The Certified Program had a very good year. We participated in the Far West Nutz and Boltz event at Mt. Hood in June, held our annual Boot Camp in Pennsylvania at Ski Roundtop in August, our Enhanced Patroller School at Swain in Genesee Valley, New York in September, two pretests – Hunter and Killington in January/February, Killington Patroller School and Intro to Certified Event in February, and our Annual Exam at Sugarloaf, Maine in March.
Turnout at all events was strong. We had a total of seven candidates take our exam. The weather turned warm, it rained, and then froze for two weeks prior. Needless to say, the terrain was NOT available to run the OET components of the exam. We also had to offer a bye on the Avalanche Beacon Search due to inadequate snow cover.
We are hot and heavy preparing for our visit to Nutz and Boltz again at Mt. Hood in early June. There is a strong push to introduce four-handled sled training in our Eastern Division quiver. We are seeing resorts with side country access and our backcountry and Nordic patrollers are seeing the value of this tool. We have been introduced to the basics of handling a four-handled sled and expect to perfect our teaching skills this year. In addition, we will be calibrating our rope and avalanche modules while participating.
Our next activity will be our annual Boot Camp. This year’s event will be held at Magic Mountain in Southern Vermont on August 7, 8 and 9. Our Enhanced Patroller School will be held at Swain on September 18, 19 and 20. We are currently planning our two pretests again this year. The first is yet to be determined and the second will be integrated into our Intro to Certified Program at Killington. Tentative save the dates are as follows:
• Pre test 1 – location TBD February 7
• Pre test 2 – location Killington February 12
• Intro to Certified – location Killington February 13 and 14
• Our exam will be held at Smugglers’ Notch the week after the YAP event on March 18-21.
Looking forward to seeing you soon!
