Chairlift

How do you make a decent thriller from this premise: three people stuck in a chairlift at a deserted ski resort? You don't. Realistically, what could happen to this trio dangling in midair? Will they be attacked by ravenous pterodactyls? All they can do is sit there getting colder and colder as they realize help isn't coming. That folks, is the plot of Frozen . In its entirety. Where are the flying Saint Bernards when you really need them? Three attractive twentysomethings (Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, and Kevin Zegers)

Rowan University junior Jeff Gladnick, who skied before he could read, met his snowboarder friends in the Canadian Rockies for a spring-break getaway last April. The guys had a blast coasting down the mountains. Riding back up was another matter. On the chairlift, they met the great divide between ski bums and their upstart snowboard counterparts: Skis face forward. Snowboards face sideways, like a surfboard with the rider attached. Skis end up getting scratched by the snowboards' heavy metal, and snowboarders strain their knees and ankles trying to maneuver their equipment on lifts designed for skis.

Recently, I discovered a wonderful new way to view the splendor of autumn's annual foliage extravaganza as I rode a chairlift at a ski resort and skimmed over treetops. As leaves fell just inches from me to the ground, an endless blanket of changing colors seemed to reinvent the landscape each moment. It was stunning. For many, the quest for discovering the perfect view during the peak season takesleaf peepers to back roads, hillsides and country towns. The scenes are sometimes enjoyed at less than comfortable quarters - scrunching on the ground to watch the falling leaves or often peering through car windshields.

Did it snow money last winter in the Pennsylvania mountains? Judging from the new development at six ski areas, it would seem that way. And that's very good news for skiers. Prompted by what the National Ski Areas Association says was a 24 percent increase in skier visits last year at the region's slopes (all that snow did it, of course), no fewer than six mountains have expanded this year - three in the eastern part of the state and three in Central Pennsylvania. All have added quad chairlifts (as the name indicates, a quad chairlift carries four skiers)

The family waited patiently in their living room, occasionally looking at the clock and out the window to see if the school bus was making its way up the narrow street. Twelve-year-old Nicole Singleton was due home from Widener Memorial, a school for physically handicapped children. Her mother, Maggie Singleton, waited with George Harris, the boyfriend of another daughter. "She should be here in about five minutes," Singleton said. "Are you ready?" "Yeah, but my arms feel kind of weak today," Harris replied.

Five skiers were killed in a mountain resort yesterday as dozens of them were pitched from a chairlift onto rocks and snow below, officials reported. The officials said 41 people were seriously hurt and 76 were treated for lesser injuries and shock in the accident at Luz-Ardiden in the Pyrenees Mountains. Victims reportedly fell from heights of up to 130 feet. Rescue workers said the number of casualties was large, partly because there had been no new snow for a week and many people fell onto bare rock.

Forget that the Great Wall is one of the man-made wonders of the world, right up there with the pyramids of Egypt and the Taj Mahal of India. Put aside the fact that the venerable symbol of China is a testament to man's will and genius, so remarkable that former President Richard M. Nixon, an authority of sorts on stone walls, once pronounced it "truly a great wall. " None of that has stopped the various companies entrusted with running restored sections of China's national treasure from trying to make the Great Wall even greater.

Every Phoenix album has offered at least one, and usually two, perfect pop confections, starting with "If I Ever Feel Better" and "Too Young" from 2000's United. But America had not paid much attention until a Saturday Night Live appearance in the spring kick-started Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the French quartet's fourth album. Now they're playing sold-out theaters across the States. "Before this record we still felt like we were a secret society or something," says vocalist Thomas Mars from a tour bus somewhere between Salt Lake City and Omaha.

GREENING OF THE NATION IS ONE BUSINESSMAN'S GOAL If you've been looking all over for a four-leaf clover, today is your lucky day. Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, businessman John Piergross is shipping thousands of live four-leaf clovers all over the country from a nursery in Apopka, Fla. Piergross has exclusive rights to market a strain of clover that grows with four leaflets every time. The clovers all come from one perfect specimen. Using a microscope, scientists remove a tiny portion of the plant shoot, then place it in a solution of growth hormones and nutrients to produce several shoots.

In our family, we like to engage in group sports activities, because we have fun and learn more about each other as human beings. For example, without the sport of skiing, I would never have found out what the inside of my wife's left knee looks like. This came about because of an unplanned skiing maneuver that Beth performed in Colorado ("The People On Crutches State"). Beth and I were attempting to ski, as a family, with our son, Rob, who, being 12, is not legally required to obey the laws of gravity.

