enough to be there LOL so no other examples to copy


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## Motogp990 (Mar 10, 2013)

XxGoGirlxX said:


> Any t-bar tips or force direction or angles I should be aware of here?


For me T-bar is same as every other Snowboarding how-to fundamental.

Stay balanced (not overly biased on the front or back foot), relax (stay loose), let the bar do the work (don't fight the T-bar), look where you a going.

Also, if you don't have a stomp pad, getting one may help with your rear foot grip.

The 2 main styles of riding are with the bar between the legs or bar behind your rear hip. I prefer the bar between my legs regardless if I'm on the left or right side.

And as with everything, the more you do it, the better you will be.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

+1 ^

I assume you were twisted to the front anxiously keeping the track in sight. No need, just turn your head, not the entire upper body. It's really just like cruising at low speed. Relax and let the bar pull. Riding with someone can help to stabilize your track - skiers are your friends there . This may also make you turn to the other person to have a chat and relax the tweak on your foot. 

If you ever get to steep t-bars, use the t-bar between legs method - the only way I ride t-bars.


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## XxGoGirlxX (Jan 15, 2016)

Thanks you two -


Motogp990 said:


> Stay balanced (not overly biased on the front or back foot), relax (stay loose), let the bar do the work (don't fight the T-bar), look where you a going.





neni said:


> +1










. I'll try keeping shoulders aligned ov r hips next time. Honestly no anxious track watching haha so very different from previous years lol... I was enjoying the views and feel of going uphill and horsing around hahaha.... neni dear just want u to know when I see ice now I ATTACK ice - going well so far.


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## Kenai (Dec 15, 2013)

I was randomly searching for some other info and happened on this thread. 

My wife and I were amazed (and terrified) about the number of t-bars in Europe. One damn t-bar in Davos was almost 1400 vertical! We had ridden a couple before, but we had to make friends with them real quick to get around where we wanted to go. A little practice definitely helps and once you do it a few times you start to forget about being scared. The bar between the legs is definitely the way to go. It also helped me to let my board drift if it wanted to instead of trying to force it on the perfectly straight track.


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## XxGoGirlxX (Jan 15, 2016)

Kenai said:


> I was randomly searching for some other info and happened on this thread.
> 
> My wife and I were amazed (and terrified) about the number of t-bars in Europe. One damn t-bar in Davos was almost 1400 vertical! We had ridden a couple before, but we had to make friends with them real quick to get around where we wanted to go. A little practice definitely helps and once you do it a few times you start to forget about being scared. The bar between the legs is definitely the way to go. It also helped me to let my board drift if it wanted to instead of trying to force it on the perfectly straight track.


Yikes! Ya that would take some adjusting to! "My" t bar is tiny. My little foot discomfort was gone next morning so just little muscles beefing up & no harm done  omg imagine riding in Europe!! Jelly!


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

The only time I used a T-bar is at a small terrain park and I just held it like a guitar with the t portion of the bar against rear hip.
Technically it was not entirely a t-bar. More like just a handle on a cable.


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

Ugh, I hate T-bars. I seem to always fall. They get so rutted out. I haven't ridden one in years. Thank god. I hope I would fair better now since I'm riding better than I maybe ever have but still I hate them. 

I am see them less and less as the years go by. No more t-bars at Sunshine Village for example. Even my tiny local hill got rid of theirs. 2 quad chairs yay! 

Have other people noticed them slowly getting replaced over the years?


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

WasabiCanuck said:


> Have other people noticed them slowly getting replaced over the years?


Nope, not here. A good 1/3 of the lifts are t-bars. It's a daily business here, just normal. It's like with everything: exercises it and it'll lose its devilish character  Honestly? I rather ride a t-bar than a chair without footrest... these are the hell n hate IMO


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

neni said:


> Nope, not here. A good 1/3 of the lifts are t-bars. It's a daily business here, just normal. It's like with everything: exercises it and it'll lose its devilish character  Honestly? I rather ride a t-bar than a chair without footrest... these are the hell n hate IMO


Wow that's really interesting. We neanderthals here in North America think everything is more developed in Europe, especially the ski hills. And we are the backward cave men. I figured you can stop for wine and cheese, or fondue at the top and bottom of every run/lift. :wink: Over here we are happy if the one restaurant has warm beer and cold chicken fingers. :dance1:


