by Bill Zink, Certified Chair | Nov 18, 2024 | Division News, Program News
Happy fall almost winter fellow patrollers. As the Chair of the Eastern Division Certified Program, I am pleased to report that we remain active in developing the division’s program for the 2024/2025 ski season. Your team of certified patrollers participates in every aspect of NSP from active year-round patrolling to being on our National Board. It is hard to account for the manhours that go into running the NSP and its programs.
One might question the sanity of it all. In the end, our job is to assist our employers and ski areas to provide a safe and fun experience for all their guests and to make the work environment safe for our fellow employees. The behind-the-scenes work does not start and stop with the snow!
As of this writing, we have wrapped up both our 12th annual Certified Boot Camp and Enhanced Patroller School. This year’s Boot Camp was held August 16-18 at Holiday Mountain Ski and Fun Park in Monticello, NY. The resort was recently purchased by a fellow patroller who graciously hosted us for the weekend. Check out this up-and-coming resort in the Southern Catskills, 85 miles North of NYC.
Given that we were hosted by a ski resort, we had access to a host of real-life activities that go into the summer months of a resort. Ongoing revenue-generating activities, chairlift maintenance, snowmaking equipment upgrades, and trail clearing to name a few. This gave way to much discussion about Outdoor Risk Management and the preseason thought that needs to go into making our resorts safer before the snow flies.
Taking advantage of being at an active resort, we focused Saturday on lift evacuation planning and different scenarios that may present themselves. Of great interest to our resorts is addressing the situation of an unseated guest. There are lots of scenarios that may present themselves to the mountain with unseated guests. Things we discovered included:
- What are the conditions?
- Where does it occur along the chairlift – bottom, top, middle?
- Stop the chair or keep it running?
- Tools available to rescuers – nets, bean bags, ladders, ropes, blankets, tarps?
- Why is the person unseated?
- What is the age and physical condition of the person?
- What is mountain protocol and how is it coordinated and/or communicated between different departments?
- Overall situational awareness?
- What are best practices and how long do you have to react?
These are only the tip of the iceberg. We decided to recreate an unseated passenger scenario. We had an 8-year-old, 12-year-old, and 50-year-old hang from the chair with their hands. All wore gloves, did not have ski gear or ski equipment on (therefore holding much less weight), and were hanging on the metal edge of the chairlift, not the seat. Therefore, they could grip a 3” piece of metal tubing.
How long can they hang on detailing how much time any rescuer has to react? After three different attempts, each child could hang on for just over 3 minutes; the adult, just under 2 minutes. This was in a controlled environment. They were supported by ropes with a net, no ski gear, and an 80-degree sunny day.
The conclusion is that the resort departments need to have a communication and rescue plan in place before anything like this happens with some guidelines for lift operators, patrol, and ski school (other departments as well) on how quickly those 2-3 minutes will go and what you should do about it given a variety of scenarios.
We hope you take this information back to your resort, discuss what to do if you have an unseated passenger, and ensure that the plan is communicated to all departments!
by Bill Zink, Certified Chair | Jun 25, 2024 | Division News, Program News
Certified Chair Bill ZinkMy name is Bill Zink. I started patrolling in 1994 at Ski Roundtop, a little hill in the southwest section of the Eastern Pennsylvania Region of the Eastern Division of the National Ski Patrol. I received my rust and blue coat on February 13, 1995, from one of the best trainers, Gordie Bell.
The next night, in my rush to get out on the slope and patrol, I promised my wife Natalie I would be home by 8 pm on Valentine’s night to celebrate our new house. Somewhere around 7:30 pm, while riding the chairlift, I witnessed a high-speed collision of two skiers. They were both young men in high school. Once the dust settled, one boy lay on the ground unconscious, and the other was walking around in a dazed state.
I unloaded the chair, had the lift operator radio in the event and location, and made my way to the scene. Both patients survived. One was flown by helicopter to a nearby trauma center and the other went with ALS. I arrived home at midnight, February 14, 1995.
That day impacted my life in so many ways. It set me on a course of perpetual learning. I never wanted to be the guy that didn’t know what to do when the poop hits the fan. Fast forward to 2024 and I am now newly elected chair of the Eastern Division Certified Program. I currently patrol at Ski Whitetail, a Vail resort; Timberline Mountain in Davis, West Virginia (Southern Division); and as a part-time Pro at The Hermitage in southern Vermont. I love the sport of skiing. I love ski patrolling. And I love the friends that I have made in the industry.
I look forward to the next several years. I want to share the impact the industry and the Certified program has had on my life. The Journey to Certified is just that. A journey. It is a worthy journey no matter the outcome.
