Recruiting New Patrollers

Looking for new ideas on how to recruit folks with good skiing skills to join the ranks of of the National Ski Patrol. Any and all ideas are welcome.

Obviously email lists are useful. One idea is to use specific email lists. For example, SPAM county list of EMTs looking for EMTs with good skiing skills that may like to join local patrols.

Setting up Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) course at convenient times and getting the word out when this class is scheduled is extremely important to successfully recruiting new patrollers with no prior EMT experience. Where and how do you get the word out?

Patrol Directors will tell you it is easier to teach someone OEC skills than it is to teach them to ski, snowboard, and perform first aid skills on slippery steep slopes.

Eastern Division came up with a new poster and web page for joining NSP.
http://www.nspeast.org/join.htm . This page links off to various regions which contain contact information for patrol directors. Although this is a great web page, there has to be other/better ideas on recruiting new patrollers.

Any help here is greatly appreciated.

I'm actually really interested in joining. So much so that I went to your nsp.org website earlier in the year. And was disappointed to find that when I clicked on the "how to join" button there was nothing about who to contact, where the next tests were, qualifications, etc.

So if you want more new members, I'd suggest you improve your national website in this regard as a start...

I understand your pain. The hard part can be finding the patrol director / patrol representative contact information.

If you go to www.nsp.org, contacts and whos who you will go to
http://www.nsp.org/nsp2002/whos_who_template.asp
From here you can eventually find a division wieb site like this one
http://www.nsprmd.org/regions.htm
that will point you to various patrol directors or region director that can help you find a patrol's contact information.

Tests? this isn't a civil service job. Qualifications. the only qualification is committment. Other than that, it depends on the mountain, and their needs and desperation at that time. If you want to join, pick the mountain you want to join at, and speak to the patrol at that mountain. They'll talk to you, see if you'll be a good fit, then probably ski with you to se if you're skiing is up to it. Once we accept you, and you commit to us, we do all the training.
You're from Joisey, right? wanna join at Hunta? let me know. We have a couple of openings for next year, and our training starts in December.

My understanding is that there is some EMT/Red Cross stuff that needs to be taken care of, and usually there is class work involved in this. Also, it would be my expectation that you can handle a toboggan without having it turn into the Matterhorn Bobsled ride at Disneyland, so there has to be some practical ski stuff as well.

I'd consider Hunta, but this immediate past season I have to confess that I spent 30 days on skis and none of it was east of the Mississippi (I know, I should be ashamed, but the snow really did suck in the East until February). Let's talk, I'll pm you.

True, but that's after you join, we do all the training, and it's all on-hill or in the first aid room. We start beginning of December, and usually will do Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) in the morning, and sled training in the afternoon. If you ski well, and I mean really well, you might pass sleds sooner, in which case your afternoons will be free to ski or help on possibles. Until then, while training you might get a couple of runs in a day, and you may get your jacket sometime in March.

I don't know what your plans are, I was assuming part time, but if you want to go full time, there's no better place to train than Hunta, some of our full timers handle more cases individually than an entire patrol out west. It's a lot easier to get hired by us without training, and once trained, it's easier to get hired out west.
It's interesting and worth it, but pretty much give up on skiing while training the first year.

One persons perspective:

Paid staff (full time) positions are often filled by young (and old) independents who are frequently under employed. They often need to get a real job over the summer ;-) The Part timers, or volley patrol is made mostly avid skiers with families that have made a committment to the ski life. A "ski house" near the mountain, and the every weekend commute.etc. Where do you recruit? I don't envy the directors task of filling the rosters.

Each mountain maintains their own patrol. The NSP is a TRAINING organization. Some mountains may not even require NSP membership! They don't have too. It's like being a "certified auto repairman".
Anyone who would become a patroller, needs to speak with the ski area patrol director first. At our mountain, after the introduction comes the ski test. It takes 8 years to become a good skier, the patrol isn't going to provide lessons. ;-) Only a few months is needed to train
for the OEC and to gain proficiency with sleds. Heck, I even learned! ;-) (Still learning actually) In my training group of 8-9 I am the only one still on the mountain. The young ones went their ways, and some of the older ones have had the years creep up on them. Conflicts of all kinds.

The big thing is the committment. 30 days is a lot of time.

It's hard to find people with that amount of flexibility.

The mountain has been good for me. No regrets at all.

CalG

As an aside to all this, I'm a patroller in Ontario. There's been some talk with GF of moving to southern Connecticut, and I'd love to continue patrolling. I emailed a number of patrol directors, and didn't get any reply. The NSP site didn't really list a "clearinghouse" for patrol info or contact, nor provide a great idea of where all the resorts were.

