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15 Things That Shock Ski Patrollers About the Job—and Their Clientele

POM Administrator — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 08:00:36 +0000

Ski patrollers are living the life, right? After all, they get to ski for a living, dropping ropes on freshly covered slopes, snagging fresh powder turns, and soaking up the mountain vibes all season long.

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In reality, that’s only a fraction of what ski patrollers are tasked with during a typical day on the job. From ensuring the safety of the slopes to evacuating injured skiers, the patrollers who help make our ski resorts hum have big, often dangerous jobs that most of us know very little about.

We tapped a handful of patrollers from all over the country to ask what a day in their life is really like and what sort of things surprise them, both about the job itself and the everyday skiers they encounter on the slopes.

15 Things That Will Surprise You About Ski Patrolling

The Number of People Who Call For “Courtesy Transports”

You might imagine, as we did, that skiers only call ski patrol for help when they’re seriously injured. That’s not the case according to Jess Lyles, a seasoned patroller at Telluride Ski Resort, Colo.

“In Telluride we get called all the time for ‘courtesy transports.’ They’re not injured but they’re tired or ‘can’t ski any longer.’ It’s frustrating when we’re busy trying to open terrain or help people who are seriously injured. There’s a bit of a disconnect. You’re in the mountains and you need to be prepared to be in the mountains and get yourself down,” she says.

The Work It Takes to Get Someone Down the Mountain In a Toboggan

Knowing that people use ski patrol to expedite their route to afternoon lunch is even more frustrating when you consider the amount of skill that’s needed to get someone down the mountain in a toboggan.

The rescue portion of the gig might be the most visible, but it’s only a piece of a patroller’s responsibilities. (Photo: Courtesy of National Ski Patrol)

“Nearly every day of a patroller’s first year is dedicated to toboggan training. Learning the technique and building the specific strength that it takes cannot be understated,” says Joseph Puetz, a patroller at Colo.’s Winter Park Resort. “The amount of skill it takes to take a toboggan down a black mogul run, and how many people it takes to get a person in a toboggan to our medical center, surprised me. The training that every patroller on our team endures to be able to bring an injured guest down a bump run in a toboggan is extensive.”

How Many People Get Cut By Skis

When it comes to safety, the focus tends to , but Lyles says that over the years she’s noticed an increase in the number of people who get cut by skis.

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“More people are getting cut by skis and we’ve seen some really bad lacerations either from a collision or from people falling on their own skis. We’ve seen some arterial bleeds, which are really dangerous, and we’re all required to carry tourniquets now. … It’s pretty crazy to see what a sharp ski edge can cut through,” she says.

Mother Nature Is Powerful, and We’re All at Her Whim

The wildness of the mountains and the power of Mother Nature were mentioned a lot by the patrollers we spoke with. After all, they’re the ones who have to deal with the ramifications of heavy snowfall (or adversely, not enough of it).

Drew Kneeland, who has been a patroller since 1994 and is currently the patrol director at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, Wyo., remembers a storm cycle in February 2017 that left the entire valley helpless.

“Wind knocked over 17 power transmission towers along Highway 390, killing power to the ski area for several days, until a temporary line could be installed. All throughout that ordeal we received over 12 inches of water in the form of snow. … The power company had difficulties getting materials into the valley due to road closures, with avalanches impacting every transportation artery.”

The Hysterical Person Is Often in Better Shape Than the Quiet Person

In a collision, the person screaming and wailing is likely going to get all the attention, but Lyles says patrollers are taught to evaluate the symptoms of being “well or unwell,” and that often, the person who is quiet or confused after a collision is the real concern.

“In general I would say it’s the quiet, confused head-injury-patients that are more worrisome than those who are telling you what is happening,” says Lyles, remembering a collision between two brothers-in-law. She was called to help the younger of the two men who says he was injured, but the other man, who she says was “behaving strangely and was reluctant to go to the medical center” ended up dying from a brain bleed later on.

That People Want a Diagnosis—On the Slopes

Yes, ski patrollers are trained in first aid and CPR. And no, that doesn’t make them doctors.

