by Craig Larson, YAP Supervisor | Jan 18, 2025 | Division News, Program News
The Eastern Division Young Adult Program Staff has been planning, prepping, and preparing for this year’s Eastern Division Young Adult Summit at Smugglers’ Notch. Young Adult Patrollers from Maine to West Virginia will gather at Smugglers’ Notch Resort in Jeffersonville, VT. from March 7 to 10 for three days of hands-on training, competition, friendship, and fun.
Smugglers’ Notch Resort has tons of terrain: long turn cruisers, steeps, trees, terrain parks, and Black Hole, the only TRIPLE BLACK DIAMOND in the east. With 2610 feet of vertical rise this is the YAP event to attend.
Those who have been to a Young Adult Patroller Summit speak highly of the training and fun they had.
“What a great event. There aren’t other Young Adult Patrollers where I ski. I never knew there were so many. I’ll be back next year.” – First-year attendee
“I look forward to showing off my patroller skills at this event each year. This event gets bigger and better each time I attend. I love walking away with free stuff.” – Third-year attendee
If you have never attended an Eastern Division Young Adult Summit, this is the year to participate. If you have attended this event before, come again! Here’s what you get by attending this event:
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- Three nights of lodging (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
- Breakfast on Saturday and Sunday
- Dinner on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
- Lift Tickets for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday
- Hands-on Skills training
- Patroller Skills competition
- Mystery events
- FREE swag
ALL for $475.00!
More information regarding the YAP Seminar can be found on the Eastern Division webpage, patrollerschool.org, Facebook, and Instagram. Check our social media pages often as information is updated, swag is promoted, or goodies are given away.
by Dave Hawkes, HoliMont Bike Patrol PD/WNY Bike RA | Jan 18, 2025 | Program News, Region News
Bike patrols come in many different forms. Some, for example, serve cross-country mountain bike trails. Others provide medical support for races and festivals; some support lift-served bike parks. The HoliMont Bike Patrol in Ellicottville, NY, which just concluded its second season as a registered NSP bike patrol, works in all three ways.
Our bike patrol supports the HoliMont Bike Park and all other summer events. Although we’ve only had two seasons as a registered patrol, we’ve been actively supporting HoliMont for much longer. We started by providing medical/safety support for members who were riding the property’s cross-country mountain bike trails. Next, we found ourselves supporting off-road bike races. Then, HoliMont started offering lift access for mountain biking four years ago.
With the support of HoliMont, we registered as an NSP bike patrol and named two of our winter patrollers as primary members. I serve as Patrol Director and Mike Bailey, also from HoliMont, is our second primary member. In addition, we now have many darn good patrollers from all over WNY registered as secondary. Some are from HoliMont, but others are from nearby WNY winter patrols such as Holiday Valley, Kissing Bridge, Buffalo Ski Center, Cockaigne, and Allegheny Nordic.
We now have a dedicated group of over 20 bike patrollers who respond to incidents, provide medical support, and transport as necessary. We developed many new protocols, including guidelines for how to use our “Medlite” quad runner, fully equipped for incident response and transport.
Our average season is about 60 days, starting on Memorial Day weekend and ending after the Ellicottville, NY Fall Fest. Lifts are open and patrol is on-site every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In addition to recreational riding, the bike park features competitive events including mountain biking and cyclocross races. We also serve many other athletic events such as trail running, uphill challenges, and disc golf. All are staffed by our fully credentialed bike park patrollers.
This past summer, we partnered with our safety committee and hosted a two-day safety event. Ellen Conrad and Doug Levy, our Safety Advisor, organized the weekend and we staffed it with bike patrollers. There was great swag for participants! We ran the event on a weekend that included a mountain bike and a kids-on-bikes day. The timing was perfect. The NSP safety event was quite successful.
Like many bike patrols, our biggest challenge is recruiting, even though our requirements are minimal. In fact, riding a bike is not even required! This is because many of our responses are walk-ins or transported to the patrol medical center by our Medlite quad. And the benefit is that we get bike park access and can even earn winter lift tickets!
