by Bill Zink, Certified Supervisor | Jul 4, 2025 | Program News
The NSP Certified Program is a performance-based leadership program that provides an opportunity for patrollers to learn and be tested on critical patroller skills/knowledge. The program has a distinguished history with many of its members serving in national, division, regional, and local patrol leadership positions. Certified patrollers have a history of commitment to giving back, fostering learning, and progressing core patroller skills over the years.
Success in the program is hard-earned, requiring a real commitment to mastering multiple patrol-related disciplines, often over multiple years, across regions and divisions, to gain a vast and deep knowledge/skill base. Through the program, our members not only build a best-in-class level of expertise but also a sense of camaraderie with fellow patrollers as they work outside their local patrol/region.
Your preparation to participate will provide a unique opportunity to learn from others, broaden your experience, and sharpen your skills. Admission is not automatic. To apply as a candidate, an applicant’s credentials are reviewed by a committee to ensure a minimal level of experience, a commitment to the program, and a track record of leadership and support of their local patrol/region.
Qualified individuals are invited to participate in the annual certified exam. This exam is an intensive 3-day event that tests all aspects of your patrolling skills. During the season, multiple events are hosted, including a summer boot camp, to help hone skills and prepare candidates to be successful.
The Certified Program has six core components examining physical endurance, knowledge, and experience, all requiring individual study and travel. The six core components are Avalanche, Outdoor Emergency Care, Outdoor Risk Management, Rope Rescue, Skiing and Riding, and Toboggan Handling. The specifics of each component can be found below in a document titled Certified Program Operations Manual.
This member-driven and approved standard is without compromise, where excellence is mandatory and the contents of exams are constantly evolving to remain current with best practices and industry standards.
Over the past years, we have concluded that we make great patrollers even better through a combination of training, education, and teaming opportunities. We are working hand in hand with the National Ski Patrol to develop future leaders and excellent patrollers. We have a significant pipeline, and we continue to engage and expand our reach into the ranks of the NSP, including active participation in all levels of training, testing, leadership development, and diversification of the NSP across every program offered.
by Bill Zink, Certified Supervisor | Jun 5, 2025 | Division News, Program News
It’s that time of year again to plan your summer/fall patrol activities. Two of our favorites are back this year: Certified Boot Camp and Enhanced Patroller School. Both promise new adventures, team-building opportunities, and activities that will definitely stretch your skills and thought processes.
Last year’s Boot Camp events included fundamental first aid, mass casualty and triage skill development, new and creative approaches to lift evacuation skills, mountain operations, tower climbing dos and don’ts, outdoor risk management, avalanche fundamentals, and low-angle rescue. Our event was hosted at Holiday Mountain Ski Area in the Southern New York Region. It provided unique insights into what it takes to “open” an abandoned ski resort. Thanks to Mike Taylor, a fellow patroller and new owner of the resort, for being a gracious host and a brave entrepreneur.
Highlights from last year’s Boot Camp include:
• A Friday night lift evacuation exercise with all participants assigned a role in a simulated lift evac. The players included state and local officials, mountain management, resort operations manager, lift maintenance, and patrol. The scenario was presented to the participants through role-playing. All in attendance gained valuable experience in understanding the roles and responsibilities associated with lift evacuation. We all gained new appreciation for all the players involved in a lift evacuation.
• An ORM session led by certified patroller and mountain manager, Ted Davis, from Ski Windham, and
• A discussion of certified credentials held late on a hot day in the river, allowing for a refreshing discussion of the topic.
2025 Boot Camp
This year’s Certified Boot Camp will be hosted by Ski Roundtop, a Vail resort located just south of Harrisburg, PA. Activities will include a ropes course, camping by the lake, paintball opportunities, and unique insights into the operations of a Vail Resort, as well as:
• Your “normal” OEC, LE, LAR, and Avalanche activities.
• Friday night will include a visit from a local taco truck vendor.
• The usual chefs will be in the house, including Steve Suomala and Jimmy O’Connor, and their famous breakfast burritos.
• There will be a special visit from past certified chair and Elk Mountain patroller Billy Jordan. He will be catering the Saturday night potluck with his world-famous barbecue.
• If you want to make it a long weekend, Hershey Park is only 20 minutes away and is an awesome amusement park.
• Details for the Certified Boot Camp are:
̶ Ski Roundtop, Harrisburg, PA
̶ Visit patrollerschool.org for more detailed information and upcoming registration
̶ August 15-17
̶ Arrive Friday from 4-6
̶ Depart Sunday 2-3
by Alan Quimby, WNY Newlstter Editor | Jun 5, 2025 | Division News, Program News
Lift Evac PracticeThe Genesee Valley Region has set the date and location for its popular Enhanced Patroller School. It will be held September 12-14, 2025, at Swain Resort. This great summer training event allows patrollers to work on various patroller skills, including many aspects of the OEC program, chairlift evacuation techniques, low-angle rescue methods, and rescue knot tying. The weekend culminates with a simulated mass casualty incident on Sunday morning, bringing together all the skills reviewed during the previous two days. Many of the skills covered are part of the NSP Certified Patroller Program.
Last year’s event, also at Swain, was attended by 53 participants and 12 gurus whose task was to help guide the various stations. These patrollers came from 23 patrols, 12 regions, nine states, and had a combined total of over 800 years of patrolling experience. Additionally, several outside agencies also participated in the simulated mass casualty Incident on Sunday, including:
Thanks to our Helpers!
Allegany County Office of Emergency Management
Alfred Station Fire Company
Canaseraga Fire Company
Dansville Ambulance Company
Medical Transport Service, Inc.