I agree that chairs without safety bars are not cool, especially for my kids or when it is really windy. Most people don't even use the safety bars but I like them since I'm not a huge fan of heights.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

WasabiCanuck said:


> Wow that's really interesting. We neanderthals here in North America think everything is more developed in Europe, especially the ski hills. And we are the backward cave men. I figured you can stop for wine and cheese, or fondue at the top and bottom of every run/lift. :wink: Over here we are happy if the one restaurant has warm beer and cold chicken fingers. :dance1:


Lol, that's probably only cos you think a t-bar is something bad. We're so used to them that they don't have that badge of being minor. Old chairs without wind shield cover, and without a comfy thick seat padding are minor, and resorts replace them one after the other cos with so many resorts in such close competition? Ool don't accept those old uncomfy chairs. 
Chairs without footrest or - god forbid - even without safety bar? Unthinkable. 

But yes, there is cheese, wine and fondue every odd meter 

Ps: did have to look it up. Our little family mtn? 16 lifts, 7 of them t-bars. 23 runs, 9 restaurants, 5 après bars ON the mtn.


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## nutmegchoi (Feb 10, 2016)

I never ridden a T-bar and pretty shore I'll face plant first time trying.


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## Kenai (Dec 15, 2013)

As Neni says it really is just getting used to it. As we don't really have them here in the U.S. we get scared of them. Even after half a dozen times up the mountain I started forgetting how bad it was!

Here is the other crazy thing about almost all the lifts in Austria - they all have little conveyer belts to "help" you get on the lift or in position for the lift. I had only seen one of those in the U.S. They are either used to speed you up so they can run the chair faster without hitting you in the legs, or to move you into the right position. Either way, you have to slide down from the start gate onto a moving rubber belt. If you aren't ready and don't have your weight right it can be really uncomfortable. I almost blew out my knee falling forward one time and then twisting all around.


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## nutmegchoi (Feb 10, 2016)

I think I got on something like that at... Maybe Vail??
Can't remember, but I got on once and it was not that big of a deal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Kenai (Dec 15, 2013)

nutmegchoi said:


> I think I got on something like that at... Maybe Vail??
> Can't remember, but I got on once and it was not that big of a deal.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


There is one at Loon Mtn. here in NH that I had been on a couple times. I don't recall it having much of a slope down onto the belt, though. After I torqued my knee sliding down onto the belt and stopping abruptly with my weight to far forward, I was more scared of those things than t-bars! They really aren't such a big deal but they still take a little getting used to.


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## Phedder (Sep 13, 2014)

I actually prefer T-bars to most chairlifts I've been on. I can stay strapped in, ride up regular or switch, practice presses or shiftys while riding etc. I always end up bored on a long chairlift, whereas a T-bar I just muck around the whole time. Plus they're way less likely to go on wind hold.


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## freshy (Nov 18, 2009)

XxGoGirlxX said:


> I rocked the t bar today big time for the first time in years! Attacked my first painted jumps, lovin life, etc.
> 
> At the time i noticed all the force of the t bar pull being sent thru front ankle to binding, and now that foot is obviously a lil tweaked.
> 
> ...


Heres a great tip someone showed me, might be hard to explain it but here it goes. First you need to position your self on the opposite side you normally would be, instead of taking the bar between the legs have the pole part behind your back and half of the T under your but/outside thigh area, then you can kind of half sit on the T and your leading arm can rest nicely on the bar and hold the end of T with your trailing arm for extra stability. I can easily and comfortably ride doubles that way too. Only downside is it's such an uncommon way to do it so the lifty might be confused when you ask for the bar around your back and if you have to double with a stranger they will be like WTF.

I can't even find a pic on the internet about how I do it. It's almost the same way a skier your ride a t bar just on a snowboard. You basically want to be in a position like this just angled more so like one butt cheek on the pole and one on the T


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

They have one of those conveyor belt things at Sunshine Village too. I saw only one. Kinda weird. I think I remember seeing some in Japan too back in the day. They had all kinds of cool stuff over there like electronic lift tickets that you had to swipe at every lift to open the gate to get on the lift.