If you’re interested in learning more about our patrol, contact me at dhawkes184@gmail.com. If you want to learn more about forming a bike patrol contact Tim Franz, the Eastern Division Bike Program Supervisor.
by Trail Sweep Staff | Dec 18, 2024 | Division News, Program News
The Eastern Division has so much to offer patrollers. Take advantage
of events that are currently listed on the Eastern Division Calendar.
For information, go to the calendar and click on the event, go to the
Patroller School website, or contact the Program Advisor.
1/8 Patroller Stress Awareness Forum, ZOOM
1/11-12 Nordic Fest, Highland Forest, Fabius, NY
1/17/25 Certified Pre-Test, Sugarloaf, ME
1/18-19 Sugarloaf Patroller School, ME
1/24-26 Level 1 Avalanche, Whiteface, NY
1/25-26 Elk Mountain Patroller School, PA
1/25-26 WISP Patroller School, MD
1/31 Certified Pre-Test, Killington, VT
2/1-2 Killington Patroller School, Killington, VT
2/3-5 Level 1 Avalanche, Smugglers’ Notch, VT
2/8-9 Waterville Valley Tele/Snowboard School, NH
2/8-9 Gore Mountain Patroller School, NY
2/8-9 Plattekill Patroller School, NY
2/12 Patroller Stress Awareness Forum, ZOOM
3/7-9 Level 1 Avalanche, Mt. Washington, NH
3/7-9 Winter Division Officers’ Meeting
3/7-10 Young Adult Patroller Summit, Smugglers’ Notch, VT10
3/12 Patroller Stress Awareness Forum, ZOOM
3/13-16 Certified Annual Exam & Meeting, Jay Peak, VT (invitation only)
3/31 Memorial Fund Scholarship Applications Due
by Chuck Boyd, Nordic/Backcountry Supervisor | Dec 18, 2024 | Division News, Program News
Get ready for Nordic Fest! On the weekend of January 11-12, 2025, at Highland Forest in Fabius, NY, the Eastern Division’s Nordic/Backcountry program will be hosting a Nordic Fest. What is a Nordic Fest? It is the celebration of everything Nordic, ski clinics with a PSIA track and skate instructor, skills stations, Nordic senior training, and a nice meal on Saturday night.
You will learn new skills, make new friends, and maybe start your way toward becoming a senior patroller. There will be cabins available for lodging, but you should bring your own sleeping bag and sleeping pad. Camping is also available. Registration and more information can be found on www.patrollerschool.org.
Hopefully, many of you have gone skiing in this early-season snow. I know that patrollers from both Connecticut and Western Mass Regions have had several good skiing days. I’m sure the New Hampshire and New York Regions’ patrollers have also been skiing, as we have been having a good time up in the Adirondacks.
There is no database that lists Nordic patrollers in the Eastern Division. It would be great if we had a list of all the ED Nordic patrollers. I would like some help creating this database so we could all benefit from it. Here’s an example of where this would be useful. I’ve recently been contacted to provide coverage for several Nordic races in upstate NY. This becomes a difficult task without a current list of Nordic patrollers. If you’re willing to help, please contact me.
by Eric Kreckel, OET Steering Committee | Dec 18, 2024 | Division News, Program News
Currently, in the Eastern Division, there are over 800 toboggan instructors, over 200 senior trainer-evaluators, and over 100 instructor-trainers. At a division level, we are responsible for validating and submitting new instructor applications, instructor renewals, and instructor-trainer appointments to the national office annually.
To simplify the administrative tasks required to manage these, improve our accuracy, and provide transparency to the instructors themselves, the steering committee has developed and deployed the “Smartersheet” application. We encourage every toboggan instructor in the division to log into the app and review the status of their record.
The new and improved NSP Eastern Division OET help desk let’s you:
• View your instructor record
• Submit self-reporting items• Submit new instructor applications
• Submit instructor renewal applications
• Submit TTW or STW teaching observations
To gain access, use the ‘Forgot password?’ link on the login page and enter your email address. If the email address entered matches what we have on your record, a password reset link will be emailed to you. Otherwise, please submit a ticket to the OET Help Desk. This OET Help Desk also provides additional details on the capabilities of this app.