Canaseraga Ambulance
Fillmore Ambulance
Nunda Ambulance
Allegany County DC 4
Jeff Baker and Tom Wallin have been organizing these training events since 2011. Jim Nickerson and Joe Menichino have been planning and working since the beginning. From year to year, they bring in additional patrollers from around the division to help act as guides and gurus because they have expertise in the different modules they are planning. This school has always been a low-pressure, hands-on, try stuff, get your hands dirty (or bloody), and ask questions type of event.
They have always wanted it accessible to patrollers of any level, including candidates, basic patrollers, senior candidates, and senior and certified patrollers. They want everyone to have fun, learn stuff, and take ideas back to their home patrols. With patrollers coming from around the division, as you sit around the fire pit talking at night, you get an interchange of ideas and techniques from many other patrollers.
Jeff Baker patrols at Bristol Mountain, Tom Wallin and Joe Menichino at Swain Resort, and Jim Nickerson is an alumnus patroller from Hunt Hollow Resort. To register for this event, go to NSP’s Center for Learning, browse the catalog, and search for Patroller Enrichment Seminar/Genesee Valley/Swain Resort.
The GURUS2024 Enhanced Patroller School Staff – from L-R; Jonathan Smith-Pittsford Ambulance, Glenn Becker-Bristol Patrol Director/Penfield Ambulance, Jeff Baker-Bristol Patrol/Pittsford Ambulance/Lifetime Certified, Jim Nickerson-Lifetime Certified, Joe Menichino-Swain & Bristol Patrol/Lifetime Certified, Jesse Merdak-Pittsford Ambulance, Tom Wallin-Swain Patrol/Lifetime Certified, Steve LaDue-Hunt Hollow Patrol/CHS Ambulance, Rob Armet-Windham Patrol/Lifetime Certified.
by Bill Zink, Certified Supervisor | Apr 15, 2025 | Division News, Program News
Peter, Becky, Vinny, RJ, and Certified Program Chair Bill Zink
The Eastern Division recently held our annual Certified exam and banquet at Jay Peak with over 118 participants lying in the snow as OEC patients and observing our eight candidates show their stuff in skiing, toboggan skills, lift evacuation, low-angle rescue, avalanche, and outdoor risk management. Of course, Jay Peak delivered an excellent venue, terrific skiing, and amazing and challenging terrain. Four of the eight candidates were successful. They include Vinny Romano #870, Becky Rubin #871, Peter Buss #872, and RJ Bouchard #873.
A heartfelt congratulations to all four of these candidates. Vinny, Becky, and Peter were in their third and final year to be successful. RJ was in his second year. These new Certified Patrollers represent the Eastern Division well. They hail from Western Pennsylvania, Western New York, Connecticut, and Vermont resorts. These new members are already in leadership positions across the division, and we look forward to seeing their contributions in the future.
The Certified Program is a performance-based leadership program that provides an opportunity for all patrollers to learn and be tested on critical patroller skills and knowledge. The program history dates back almost 60 years, when the national chair requested some East Coast patrollers develop a leadership program that would span both the volunteer and professional patroller organizations and skill sets.
Upcoming events include a summer boot camp in the EPA region in August. Specifically, Vail Resort Ski Roundtop in Harrisburg, PA, will host us from August 15-17. The Enhanced Patroller School will also be offered again at Swain Ski Resort in Genesee Valley Region on the weekend of September 12 – 14. Both events will challenge the instructors and participants in all their skills and offer great camaraderie and adventure. Next year’s exam will be at Sugarloaf, Maine, in March 2026.
Again, congratulations to our newest Certified Members!
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!
by Trail Sweep Staff | Jun 27, 2024 | Division News, Program News, Spotlight Articles
CERTIFIED BOOT CAMP
HOLIDAY MOUNTAIN, NY – Friday, August 16 – Sunday, August 18
For full information: https://www.patrollerschool.org/events/events/certified-boot-camp-2023-mt-bethel-pa-2/
Join us at Holiday Mountain Ski & Fun Park in Monticello, NY, for a gathering of like-minded Ski Patrollers in a rustic camping environment, all looking to learn about the Certified program and enhance or broaden their patroller skill set. The goal this season is “deep dive into lift evac.” The certified program modules that will be covered at this event will be:
- Lift Evacuation
- Outdoor Risk Management
- Avalanche
- Low Angle Rescue
- OEC Assessment, Skill & MCI Scenarios
OVERALL AGENDA
Boot Camp provides:
- Friday — 4:00-6:00 pm – Arrival & Camp Set-up
- Friday — 7:00 pm Meeting
- Breakfast and Lunch on Saturday and Sunday
- Saturday is BOOT CAMP training Day
- Dinner Saturday Night
- Bonfire — FUN
ENHANCED PATROLLER SCHOOL
SWAIN MOUNTAIN, NY – Friday, September 13 – Sunday, September 15
For full information: https://www.patrollerschool.org/events/divi-home/certified-program/
This event is low pressure — you can learn, have fun, and network with other patrollers from all around the division. It is open to any currently registered member of NSP, candidate through Certified. It is a hands-on, get dirty, get bloody, play with different gear event. Typical included modules include:
- Lift evacuation
- Low angle rope rescue,
- OEC assessment and skill building,
- ORM discussions,
- An MCI drill with outside EMS agencies.
Patroller School provides:
- Great food all three days,
- An easy-going, no pressure learning environment,
- Looking at many different ways to meet an objective.
What you need to bring:
- An open mind,
- Gear that you would like to show off or work with,
- Your first aid pack with gloves and supplies.
Rough agenda:
- Friday — 1:00 pm – Arrival, registration, and camp set up
- Friday — 3:00-6:00 pm – Knot tying and open topics
- Friday evening — Fire pit discussion
- Saturday — Module station rotations
- Saturday evening — MCI discussions and planning and ifre pit discussions
- Sunday — MCI drill and feedbac from multiple points of view
