by Joni Porter, MTR Supervisor | Oct 23, 2025 | Division News, Program News
If you’re interested in attending an MTR course (Mountain Travel and Rescue), I recommend reaching out as soon as possible to get yourself on the list! MTR Courses are beginning to appear on the EDiv Calendar. They can also be found on EDiv’s Patroller School.
The role of the MTR Program is to provide ski patrollers and interested members of the public with knowledge and skills that:
- Enhance their effectiveness at ski patrolling.
- Build their outdoor leadership capacities.
- Enable them to serve as assets and leader in search and rescue operations, especially in winter settings and mountain environments.
HERE’S WHAT’S BEEN POSTED TO DATE
MTR LEVEL 1*:
-November 1-2, Allegany State Park, NY, Western New York Region (WNY)
-November 15-16, Laurel Summit Nordic, PA, Western Appalachian Region (WAPP)
-November 22-23, Ski Bradford, NH, Eastern -Massachusetts & Rhode Island, Maine, and New Hampshire Regions (EMARI, ME, NH)
-November 22-23, Jack Frost, PA, Eastern Pennsylvania (EPA)
-December 13-14, Highland Forest, NY, Eastern Division
MTR LEVEL 2**:
-February 6-8, Pidgeon Wilderness, NY, Eastern Division
*MTR Level 1 is a pre-requisite for MTR Level 2.
**MTR Level 1 and MTR Level 2 are both required to become a Nordic Senior and/or an MTR Instructor.
by Joni Porter, MTR Supervisor | Sep 13, 2025 | Division News, Program News
To All Patrollers
All of you who are instructors and instructor candidates, along with those of you who are familiar with Avalanche, MTR, and/or Nordic/BC skills, and are interested in becoming an instructor in one of these programs:
This year’s Avalanche, Mountain Travel & Rescue, and Nordic/Backcountry Instructor Refresher, best known as AMN2025, is being run September 27 & 28, 2025, at The Pike Glades in New Hampshire. Camping is available on-site, free of charge, beginning on Friday, September 26, 2025. Register on Patroller School for more details.
In Other News
National is beginning work on a hybrid MTR Level 1 course modeled on the Eastern Division’s hybrid MTR Level 1 course. The anticipated release date is March of 2026. There are three Eastern Division MTR ITs on the committee: Matt Karpinecz, Jeff Sargent, and me. The MTR Instructor Manual has been updated to align with the recently released “Mountaineering – Freedom of the Hills, 10th Edition,” which is used as the textbook for MTR Level 1 and Level 2 courses.
All division MTR Region Advisors have been invited to add their region’s 2025/2026 courses and clinics to an ‘MTR Course Schedule’ in Google Docs. This schedule also includes division-run courses. This is one of the ways we are achieving our goal of inter-region collaboration.
We will be asking every MTR Instructor and Instructor Candidate to do the online portion of the AMN Instructor Refresher every year. They’ll do this by registering for the hybrid portion only when registering for the AMN. This won’t fulfill the requirement of attending an instructor refresher once every three years, but it will keep all our instructors and instructor candidates engaged, informed, and current.
We’ve found that one-day MTR clinics are being very well attended and generate a lot of positive feedback. Some recent ones have been an MTR clinic for women, a navigation clinic, an uphill-travel clinic, and a low-angle-rescue clinic. Clinics are also a great way for instructor candidates to get in their required mentored instructing in their quest to become an MTR Instructor. Reach out to your region’s MTR advisor to find out where and what type of clinics will be offered this season.
Our newest MTR Region Advisors are Todd Wildman for EMARI and Monica Lee Zablotny for WNY. Much appreciation to John Caron and Mary MacQueen for previously serving in those positions.
I’d like to remind everyone that downloadable lists of all current MTR personnel appear on the Eastern Division’s website.
by Joni Porter, MTR Supervisor | Jun 5, 2025 | Program News
The Avalanche (AVY), Mountain Travel & Rescue (MTR), and Nordic/Backcountry (N/BC) programs have scheduled the Instructor Refresher AMN 2025 for September 27-28, 2025, at The Pike Glades in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.
AMN 2025 is open to instructors and instructor-candidates from all three programs. A gentle reminder that Avvy, MTR, and N/BC instructors need to recert once every three years. If you haven’t been able to do this, please contact your Region Advisor and/or your program’s Eastern Division Supervisor.
There will be pre-attendance refreshing to be completed online at Eastern Division’s Patroller School in addition to the in-person Global Continuing Education and program-run skill stations at The Pike Glades. You will be able to register for AMN 2025 at PatrollerSchool.org. Keep checking, AMN 2025 isn’t there yet!
Here are just a few of the details (more to come):
• On-site camping is available both Friday and Saturday nights.
• Breakfast and Lunch will be provided on Saturday.
• Breakfast will be provided on Sunday.
• Dinner on Saturday night will most likely be the usual potluck (we each bring something to share) but we’ll let you know.
Check out The Pike Glades or @ThePikeGlades on all social platforms.
Read the next Trail Sweep for more details!
by Joni Porter, MTR Supervisor | Jun 5, 2025 | Program News
Every patroller has taken the FEMA course Incident Command System 100 (ICS-100) as part of OEC, so, of course, we’ve all got that certification.
If you’ve taken Mountain Travel & Rescue Fundamentals (MTR F) or Mountain Travel & Rescue Level 1 (MTR 1), you’ve taken the FEMA course Incident Command System 700 (ICS-700).
Those lucky enough to have taken Mountain Travel & Rescue Level 2 (MTR 2) have taken the FEMA course Incident Command System 200 (ICS-200).
Some of you may have gotten these certifications as part of a Search and Rescue team, or just for fun.
Why am I writing about these?
NSP would like to know if you have these certifications! If you log on to NSP and check your profile, these certifications should be listed in your Education/Roles.
Are you checking? I’ll wait.
Do you see all three certifications? Some who have earned all three may see only one or two. You did the work…we’d love to see those certifications in your profile!
Let’s get this done!
To upload your ICS-200 or ICS-700 certificate:
• Log in to NSP and go to the Center for Learning.
• In the course search field, type in “Incident Command.”
• Enroll in the course titled: Incident Command System 200 or 700 Certificate Submission.
• Since you’ve already taken the FEMA courses and have your certificates, all you need to do is begin the course in the Center for Learning.
• The only requirement is to upload the certificate.
Thank you for taking care of this. Your profile will thank you.
by Joni Porter, MTR Supervisor | Jun 25, 2024 | Division News, Program News
Every Avalanche, Mountain Travel & Rescue, and Nordic/Backcountry Instructor must attend an Instructor Refresher every three years. These three programs work together to offer a combined Instructor Refresher annually. This year’s AMN Instructor Refresher is being held at Spring Mountain in Pennsylvania on September 14 & 15, 2024.
The program supervisors hold the AMN Instructor Refreshers in different 
regions every year so that hopefully one will be convenient for you to attend. Last year’s was at Gore Mountain in the ENY Region and the year before that was at Winding Trails in the CT Region.
Although attending an Instructor Refresher isn’t mandatory for Instructor-Candidates, this is a great opportunity for them to stay current and network. You might even find opportunities to do some mentored instructing during the upcoming season!
Of course, every patroller who is at all interested in becoming an instructor in one of these programs, or is simply interested in refreshing their Circle A or Circle M skills (you old-timers know what I’m talking about) is welcome to come on out.
Registration will be on Patroller School (www.patrollerschool.org) in mid-August.