If there are any discrepancies in your record, please contact your OET RA. The steering committee will then work with your RA to make any necessary corrections and get them processed through the national office if necessary.
by John Wolf, Bike Supervisor | Dec 18, 2024 | National News, Program News
In case you missed the news in November, the National Ski Patrol and the National Interscholastic Cycling League (NICA) announced a Memorandum of Understanding describing a new partnership. This marks a significant milestone in expanding NSP’s impact beyond the slopes and into the rapidly growing world of youth cycling.
Founded in 2009, NICA “develops interscholastic mountain biking programs for student-athletes across the United States. NICA is about having amazing adventures with your teammates while tackling both small and epic challenges.” This partnership formally recognizes the vital role that bike patrollers can play in ensuring safety in youth mountain biking.
Even before this agreement, Liberty Mountain Ski Patrol in the Eastern Pennsylvania and Maryland Region started providing first responder services to their local NICA leagues and has already demonstrated how successful this relationship can be for both organizations.
The 2024 season showcased the potential of this collaboration when we supported both the Maryland (MICL) and the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Cycling Leagues (PICL). Our dedicated team provided patrol services for seven events, contributing over 100 patroller hours. The patrol’s comprehensive approach included pre-event virtual huddles with stakeholders and planning how to coordinate with on-site medical staff, ensuring seamless integration of emergency management protocols and site-specific logistics.
One of the most remarkable outcomes of our partnership with the local NICA leagues has been the translation of Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) skills from snow to dirt. Our OEC training provided an exceptional foundation for handling cycling-specific injuries by using the same assessment and treatment protocols. The familiar equipment from winter patrolling – such as trauma packs, splinting materials, and bleeding control supplies – proved equally valuable during summer events, though we adapted them for a different type of mobile deployment. Patrollers reported how their experience with the mechanism of injury assessment on the slopes transferred perfectly to evaluating bicycle crashes, allowing for quick and accurate scene size-ups, and treatment decisions.
Another significant advantage that our patrollers brought to the local NICA league events was their extensive experience with radio communications and incident coordination. Years of managing on-mountain communications proved invaluable on mountain biking race day. Patrollers’ familiarity with clear, concise radio protocols, emergency response coordination, and maintaining effective communication to manage an incident across challenging cycling terrain helped establish efficient information flow between course marshals, medical support, and race operations. This professional communication standard enhanced overall event safety and response coordination, particularly in areas with limited cell service where reliable radio communication was crucial.
The impact of our partnership with the local leagues was immediately evident. The local league organizers repeatedly emphasized how the NSP presence significantly enhanced their emergency management capabilities. At one particularly challenging event, our dedicated bike patrollers demonstrated their value when they quickly responded to multiple incidents across the course, providing immediate care while at the same time coordinating with event staff to ensure optimal outcomes.
The successful integration of NSP’s expertise with NICA’s youth development mission has created a model partnership that benefits everyone – from the young riders pushing their limits while their dedicated friends, family members, and other volunteers support them to the patrollers who hone their first response skills during the summer.
This new collaboration between NSP and NICA represents more than just an operational partnership; it’s an investment in the future of both organizations. As NICA continues its impressive growth nationwide, the presence of NSP-certified bike patrollers adds an essential layer of safety and professionalism to youth cycling events.
For the Eastern Division, this partnership opens new avenues for member engagement and demonstrates our organization’s versatility and commitment to outdoor safety across all seasons in an area where NICA participation is growing rapidly. The enthusiasm and appreciation shown by NICA’s national organization, local leagues, coaches, and participants confirm that this partnership will be a cornerstone of both organizations’ futures.
by Tim Franz, Bike Supervisor | Dec 18, 2024 | Division News, Program News
Say “Alumni Patroller,” many NSP members picture a grey-haired patroller who moves slowly and has little left to contribute because their knees have given out. On the other hand, say the phrase “Bike Patroller,” and many members picture someone young speeding down a black diamond, dodging trees, and launching off gap jumps.
These images are drastically different! But here’s where these trails cross: bike patrolling allows an alumni patroller to stay active and involved. How can that be? Both images described are ridiculously outdated stereotypes. Read more to see how this relationship helps bike patrols and alumni members.
There are many ways in which bike patrols operate. Some support the typical lift-served, downhill mountain bike parks, functioning like any traditional alpine patrol. Others serve gravel paths or cross-country mountain bike trails, like Nordic or backcountry. Some patrols serve on paved bike paths that meander along rivers or lakes, offering a different experience from winter patrols. Finally, some bike patrols only provide medical support for events such as bike races.