Hundreds of hours of training is spent learning how to safely navigate steep slopes with a toboggan in tow. (Photo: Getty Images)

“We’re not expected to diagnose anything, ever. Nor should we. We’re just expected to treat the patient the best we can and get them to higher care,” says Lyles, who says people often ask for a diagnosis on the slopes. “They want to know if they blew their ACL, but you have to have an MRI to know that.”

The Beauty of Helping Someone at Their Worst—Or Assisting Someone New to the Sport

If you’ve ever gotten injured on the mountain, you know how vulnerable it feels to be laying there waiting for help not knowing how bad your injury is or how you’ll get down the mountain.

“Helping someone on their worst day, and being able to change their lives,” is one of the most meaningful parts of the job to Marc Barlage, who is a patroller and the intermountain division director at Utah’s Brighton Resort.

Similarly, Winter Park’s Puetz loves being able to give guests, especially those who are new to the mountain or the sport, insider tips. “I look forward to helping a visitor navigate the mountain, give them a tip as to which runs are skiing the best that day, status of a specific lift line, when a rope is going to drop for the first time of the season, where the coldest beer is, etc,” says Puetz. “The annual ski trip out West with my family was the best week of my entire year growing up, and I hope to have a small part in helping everyone be the most stoked while they’re here.”

The Pressure Skiers Put on Patrollers to Open Terrain

If you’re reading this, and you love powder, you’ve probably peered down at a pristine, roped-off powder field, wondering what was taking ski patrol so long to drop the rope. According to Lyles, this sort of reaction is one of the most frustrating parts of the job.

“People are annoyed by terrain not opening when they think it should be, but they don’t know why it’s not,” she says. “You get a lot of pushback from people who want to be skiing and they don’t understand why it might not be safe. I think people are really unaware of the complications and challenges of opening terrain. … being aware of the wind, the weather, what kind of explosives were used, or need to be used in order to make sure that slope is safe.”

Deciding to open terrain always comes with risk, Lyles explains. They have to ask themselves: “Are we ready to put people without avalanche rescue gear on this terrain?”

What It Really Takes to Mitigate Avalanches

If you’re a backcountry skier, you likely have some idea of how many factors go into snowpack evaluation. Now, imagine you not only have to read the snowpack, but must strategically throw bombs to trigger avalanches before making the decision to allow thousands of skiers to tear up the slope.

Detonating explosives is a dangerous part of the job but is imperative to keeping the slopes safe. (Photo: Getty Images)

“I grew up skiing in the Midwest, and all of my skiing was on machine-made snow (ice). I had little exposure to snow science and was completely ignorant to the intricacies of snowpack and how to mitigate avalanche hazard,” says Puetz. “I think guests at Winter Park would be surprised to learn how much work goes into mitigating hazards. We have a full-time snow safety team that literally works around the clock to ensure the safety of guests, when it’s safe to open avalanche terrain, and how to mitigate potential hazards.”

It Takes a Lot of Training to Become a Patroller

There’s a reason more and more to gain job security and higher wages: It’s a job that requires a lot of training and some very specific skills.

“Annually, all patrollers are required to go through OEC [Outdoor Emergency Care], CPR/AED, and OET [Outdoor Emergency Transportation] refreshers and, depending on mountain operations, may go through other training such as lift evacuation, snowmobile operation, incident investigation/risk management, avalanche mitigation, and low angle rescue,” explained Kristen Russo, a patroller and national women’s program advisor at Holiday Valley Resort in New York.

The longer you stay with patrol the more specific your training becomes. “We have team members that are experts in weather forecasting, avalanche forecasting, search and rescue with dog teams, explosives, and high-angle rescue to name a few,” says Puetz.

There’s More to It Than Skiing and Rescuing People

Most people tend to focus on the heroism and glamor of ski patrol—dropping from a helicopter for a high-angle rescue or getting first tracks on closed terrain—but a day in the life of a patroller includes plenty of thankless, behind-the-scenes work.