If anyone in CT is looking for patrollers though, please get in touch with me. I've got 8 years on the patrol, I ski and snowboard, and have current BTLS and Paeds-BTLS along with my CSPS certs.


maximusnt@hotmail.com

I don't know if I would look local. Connecticut has some hills but they are tiny and boring. Mass is OK Jiminy Peak, Brody, Berkshire east, about on a par with midwest Canada. We, at Hunter have a couple of patrollers from Connecticut, it's small, but very challenging mountain, you won't get bored. I would also look to Vermont. Wherever you end up, if outside CT, you would need to rent a house at the mountain since driving back and forth both weekend days would not be fun, but not a problem since the patrol you join will have some leads, and most mountains in the east have a huge group rental market. You will most likely have to go through training again, at least to learn local protocol, and check your skill level.

nice, concise, and not just one person's perspective. pretty much sums it up for us also. Although our committment is only 24 days.

I really like Hunter as a mountain. One of our patrollers transferred there a couple of years ago, Grassetti. I've considered requeting to join, it's not the commitment, it's the distance. I live two hours from there. When I retire, I would consider renting and pro patrolling.

Hunter is an interesting place. The back side is the best, steep and slick, definately need edges. Those slopes are what really define eastern skiing. I can't remember trail names but they are a hoot. The front side is too full of skiers who arn't really supposed to be there.

There is one intermediate trail from the top that is like a 3 ring circuis. I got knocked down twice by beginners on the same run. Last time I skied that.

I will go back on good snow year though. And it will have to be mid week, no more NY's. Oh by the way, the bar is GREAT!!!!

Yup, I know Grizzly well, just saw him this past weekend. I guess your from the biscuit? For the volly patrol, 2 hours away is about average, but we all either own a second home or rent group winter houses very nearby. The intermediate trail is the Belt Parkway, and yeah, sometimes it gets interesting.

2-turn and Cgrandy posts did a great job of summing it up what it takes to get started patrolling. The problem is most patrols that I see, the average age is getting older every year. Yes its been like this for years but eventually it will be a problem.

I was talking to a friend of mine that use to be president of the local Trail Sweepers Ski Club. I asked if they had any ski club members that might be interested in joining NSP. He told me that ski clubs in general are having the same problem as NSP. The average age in the ski clubs are getting older. Young people seem to be too busy to join ski clubs.

The reason for the post is trying to look for new ideas in recruiting patrollers. As the average age of the entire ski industry gets older, recruiting patrollers and ski instructors will be more difficult and require more focus.

The "Find Your Niche" in http://www.nspeast.org/join.htm states find a patrol director. Well its not all that obvious on how to find the patrol director and what is required. As mentioned above each patrol has different requirements.

I have been working on a friend of mine at work to join ski patrol. He has the required ski skills but no medical skill training. I sent out an email with information on an OEC course starting the end of April. My friend just yesterday decides to join up and take the OEC course.

BTW 2-turn I grew up in Hunter. I worked at Hunter Mtn during my college days as a liftie, snow maker, chair lift painter, and helped build the Hunter Mtn summit lodge (pill box). I now ski patrol at Belleayre and often ski at Hunter midweek.

Wow, this makes me want to be a patroller. If that really is the case it's no wonder its so hard to find patrollers.

OOPs, I typoed that, I meant to say that candidates free ski from 7:30am until 4:30pm, but they can forget about lunch, because that's when we do training. They can forget about lunch and lift lines, yeah, that's it.....
I guess they can have lunch if they want to skip a run, but that's highly frowned upon.:

and how about not editing quotes to give a totally different impression of what was said.


You cut 2 comments from different places in the post, and pasted them together. one point had nothing to do with the other. We patrollers can get more skiing than you can imagine, even on a busy day. There were many weekend days where I did absolutely no first aid business.
The first comment had to do with the amount of experience we get on the east coast and had nothing to do with ski time.
The second comment had to do with the reqirements on the first year training only, things change drastically once training is over.

Quality, not quantity

Perks of patrol?

First one up top, even if it's on the back of a snow machine.

Last one down, If there is no TCP trail assigned, IT's your time!

Oh "checking trails" to see if they should be opened. On a snow day, that can take three or four laps. You know, to check out both sides and the middle.
I think that's called "first tracks" some places, and "poaching" at others.

Oh! Opening the tree sections is just the pits!

Then the spiffy coat, "clothes make the man" (or gal) you know. I hardly even notice when the crowds get thick, The "wait in the maze" is always the same. NADA very good for racking up the vert.

Oh! there is the "members only" club house at the summit too. With a clothes dryer to warm up gloves on cold days, and dry out stuff on snow days. A pot of hot coffee, and a toaster and microW to warm up lunch. There is always time for lunch!

Gosh! Did I mention the great bunch of guys and gals and the families, and the the spring time grilling action on the sunny deck? the Saturday night beers? and the end of the season dinner and dance......

Susssssh Don't say nuttin'.


Jeesh I can hardly stand myself!

CalG

I found joining patrol pretty easy to do. Two years ago I found the info on the patrol director online (at nsp.org western mass region)-called him-got enrolled in the Fall OEC course-did my 120 hour intensive course (It was really good btw-). By December I had a jacket, and since I was willing to work on a weekday, I got a lot of responsibility pretty quickly-there's a host of things Candidates need to get checked off on-but the biggest is the Toboggan skills-which once you pass you can run sleds. Even before that-as an OEC technician (that's just someoine who has passed the OEC-Basic Course) they let us carry radios, ski solo and handle first aid on the hill from Day one.

