Ski Patrol

In my first blog, I said I was planning to write about photography, but have other thoughts I want to talk about.  There are lots of sites about photography, so I don't feel pressure to go there.  Need to have something I think would be interesting first.

On to my latest rambling.

This past weekend was our ski patrol refresher.  This is a weekend long event we have to attend every year.  We cover part of our Outdoor Emergency Care and practice chairlift evacuation.  Something all patrollers looks forward too.  A little better that visiting the dentist.

About half way through the day, I had finished my presentation, and was looking around the room and it really struck me on what I was looking at.  We had about sixty people in the room, broken into four groups, refreshing and improving their skills.  These sixty people varied in age from seventeen to over seventy.  They all enjoy skiing and the outdoors.  Some are students, some are successful business people, farmers, professionals, and retirees.

The atmosphere in the rooms was of friends seeing each other again and the excitement of the upcoming ski season.  And there was a seriousness in the room.  They take this very serious.  They are the ones that respond when skiers or snowboarders get hurt.  They don't get to hang out in the lodge, or call it a day, when the weather goes bad.  They take the toboggan into areas that you can't believe people would ski, to get an injured person and get them out.  Safely.  Stabilize injuries, load them up, and take the to the bottom of the hill.  They have seen major injuries, and death.  Have had to deal with parents who are separated from their children, or retrieve skis or poles that someone has dropped from the chair.

There is a strong camaraderie and sense of pride among this group. They are volunteers that donate untold hours each year.  They pay their dues, buy their uniforms and equipment, and attend refreshers and meetings.  Some travel many miles to ski their schedule.  And may travel even more miles to attend skill enhancement seminars.  These trips are good times, returning with stories of bravery, or more often, stupidity.  And said bravery, or stupidity, seems to grow with each telling.  An every story seems to include vast amounts of adult beverage.  Just saying, there seems to be a lot of fun had whenever, where ever a bunch of patrollers get together.

They are a rowdy bunch that loves a good time, but are serious and professional when dealing with an injury.  Calming an injured person or concerned mother while splinting a broken limb is just part of the job description.  All the while knelling in snow in sub-zero weather. Or skiing out a ridge, in the dark, for avalanche control.  Skiing the mountain after dark looking for a lost skier.  And then there is setting on the shack deck, on a sunny spring day, watching young ladies skiing in bikinis, knowing that sooner or later you're going to treating one of them for a major snow rash.  Make the day worthwhile.