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## Tatanka Head (Jan 13, 2014)

WasabiCanuck said:


> They have one of those conveyor belt things at Sunshine Village too. I saw only one. Kinda weird. I think I remember seeing some in Japan too back in the day. They had all kinds of cool stuff over there like electronic lift tickets that you had to swipe at every lift to open the gate to get on the lift.


Do you guys not have these? You mean the RFID style ones you keep in your sleeve or elsewhere on your jacket? I'm hoping you guys don't still roll with the metal hanger and sticker from the zipper system, haha.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk


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## WasabiCanuck (Apr 29, 2015)

Tatanka Head said:


> Do you guys not have these? You mean the RFID style ones you keep in your sleeve or elsewhere on your jacket? I'm hoping you guys don't still roll with the metal hanger and sticker from the zipper system, haha.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk


Sadly yes. That is how 95% of ski hills over here operate. It could be worse, we could have as many t-bars as Europe, yuck. >


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## speedjason (May 2, 2013)

Tatanka Head said:


> Do you guys not have these? You mean the RFID style ones you keep in your sleeve or elsewhere on your jacket? I'm hoping you guys don't still roll with the metal hanger and sticker from the zipper system, haha.
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk


Last time I went to Copper, they still scan the lift ticket with a barcode scanner.


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## Tatanka Head (Jan 13, 2014)

RFID gates are great. Quick and efficient. Occasionally you'll get the random person (easily identified by their botox lips and Gucci one piece ski suit) who can't figure it out or who doesn't know how to carry her skis through (on a gondola gate), but Social Darwinism allows others to pass through the other 4 gates.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk


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## nutmegchoi (Feb 10, 2016)

Most big mountains I've been to have card system.

Park City, Canyons, Snowbird, Solitude, Breckenridge, Vail, Jackson Hole, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, Snowmass...

Heck, even Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania has it.

Oddly enough, Vermont mountains still use those old fashioned ones.


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## kalev (Dec 17, 2013)

speedjason said:


> Last time I went to Copper, they still scan the lift ticket with a barcode scanner.


Most BC resorts still scan (except Whistler & Big White)

At Big White, their system is all messed up with the RFID gates. They try to organize people into groups of 4's ahead of the gates. Then when people go through the gates, people get split up etc and often chair only have 1-2 people on them. Its still pretty new, so I'm sure they'll figure it out eventually


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## f00bar (Mar 6, 2014)

nutmegchoi said:


> Most big mountains I've been have card system.
> 
> Park City, Canyons, Snowbird, Solitude, Breckenridge, Vail, Jackson Hole, Aspen Mountain, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, Snowmass...
> 
> ...


Starting to change. Stowe, Okemo, a few others have made the transition. Even Jiminy Peak in Mass has.

What I wish they would do is have a common rfid that you could just load wherever you happened to go. At $5 a pop keeping a collection of them is a pain, especially if you have to manage more than one persons.


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## nutmegchoi (Feb 10, 2016)

f00bar said:


> Starting to change. Stowe, Okemo, a few others have made the transition. Even Jiminy Peak in Mass has.
> 
> What I wish they would do is have a common rfid that you could just load wherever you happened to go. At $5 a pop keeping a collection of them is a pain, especially if you have to manage more than one persons.


I'm sure it'll gradually change to that direction.
It just easier for both ends.
Though, that might raise certain cheaper mountains price.


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## neni (Dec 24, 2012)

f00bar said:


> Starting to change. Stowe, Okemo, a few others have made the transition. Even Jiminy Peak in Mass has.
> 
> What I wish they would do is have a common rfid that you could just load wherever you happened to go. At $5 a pop keeping a collection of them is a pain, especially if you have to manage more than one persons.


I'm the first in the line to have a chip implanted. Put my bank chip on it, resort pass, public transport pass, all those stupid member cards I mess up and never find when asked for it every odd year, and also my medical history which is spread over and in chaotic systems of PDs n hospitals. You should have a disc with the MRI pics at home from that accident 10y ago. Yeah, sure... give me a second...


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

neni said:


> I'm the first in the line to have a chip implanted. Put my bank chip on it, resort pass, public transport pass, all those stupid member cards I mess up and never find when asked for it every odd year, and also my medical history which is spread over and in chaotic systems of PDs n hospitals. You should have a disc with the MRI pics at home from that accident 10y ago. Yeah, sure... give me a second...


Lol, well there was this guy a year or two ago who implanted an iPod in his arm...


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