The slower speeds when riding roads, gravel, or cross-country trails make it a perfect fit for many alums who might already be doing these activities to stay fit and active. Some bike units even allow members to use pedal-assist e-bikes, making the experience more accessible and enjoyable.
You can become a bike host as an alumni patroller with a paid NSP membership. Your alumni status remains your primary unit, while your bike host unit becomes your secondary. To become an alumni bike host, the unit you want to join must have a host program. You must also have the bike skills relevant for that unit, take the hybrid courses for your patrol (such as Bike 1), be up to date with medical, and refresh your CPR. In host units, Outdoor First Care (OFC) is sufficient medical training. If your OEC has expired, you can take NSP’s much shorter OFC course. Once you’ve met these requirements and become part of the bike patrol, your education record is updated.
Our personal experience shows how this can work. Our trails crossed when we met through our local bike unit, GROC Mountain Bike Patrol, and we’ve since become good friends. Our patrol supports cross-country mountain bike trails and events and has OEC-trained and OFC-trained host members. Skip, a retired patroller with over 50 years of experience, is our region’s alumni advisor who keeps his OEC/CPR current. Before joining, he rode his bike for his health, like many people do. Tim, an active bike and ski patroller, is a testament that you don’t need to be a daredevil to be part of a bike patrol. We often patrol together and sometimes even ski during Tim’s winter patrol shifts (though Skip is retired from alpine work).
Skip Millor (Alum!) & Tim Franz (not Alum!) patrolling together as part of the GROC Mountain Bike Unit. Image credit: Tim Franz
by Matt Nebzydoski, OET Supervisor | Nov 18, 2024 | Division News, Program News
OET has been working hard all summer to prepare for the upcoming season. This winter we will introduce new initiatives including the first version of the Toboggan Fundamentals, updating some components of the Senior OET assess⇒ment, new online Moodle School course offerings, and version 2.0 of the OET TE Handbook. This December, OET Staff will meet with Regional and National ski and toboggan leadership at Killington for our annual training. The updates will be communicated through patroller schools and regional clinics.
What are the Toboggan Fundamentals? The Toboggan Fundamentals are launching this season across the divisions and include four statements that we believe are present at all levels of toboggan handling and tail rope work from candidates to certified patrollers. They capture the safety, technical skills, route selection, and communication necessary for safe patient transport.
Toboggan Fundamentals
→ Employ sound judgment to ensure the safety of the toboggan handlers, passengers, and the public.
→Use a blend of technical fundamentals and chain/rope management to control the speed and direction of the toboggan.
→Use route selection and other tactical skills to optimize the toboggan path to safely arrive at a scene or transport a patient.
→Employ appropriate communication between toboggan handlers, passengers, and the public.
OET Moodle School Course Offerings
New OET courses for this season will include a course titled Building Great Instructors focused on the integration of the PSIA-AASIA Learning Connection Model into our training. The introduction focuses on how great instructors blend excellent technical skills with a strong knowledge of teaching and people skills to connect with learners. Expect to hear more about this theme as the season progresses. We have also updated our instructor, TE, and IT prep courses. OET recommends that any patroller interested in progressing in their skills check them out, and especially encourage aspiring toboggan instructors and TEs to take advantage of the wealth of information contained in each course module.
Senior Program Updates
The Senior OET Assessment will be updated this year to include some new elements and increase the relevance of testing components. OET Skills will be combined into one run rather than artificially isolating the skills. Candidates will demonstrate the skills needed for the terrain they are navigating and incorporate the skills into their toboggan and tail rope work. A loaded toboggan traverse will also be included that will have driver and tail rope candidates demonstrate the ability to work together as a team to traverse around an obstacle. In a practical sense, the traverse will simulate getting around a rock, tower, bare patch, or other obstacle while safely transporting an injured patient. The goal is to make the assessment more relevant and advance the skills required in senior terrain. More information and senior training opportunities will be available at patroller schools and regional OET clinics throughout the season. Reach out to your local TEs and Regional Leadership to learn more and get involved.
by Bill Zink, Certified Supervisor | 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!