How do you make a decent thriller from this premise: three people stuck in a chairlift at a deserted ski resort? You don't. Realistically, what could happen to this trio dangling in midair? Will they be attacked by ravenous pterodactyls? All they can do is sit there getting colder and colder as they realize help isn't coming. That folks, is the plot of Frozen . In its entirety. Where are the flying Saint Bernards when you really need them? Three attractive twentysomethings (Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, and Kevin Zegers)

Every Phoenix album has offered at least one, and usually two, perfect pop confections, starting with "If I Ever Feel Better" and "Too Young" from 2000's United. But America had not paid much attention until a Saturday Night Live appearance in the spring kick-started Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the French quartet's fourth album. Now they're playing sold-out theaters across the States. "Before this record we still felt like we were a secret society or something," says vocalist Thomas Mars from a tour bus somewhere between Salt Lake City and Omaha.

Rowan University junior Jeff Gladnick, who skied before he could read, met his snowboarder friends in the Canadian Rockies for a spring-break getaway last April. The guys had a blast coasting down the mountains. Riding back up was another matter. On the chairlift, they met the great divide between ski bums and their upstart snowboard counterparts: Skis face forward. Snowboards face sideways, like a surfboard with the rider attached. Skis end up getting scratched by the snowboards' heavy metal, and snowboarders strain their knees and ankles trying to maneuver their equipment on lifts designed for skis.

Their romance blossomed where so many do - on the ski lift. Yes, they had talked in the lodge, by the fire, and they had walked in the snowy woods. She was vivacious and independent and loved the outdoors, just as he did. And he was so handsome, a real ski stud - the Alps, the Rockies, New England. But the fuse of love wasn't lit until Bill Dormon and Rose Bartoletti were seated side by side, just the two of them, high above the world on the chairlift at Mount Snow. Rose: "We just happened to be on the same chairlift.

Forget that the Great Wall is one of the man-made wonders of the world, right up there with the pyramids of Egypt and the Taj Mahal of India. Put aside the fact that the venerable symbol of China is a testament to man's will and genius, so remarkable that former President Richard M. Nixon, an authority of sorts on stone walls, once pronounced it "truly a great wall. " None of that has stopped the various companies entrusted with running restored sections of China's national treasure from trying to make the Great Wall even greater.

Recently, I discovered a wonderful new way to view the splendor of autumn's annual foliage extravaganza as I rode a chairlift at a ski resort and skimmed over treetops. As leaves fell just inches from me to the ground, an endless blanket of changing colors seemed to reinvent the landscape each moment. It was stunning. For many, the quest for discovering the perfect view during the peak season takesleaf peepers to back roads, hillsides and country towns. The scenes are sometimes enjoyed at less than comfortable quarters - scrunching on the ground to watch the falling leaves or often peering through car windshields.

The family waited patiently in their living room, occasionally looking at the clock and out the window to see if the school bus was making its way up the narrow street. Twelve-year-old Nicole Singleton was due home from Widener Memorial, a school for physically handicapped children. Her mother, Maggie Singleton, waited with George Harris, the boyfriend of another daughter. "She should be here in about five minutes," Singleton said. "Are you ready?" "Yeah, but my arms feel kind of weak today," Harris replied.

Riding up in the chairlift early one morning, I eyed the jagged slopes of Baldy Mountain from just above the collar of my ski parka, huddled low as I was against the zero-degree air and the snow lightly falling from the gray sky. The buckles of my ski boots suddenly seemed fastened too tightly. My fingertips had already faded from a chill burn into numbness. Where, I wondered, was the famous sun of Sun Valley when I most needed it? Actually, it was only a couple of thousand feet higher up the mountain that day. A few minutes later, on the Lookout Express lift, which travels almost to the 9,150-foot summit of Baldy, I suddenly saw the chairlift break through the cloud ceiling.

The First Presbyterian Church here raised $4,000 about 10 years ago to install two chairlifts so that a 9-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy could attend Sunday school. Never did the small congregation dream that its act of kindness would bring financial hardship to the church in years to come. In January 1994, the church paid $300 for the inspection of the two chairlifts, devices that can carry a handicapped person up a set of eight steps. Because the chairlifts are used only about three times a year now, the church elders balked at the fee and considered dismantling them.

Did it snow money last winter in the Pennsylvania mountains? Judging from the new development at six ski areas, it would seem that way. And that's very good news for skiers. Prompted by what the National Ski Areas Association says was a 24 percent increase in skier visits last year at the region's slopes (all that snow did it, of course), no fewer than six mountains have expanded this year - three in the eastern part of the state and three in Central Pennsylvania. All have added quad chairlifts (as the name indicates, a quad chairlift carries four skiers)