“We set up and check signs and fences, we shovel snow, we check equipment, assess avalanche risk, we take turns at top dispatch, we do training to maintain and improve our first aid and ski/toboggan skills,” explains Colleen Finch, a patroller at Showdown in Montana.

Alex Bash, who patrols at Winter Park Resort, notes that “What the public doesn’t see is the hours to days, if not weeks, of work we put into helping create a product. All of the two-stepping, ski packing, boundary ropes, avalanche mitigation, signs, chainsaw work, snowmobile work, lift evac training, rope rescue training, first aid training, and the list goes on and on.”

The Job Is More Than Just a Job

Almost every patroller we spoke to mentioned the tight-knit community they found when they started patrolling.

The patrol community shows up for each other through thick and thin. (Photo: Courtesy of National Ski Patrol)

Kneeland, who has been a patroller for 30 years, says, “I would not have anticipated that I would have made a career of ski patrolling, or that it would be such a large part of my identity and life. I have made life-long friendships with my coworkers, and it continues to amaze me that the next generation of patrollers is still just as passionate about patrolling as I was when I started out.”

Lyles says that when she lacerated her spleen early on in her ski patrol career “people I had just met were offering to help pay for my medical bills and making sure I was taken care of. It really felt above and beyond.”

Patrolling Can Be a Year-Round Position

For many ski patrollers, the work is seasonal, but more and more patrollers are finding steady, year-round work on the bike parks that open once the snow melts.

Many ski patrollers pivot to bike patrolling in the summer. (Photo: Courtesy of National Ski Patrol)

“Like many patrollers, I have begun helping with ,” says Tom Byron, a ski and bike patroller at Massanutten Resort in Virginia. Similarly, Bash notes that, “I thought this job would be a temporary, seasonal job; oh, how I was wrong. Today, I work full-time, year-round as a professional ski and bike patroller.”

How Much Cool, Fun Stuff They Get to Do

Anyone who signs up for ski patrol is aware of the perks, but that’s just one of the many aspects of the job. Some patrollers, like Bash, note that, “I have a few extra duties that really make this job the best job in the world. I am a founding member of our avalanche rescue dog team. I’ve had the privilege of training at some of the nation’s best dog schools.”

Getting to train and work with avalanche rescue dogs is a perk of the job. (Photo: Courtesy of National Ski Patrol)

Beyond heading up the pup patrol, Bash ventured into backcountry rescue. “I’ve flown in helicopters and assisted in multiple backcountry avalanche rescues. I’m also a full-time member of our avalanche control team. I get to go out every morning and throw bombs in our avalanche terrain.”

How Much They Love Being Out There, In the Stillness, In the Cold

Waking up before sunrise in below-zero temperatures to work outside and skiing down after dark is not something most people would call a perk, but several patrollers say that this is their favorite part of the job.

“I love to be the first one on the lift in the morning and the last one sweeping the mountain at the end of the day. Those are beautiful and quiet moments I value,” says Finch at Mont.’s Showdown.

Barlage at Brighton Resort concurs: “The quietness in the morning, fresh snow, breaking trail to get out, and setting up the explosives to mitigate avalanches. Being able to ski first tracks on the mountain before anyone gets there, as well as the last turns at night before closing when we make sure everyone is off the mountain.”

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I’ve Got a Trip to Maui Planned. Should I Still Go?

mturner — Thu, 17 Aug 2023 11:00:58 +0000

Any number of concerns are on our radar as we plan our next trip, from serious issues like how destinations are working to mitigate tourists’ environmental impact to inconveniences like months-long passport wait times. In this column, our travel expert addresses your questions about how to navigate the world.

I’m supposed to go to Maui in a couple of weeks for a long-planned vacation. I love the island and don’t want to add to the suffering or be disrespectful by showing up after the fires. But I also know that businesses probably need tourism dollars more than ever right now. Should I still go? —A Concerned Traveler

I understand how you feel. I’ve lived between Maui’s North Shore and the upcountry town of Haiku off and on for ten years. I flew out the day before the wildfires took place for a work trip. Sadly, many of my friends were gravely affected, losing homes and businesses.

