Zand
Well-known member
Ski assured, for the band of 140 volunteer ski patrollers watching your back on Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Princeton is the finest in the country.
It’s true. The best.
The Wachusett Mountain Ski Patrol has received the National Outstanding Large Alpine Patrol Award from the National Ski Patrol.
The designation as the finest of the finest comes on the heels of having received the Eastern Division Large Alpine Patrol Award, according to Richard F. Hamlin of Vermont, director of the Eastern Division of the National Ski Patrol.
“The requirements to qualify for this award are pretty vast,” Mr. Hamlin said yesterday.
The award means that, of the 700 large alpine ski patrols operating under strict National Ski Patrol standards, the Wachusett Mountain Ski Patrol, under the leadership of patrol Director Edward C. McNamara, stands above the rest.
This is no namby-pamby award for recreational skiers looking for a little downhill exhilaration and relaxation. Heck, if it were that easy to be a volunteer ski patroller, I’d be doing it.
To be a volunteer ski patroller under the National Ski Patrol standards, you have to first take an outdoor emergency care course two nights a week for a third of a year, prove you learned every care skill taught there, then go for rigorous on-the-mountain training to learn how to prevent accidents and what to do if an accident happens.
Serving on a ski patrol is additional work and responsibility for people who already work full time in a variety of occupations. These are the people who mark the mountains for safety, keep watch over skier interactions, and rush to you with a toboggan transport if you get injured.
One of the reasons the Wachusett Ski Patrol was designated as most outstanding, Mr. Hamlin said, is that the patrollers do so much more than is required — and do it all with skill.
They attend extra classes, attain high-level certifications and extend themselves beyond Wachusett Mountain duties to help skiers at other mountains.
In a word: dedication.
And they do not do this on a whim when they have nothing else on their social calendars, or when the snow appears particularly fluffy. Every volunteer in patrols under the National Ski Patrol standards must be on a mountain 20 days a ski season, which Mr. Hamlin said is about once a week.
Wachusett Mountain patrollers each work two four-hour shifts a week, according to Mr. McNamara, who is so proud of the 140-member patrol he oversees.
“We actually won it 20 years ago and we won it again this year. We’re actually thrilled,” Mr. McNamara said from the Central Mass. Emergency Medical Services Corp. in Holden, where he is executive director.
“It’s an outstanding award. It’s really incredible,” he said.
Michael Halloran, ski patrol manager for Wachusett Mountain, is no less impressed with every skier in the award-winning patrol. He described members as “highly motivated and certainly dedicated to helping skiers in distress.”
Well, here’s hoping you never find yourself in distress on Wachusett Mountain. But if you do, the finest ski patrollers in the entire country will be there to help you.
Source: Telegram & Gazette 10/20/2006
It’s true. The best.
The Wachusett Mountain Ski Patrol has received the National Outstanding Large Alpine Patrol Award from the National Ski Patrol.
The designation as the finest of the finest comes on the heels of having received the Eastern Division Large Alpine Patrol Award, according to Richard F. Hamlin of Vermont, director of the Eastern Division of the National Ski Patrol.
“The requirements to qualify for this award are pretty vast,” Mr. Hamlin said yesterday.
The award means that, of the 700 large alpine ski patrols operating under strict National Ski Patrol standards, the Wachusett Mountain Ski Patrol, under the leadership of patrol Director Edward C. McNamara, stands above the rest.
This is no namby-pamby award for recreational skiers looking for a little downhill exhilaration and relaxation. Heck, if it were that easy to be a volunteer ski patroller, I’d be doing it.
To be a volunteer ski patroller under the National Ski Patrol standards, you have to first take an outdoor emergency care course two nights a week for a third of a year, prove you learned every care skill taught there, then go for rigorous on-the-mountain training to learn how to prevent accidents and what to do if an accident happens.
Serving on a ski patrol is additional work and responsibility for people who already work full time in a variety of occupations. These are the people who mark the mountains for safety, keep watch over skier interactions, and rush to you with a toboggan transport if you get injured.
One of the reasons the Wachusett Ski Patrol was designated as most outstanding, Mr. Hamlin said, is that the patrollers do so much more than is required — and do it all with skill.
They attend extra classes, attain high-level certifications and extend themselves beyond Wachusett Mountain duties to help skiers at other mountains.
In a word: dedication.
And they do not do this on a whim when they have nothing else on their social calendars, or when the snow appears particularly fluffy. Every volunteer in patrols under the National Ski Patrol standards must be on a mountain 20 days a ski season, which Mr. Hamlin said is about once a week.
Wachusett Mountain patrollers each work two four-hour shifts a week, according to Mr. McNamara, who is so proud of the 140-member patrol he oversees.
“We actually won it 20 years ago and we won it again this year. We’re actually thrilled,” Mr. McNamara said from the Central Mass. Emergency Medical Services Corp. in Holden, where he is executive director.
“It’s an outstanding award. It’s really incredible,” he said.
Michael Halloran, ski patrol manager for Wachusett Mountain, is no less impressed with every skier in the award-winning patrol. He described members as “highly motivated and certainly dedicated to helping skiers in distress.”
Well, here’s hoping you never find yourself in distress on Wachusett Mountain. But if you do, the finest ski patrollers in the entire country will be there to help you.
Source: Telegram & Gazette 10/20/2006
