Over the years I have tried a lot of different options when it comes to chair lift straps. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term let me explain it this way. Some resorts don’t want you to ride with a board in your lap. You can ride the chair but the skate must be strapped to your foot.  Your not required to ride with it so you take it off at the top. Reasons for this vary but center on insurance restrictions and definitions of foot passengers. So back to the strap issue, here at Schweitzer we use the strap. These have ranged in style from actual snowboard bindings carried in a backpack, to various styles of nylon webbing.  All of these systems had there draw backs and were each a pain in their own special way. Even the very last version of my foot strap which was the easiest of all to deal with,  got old. This new system though changes every thing and has symplified the process on several fronts. First being it’s cheap, free in many cases. Second it’s really easy to put on and take off. Third you make it yourself which greatly reduces liability. So here we go. First find an old bike inner tube, cut  it next to the stem of the tube.

tube strap one Chair lift strap

Then cut up the tube twice making a wide and narrow strip. The wide one goes around your deck, the narrow one around your ankle.

tube stap two Chair lift strap

Tie the wide strip around the deck in between the trucks. The strip will stay in place when you ride. Tie the narrow strip around your ankle, not super tight but snug enough to insure it won’t come off. Use a square knot to insure it won’t come undone.

tube strap three Chair lift strap

Put your foot under the board strap…

tube strap four Chair lift strap

Stretch the ankle strap up and over your toe so that it captures the board strap. Your ready to load!

tube strap five Chair lift strap

tube strap six Chair lift strap

Remember, the ankle strap stays on your foot and the board strap stays on the board the whole time.