I asked some of my local acquaintances for their thoughts on traveling to Maui at this time.

Dustin Tester, the owner of , did a roll call of her employees last week to make sure they had all survived the island’s catastrophic wildfires. Her surf school and the majority of her 12 instructors are based out of Lahaina, the historic town on the west coast that was turned to ashes. While seven of her employees lost their homes, they’re all safe, albeit coping with serious trauma. The surf’s schools cabins where they hold camps, located outside of Lahaina at Olowalu Point, survived. The company’s Toyota Tundra and the dozen boards it transports were incinerated.

One employee barely escaped the flames on Lahaina’s Front Street with their ten-month-old and six-year-old. Another hunkered down in a car for 17 hours in a cement parking structure in a local outlet mall. “Every instructor has a harrowing story,” says Tester, who created a for her staff.

Dustin Tester, the owner of Maui Surfer Girls, says that local businesses will need tourism dollars going forward to stay afloat (Photo: Rachael Zimmerman)

The blaze that destroyed Lahaina, once the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom, is now the deadliest U.S. wildfire in over a century. It has thus far claimed more than 100 lives, a number that is expected to rise with 1,300 people still missing, warned Hawaii governor Josh Green.

Survivors are just beginning to feel the effects of the disaster, the cause of which is still being determined. Upcountry Maui, an area on the western slopes of Haleakala that includes the towns of Makawao and Kula, is still battling fires; 19 homes there have already been reported destroyed.

The Maui Surfer Girls’ burned truck. This photo was taken by surf instructor Raye Teyssier, who lost her home in the fires. (Photo: Raye Teyssier)

While saving lives and recovery efforts in the Lahaina area are still of the utmost importance at this time, some tourists with plans to travel to Maui are asking if it’s okay to visit other parts of the island right now. I also know from reporting a story that disastrous events like this can result in many local companies going out of business because of the huge drop in tourism dollars from canceled trips.

Tester acknowledges that it’s still a fluid situation on the west side of the island at this time but told me: “We want and need tourists going forward. By coming, you’d be providing a livelihood for my instructors and other local businesses, and I’m thinking of ways that visitors can give back when they come to a surf camp in the future.”

Should You Travel to Maui Right Now? It Depends on Who You Talk To.

And also where you want to go. In his latest emergency proclamation, Governor Green urged travelers to postpone all nonessential travel to West Maui, which includes the popular resort spots of Napili, Kaanapali, Kapalua, and Lahaina, so that resources there can be used to help residents recover. As for other parts of the island, messaging has been mixed.

On August 12, the Hawaii Tourism Authority suggested that tourists should only refrain from visiting West Maui. “Maui is not closed,” Maui County mayor Richard Bissen said at a press conference over the weekend. “Many of our residents make their living off of tourism.”

The airport has remained open the entire time and major airlines are still flying to the island.

Other native Hawaiians, like musician Paula Fuga and actor Jason Momoa, feel differently and have used social media to urge tourists to cancel their trips. “Our community needs time to heal, drive, and restore,” posted Momoa.

Cole Millington, a Lahaina resident who lost his home and business, has been gobsmacked seeing tour boats holding snorkel tours on the island’s west side days after bodies burned in those waters. “It’s not the tourists’ fault,” he told me. “But it underscores a pathetic divide between people who live here and tourists who think Maui is Disneyland. We ask that people give us time before we have to put on an aloha smile and be at your service.”

Tester understands both points of view. Most surf schools on West Maui were destroyed, and surf breaks like Breakwall in Lahaina won’t be accessible for a long time. Authorities are also still evaluating the extent of environmental damage. Maui Surfer Girls typically operates just south of Lahaina, at Ukumehame Beach Park. This area isn’t considered a disaster zone, yet the beach can’t be reached due to road blocks.

