Educational Program News

Calling All Telemark & Snowboard Patrollers

Join us at the Patroller School dedicated to only Telemark and Snowboard on Saturday and Sunday, February 8-9 at Waterville Valley, NH. What makes this patroller school different from all the others? There are only snowboarders training snowboarders and telemark skiers training telemark skiers. This small event is limited to 20 snowboarders and 20 telemark skiers, assuring a great teacher-to-student ratio.

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Nordic/Backcountry Events

See you on the snow!


Well, the new year kind of wreaked havoc with our snowpack leaving us firm to icy conditions, or no snow at all. But here in the east Mother Nature has a way of correcting herself. Our western regions received a good amount of lake-effect snow. This set us up nicely for Nordic Fest. Our second event at Pike Glades in NH is still in the planning stages and registration should open soon. Patrollerschool.org is the place to find out more information and to register. Our OET staff is putting more emphasis on skate skiing this season. This is the fastest-growing aspect of our sport, and who doesn’t want to look like Jessie Diggins? With trail running becoming so popular in the other seasons, runners have taken to skate skiing to enjoy the winter season and maintain their aerobic fitness.

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Senior OET Evaluation Changes

This year the Senior OET Evaluation includes two major updates to the format of the evaluation. The changes aim to make the assessment more relevant and practical, mirroring how these critical patroller skills are used in practice.

Patroller Skills-Blended Skills Run
Moving forward, all Senior Evaluations in the Eastern Division will evaluate patroller skills as a blended skills run, including snowplow, sideslip, moving change in direction (i.e. transition or pivot slip), and a static change in direction in a designated location (i.e., kick turn, wedge and match, jump turn or static 180 for snowboards).

In years past, a Senior Candidate would complete patroller skills separately, performing a snowplow run and a sideslip run. In practice, when a patroller is handling a toboggan they use a BLEND of these skills to achieve a smooth ride for the patient.

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Alumni to the Rescue

It can be difficult to find enough volunteers to cover all open ski patrol shifts, even for a small ski area that only requires a few patrollers at a time. When a couple of alumni patrollers approached me last winter to find out whether they could get involved at Otis Ridge Ski Patrol, WMA Region, I explored the possibility with area management and then invited the alumni patrollers to join us.

They quickly became part of the team, jumping in with enthusiasm, and often choose to ski at times when large midweek lesson programs are scheduled, so they’re available to lend a hand. Our alumni promote safety by riding the lift with children who are in group lessons. They’ve become strong ambassadors for our patrol by getting to know some of the pass holders and have started bringing up the idea of ski patrolling with some of them.

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Avalanche Courses Available

Hello everyone. Winter is upon us, and the snow has been falling. Thanks to some early-season storms the backcountry is skiing nicely. With that, it is time to think about avalanche safety when venturing into the backcountry. The Eastern Division is running three Level 1 Avalanche classes this season. If you are venturing out into Tuckerman Ravine or getting ready for the Certified program these classes are for you. Our first class is coming up soon, from January 24-26 at Whiteface Mountain in NY. Registration is now open.

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YAPs Are Heading to Smuggs Again!

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.

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Portrait of a Multi-Faceted Bike Patrol: HoliMont

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.

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Get Ready for Nordic Fest!

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 will soon be found on www.patrollerschool.org.

Hopefully, many of you have gone skiing in this early-season snow. I know that both Connecticut and Western Mass Regions’ patrollers have had several good skiing days. I’m sure that the New Hampshire and New York Regions’ patrollers have also been skiing, as we have been having a good time up in the Adirondacks.

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‘Smartersheet’ App for OET Instructors

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.

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