Ski Patrol Duties

[highpeaksdrifter]

Lot’s of complaints about patrollers at Blue Mt. this season. Besides getting injured skier’s off the mountain and treating them in the medical services area, checking trial conditions, sweeping, etc. what duties do you think patrollers should carry out?

How should they present themselves professionally? Law enforcement, customer service or where in between?

 

[drjeff]

I think alot of what a patrol's responsibility should be will depend on the mountain your talking about. Obviously out West, you get to add avalanche control

Back East, atleast what I see at Mount Snow where they have a sizeable ambassador program, the ambassadors handle ALOT of the on mountain skier/rider education/slow skiing+riding enforcement, things that at many areas may be an integral part of patrols responsibility. With some of this responsibility freed up, the Mount Snow Patrol can better focus on injured skier/rider care, terrain evaluation and if needed, lift evac duties. In a sense, this lets the patrol here focus more on on-mountain skier/rider safety and less on on mountain skier/rider "police work"

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

It should be about safety..if families are camping out in the landings to booters or people are out of control and putting others in harms way, the ski patrol should say something and give a warning. Camelback has rangers who wear yellow jackets and they enforce the skiers responsibility code..they're the mall cops so the ski patrollers can deal with helping injured skiers and marking off hazards. One thing is for sure, the ski patrollers are representing the mountain so they should be kind to the customers and keep their cool..even if someone is skiing 50mph down an empty double black diamond run..

 

[AlpineM]

Maybe patrol men should be aware that anything could happen in a split second so they should always be ready and always patrol on areas wherein ski hazards usually happen.

 

[catskills]

Here is list of many (not all) patroller duties. I hope after you read this you have a better appreciation for what patrollers do. Why do volunteer patrollers do all this work you may ask. Not sure why. Its definitely not for the free ski pass.

Early season setup and end of season take down 10,000+ lbs of the following gear:

1. Annual Outdoor Emergency Care refresher for Instructors (August/September)
2. refresh annual otudoor emergency care skills with instructors above (October/November)
3. complete annual CPR class
4. complete annual OSHA class
5. refresh annual lift evac training
6. Install tower pads
7. put up 100s of bamboo poles with orange disks on every man made object
8. setup closed and merge trail signs
9. rope off closed trails
10. install fencing
11. move toboggans, spine boards, traction splints, oxygen trauma bag, lift evac bags out of storage and place in caches all over the mountain

Every morning open the mountain duties:

1. safety check each trail
2. mark or remove unsafe conditions on trail such as fallen tree limbs
3. check and reset all hazard poles, closed signs, and merge trail signs
4. if necessary close that trail until the unsafe condition can be resolved
5. powder day first tracks - hey somebody has to do it.
6. check Oxygen level in O2 tanks every morning
7. check AED defibrillators every morning
8. check suction device
9. ensure all toboggans, spine boards, traction splinting, and lift evac bags are in place

Daily duties:

1. at least 1 hour bump duty waiting at top of mountain ready to help injured skier or rider
2. 11:00 am check trail you opened for hazards and anyone injured (state law required)
3. provide Outdoor Emergency Medical Care for injured or medical patients on the hill or in the lodge
4. proper communication with mountain dispatcher next level of EMS
5. transport patients to the first aid room
6. transport uninjured skiers and riders down the mountain that are on trails above their ability level
7. fill out medical paper work for any patients you provided treatment for
8. transfer patient to next level of care - EMS ambulance or medical helicopter
9. take toboggans and restocked toboggan pack back up chair lift and ski toboggan back in place at toboggan catch
10. replace any oxygen any other medical equipment used for patient care
11. do training exercises with toboggans and/or Outdoor Emergency Care
12. properly handle customers doing anything that may be unsafe to themselves or others

End of the day duties:

1. close lifts
2. sweep trails to ensure nobody is left on the mountain that may be injured.
3. wait to make sure nobody is lost or missing
4. if someone is missing go back out and find missing person sometimes in th dark
5. if nobody missing and all injuries have been treated, then you may leave

I am sure I left out some patroller duties, some of which may be unique to each resort.

As you can see, telling customers to slow down or pulling lift tickets for skiing a closed trail, is almost an insignificant part of the patroller's duties. Many resorts have mountain hosts in yellow jackets to handle safety duties.

When you see a ski patroller think of them as EMT that provides medical care and transports injured patients to the next level of care. EMTs in an ambulance are not police officers. Ski patrollers primary responsibility is helping the injured customer or a customer with a medical emergency. As time permits patrollers do the safety police work.

Almost forgot. Don't forget to feed the avalanche dogs after a hard day of work.

 

[RootDKJ]

Awesome post Catskills!

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Being a ski patroller is all about the Commaraderie and the circle jerks!!!!

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

Awesome post Catskills!

I agree, it was. Ski Patrol does alot.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

Being a ski patroller is all about the Commaraderie and the circle jerks!!!!

Throw out the juvenile circle jerk take and I think you’re on to something. Most people want to be around people with like interests.