“Right now we’ve decided to close,” Tester says. “If the roads reopen, we could technically hold lessons, but there’s a lot of politics around that.” She also noted that instructors have told her they’d rather be helping with recovery efforts than working. She doesn’t foresee reopening until Thanksgiving.

The Maui Surfer Girl cabins at Olowalu Camp survived (Photo: Dustin Tester)

Tester surfed in Kihei, on the island’s south side, a few days ago, where she says it felt like business as usual. “So many tourists were taking surf lessons two days after the fires,” she says. “It felt greedy and insensitive, but I get it. Surf schools have families and need to survive. This is high season.”

How Is Tourism Being Affected on Maui After the Fires?

The repercussions of the fires on the island’s tourism industry have already started to be felt, leaving many local business owners reeling from flashbacks reminiscent of the pandemic shutdown. More than 11,000 people—most of them visitors—have flown off the island since the fires began. Airlines like Southwest and American, have issued travel vouchers and waived change fees for flights to Maui through August 31. The number of airline passengers to Maui on Sunday was down nearly 81 percent compared to this time last year, according to the Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.

Hotels in West Maui have temporarily stopped accepting bookings on future reservations so they can house employees, evacuees, and first responders. Vacation rental owners in west-side towns have also been encouraged to make accommodations available to the displaced. Hotel operator Hilton Worldwide Holdings, which has 23 hotels throughout Hawaii, said it was waiving cancellation penalties for those traveling to, from, or through all of the islands until the end of the month.

Airbnb owners across Maui have reported receiving cancellations through March 2024. Amy Varain, who owns an Airbnb in the upcountry town of Haiku, which was not affected by the fires, says guests booked to stay at her property even as late as December have called to cancel based on the destruction they’re seeing on the news.

Sunset in Maui’s beautiful upcountry (Photo: Jen Murphy)

“I completely understand that reaction,” Varain says. “All you see if you search online is everything about the fires, and no one talks about how this is concentrated on one part of the island. Our island is 100 percent tourism driven. Without visitors our whole island will suffer. The rest of the island still needs their kind support and visits.” She has been trying to educate guests by posting on social media to remind them how much of Maui has been unaffected by the fires.

Brett Sheerin, owner of Maui True North, a kitesurf and surf school, says people who have lost their jobs are desperately calling him to see if he needs instructors. Like Tester, he typically teaches surf lessons in West Maui and worries that the water is now toxic. He doesn’t have enough business to bring on new hires though, and currently can only operate kitesurfing lessons on another side of the island.

“Everyone here already works two or three jobs,” he says. “I call it the Maui hustle. I have money saved, my house did not burn, and I could last six months to a year if I don’t make another dime, but a lot of people are going to have to leave the island if we don’t have tourism jobs.”

How to Be a Conscientious Visitor if You Go to Maui Right Now

If you are planning to visit Maui in the coming months, do so with compassion and aloha. Many residents have lost loved ones, homes, and businesses. Be sensitive to what they are going through. “I’m telling friends to think of this as our 9/11,” says Sheerin.

West Maui is off limits and will likely remain so until the end of the year, according to officials. But other parts of the island, including Hana, Wailea, and Paia, depend on tourism dollars.

If you’re inclined to volunteer, several organizations, like and , welcome visitors’ time and energy. Caitlin Carroll, who works for the Pacific Whale Foundation and lost her Lahaina home, says: “Anyone who comes should be prepared to put their boots on and help.”

, a citizen disaster response team, is looking to assign volunteers to appropriate work that matches their skill sets. Jobs include food distribution, tree cutting and clearing, and clean-up efforts.

And it almost goes without saying that if and when you visit Maui, put your tourism dollars toward local businesses wherever you are.

The author about to kite surf on Maui’s North Shore (Photo: Josh Bode)

is an ��ԹϺ�� correspondent who has lived part-time on Maui’s North Shore and upcountry for over a decade. Among other stories, she writes a travel advice column for ��ԹϺ��. She has been deeply saddened to see so many parts of the island suffer but inspired by the community’s resiliency and islanders’ unwavering support for each other.

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