I am still married to the same woman as I was on that fateful Valentine’s night in 1995. While she can’t say she loves skiing and ski patrol as much as I do, she will say she does love the people and what it has meant to me and our life.
To learn more about our program, consider participating in one of our two summer/fall events, a “Summer Certified Boot Camp” scheduled for August 16-18 at Holiday Mountain Ski Area in Monticello, NY or an “Enhanced Patroller School” at Swain Resort the weekend of September 13-15th. Go to www.patrollerschool.org for registration details and information about these summer programs. See www.Nspeast.org/certified for details on the Certified Program.
by Bill Zink, Certified Chair | Jun 25, 2024 | Division News, National News, Program News, Spotlight Articles
Happy Summer fellow Ski Patrollers. As the new chair of the Eastern Division Certified Program, I am humbled by the outpouring of support our members offer the Eastern Division. I participated in my first ever Eastern Division Spring Officers Meeting. My job was to report to the ED leadership team our accomplishments.
As I prepped for the meeting, I started reviewing what our accomplishments were for the year. Then it struck me that maybe it was time to refresh our fellow patrollers on what the Certified Program is all about. Below is an excerpt from a letter from the National Director of the NSP in 1964 and the directive which created the Certified Program as we know it today.
In 1964, National Director Chuck Schobinger forwarded a committee report from the Southern Rocky Mountain Division to George Wesson, Jr. to work out the details for a ‘Certified’ program. The report read: “It is the desire of the paid patrolmen of the NSPS to continually strive for higher standards for all ski patrolmen. Hence, this Certified ski patrolmen program is instituted to give recognition to those who have devoted the extra time and effort to pursue a course of self-development beyond the minimum requirements of the senior ski patrolmen. This program is necessary for the NSPS to keep pace with the technological developments in the sport of skiing and to encourage ski patrolmen to better fulfill the ever-increasing demands and expectations of ski area management and the skiing public.”
The Eastern Division put together a committee of inspiring New England patrollers, which included George Wesson Jr., Rudy Carlson, Wayne Doss, Dexter Galusha, and Casey Rowley to work out the details and proficiency requirements for a pilot program. It would demand the highest level of proficiency from patrollers through training and testing and would promote a level of patrolling in which there would be no compromise with excellence in skiing, first aid, patrol management, administration, and leadership.
First Certified TestTwo years later, during the 1967-68 season, the pilot program was launched. Thirty-four candidate applications were received. Only eight were accepted. Seven candidates showed up at Wildcat Mountain in New Hampshire for the first ‘Certified’ Ski and Toboggan Exam. PSPA was asked for their help in administering the exam to help give credibility to the program for the professionals. The courses were long and challenging using the most difficult terrain Wildcat had to offer. All seven candidates participating were successful and were invited to the first ‘Certified’ First Aid Exam to be held at Killington in April 1968.
The first aid problems were challenging and realistic, many taken from actual accident reports of some of the most unusual or difficult accident scenarios New England Ski Areas had seen. In some scenarios the actual patients were asked to ‘relive’ their accidents by replaying the roles of patients during the exam. In addition to first aid skills, the candidates would be expected to demonstrate a thorough understanding of patrol/management relationship and ski area operation knowledge.
Interviews were conducted for each candidate as if they were applying for a position of patrol leader at their mountain. In the early years of the program, the interviews were conducted by the actual owners and managers of the ski area. Questions concerning snowmaking and lifts, trail markings and grooming, staffing requirements and payroll, equipment needs and costs, mass casualty plans and risk management, legal and liability concerns, federal, state, and local laws and protocol would all be fair game. All seven candidates again passed this portion of the exam becoming the first NSPS ‘Certified’ Patrollers.
Today’s exam now consists of 10 modules (some modules have multiple components). The modules include Outdoor Emergency Care; Outdoor Emergency Transportation; Avalanche; Outdoor Risk Management; Lift Evacuation; and Low Angle Rescue. The exam takes three days to administer and is in March of each year. A successful candidate has three years to successfully pass all 10 modules. If not successful, you must start again.
To learn more about our program, consider participating in one of our two summer/fall events, a “Summer Certified Boot Camp” scheduled for August 16-18 at Holiday Mountain Ski Area in Monticello, NY or an “Enhanced Patroller School” at Swain Resort the weekend of September 13-15th.
Go to www.patrollerschool.org for registration details and information about these summer programs. See www.Nspeast.org/certified for details on the Certified Program. A special thanks to Peter Neefus for the history!