At my Mountain we have a number of skiers from Connecticut--it is, frankly, a great place to patrol. The skiing is challenging and fun (especially for a small mountain) great comraderie, and, when we're busy we're busy, but there is a ton of time to ski. We only ask for 20 days (and night skiing shifts count as a full day. You get a season pass your first year, and a Family pass the following year. We've got a very nicce Patrol house, and a great top shack with deck, music and barbecue (the weekend patrollers set up a feast every weekend).

We have about 70 patrollers on the Roster-though probably only 40 or so are really consistently present. At 38 I'm one of the younger Patrollers. I pro a few weekdays and volunteer on the weekend-so I've gotten to know everyone-there are lots of impressive folks on the patrol who have considerable skiing and first aid skills-and they're pretty happy to help everyone get up to speed (my hill puts an extra emphasis on skiing skills-which has been great for my skiing!).

Every mountain has it's own culture and flavor--Hunter-is a fine mountain--But it's a hard working mountain--lot's of wrecks (that weekend New Yorker Crowd is the stuff of legends-even moreso than Mt. Snow or Killington). If you're not getting paid, you just got to be the sort of person who loves that constant challenge and persistant grunt work! And there are plenty of guys that do--and they usually make the best patrollers.

Anyway-before I joined a patrol I'd want to spend some time with them (and a few others) just to get a feel of what is expected, and what the pervasive hill-vibe is. I got lucky-Turns out on a whim I ended up with a great patrol to which I'm well suited. Not every place would've been the same however.

Just some thoughts--but bottom line-to join a patrol-figure out who the patrol director is and call them/ email them-that's about all it takes to get started.

Oh and Bryan--you know you don't have to drive two hours to Hunter if you're ever tired of bousquet...I know this great little mountain in Charlemont--about 30 minutes from dalton....

2-turn: sorry, wasn't meant to change the meaning, I know it was 2 separate thoughts, it just happened to be the 2 thoughts that struck me as odd when wanting to attract new blood.

One point (getting experience) was a plus to attract someone who wants to move. Being a small hill with a lot of challenging terrain so close to NYC, we do a lot more first aid than most places. But we do as much as we want to, there's a large weekend staff, and if we don't respond to the radio, noone questions us. Of course, there's usually several patrollers trying to grab every call.
The other one was to call a spade a spade. I'd rather tell them what's in store up front, than let them find out later. The training time is minor compared to the great rewards. Besides, I'm not looking to recruit anyone, we're not desperate for people right now. Last year we turned people down, and this year, since we're losing a couple of people, we have 3 openings that I'm sure will get filled.

Actually it's 45 minutes from downtown Dalton, one of the nicest places to ski in miles, and that encludes sothern vermont. I love that place.

There's only one Grizz.

Apparently in this case there is an Old Grizzz and a Young Grizz. The name fits Dan.

Not that you really had to remind me or anyone else, but now everyone knows exactly why I LOVE this job!!!

interestingly Ive been thinking of ski patrol, I currently do contract work in the IT industry in the UK, I tend to work enough during the year to take 3 or 4 month off during the winter. However, I would rather try and earn money while Im skiing to take the bite out of living away from the UK for extended periods. How feasable is it for someone like me to undertake ski patrol training and eventually ski patrol work in the US or Canada? Ski Patrol has always appealed as I am a keen mountaineer and understand the complexities and mechanics of the mountain environment. I would also like to learn proper first aid skills for my own mountaineering benefit.

The training is very feasible.

Making any money at it is not.

In Canada, well, in Quebec at any rate, almost all patrollers are volunteers. In order to patrol at most mountains, you have to register with the Canadian Ski Patrol System www.csps.ca and then take their version of the OEC course. After you have passed that, you are assigned to a mountain in the area in which you are interested in patrolling. Usually you also have to take a ski test, to ensure that you are capable of skiing in all of the areas on the mountain.
Some other mountains are patrolled by the St John Ambulance Ski Patrol. Usually one of the patrollers on these teams is a qualified instructor, and they do it all at their mountain. If you approach one of them (Sutton and Mont Saint-Bruno are examples) they will give you the course, (for a fee,) evaluate your skiing abilities, rent you your jacket, give you an all-season ski pass, a walkie talkie, and send you on your merry way.
Keep in mind that all of this is not cheap. You do have to buy the course (although course materials are included) buy the needed equipment, which include a specialized fanny pack or a backpack. Given our rather nasty climate at this time of year, all specialized clothing that you need is your responsiility. All told, I spent about 400 to 500 dollars, but then again, it was my first year, and I will not have to do that again.
I also climb, and up to now, my climbing abilities have not helped me at all. While I am the only person in my patrol (that I know of) who knows how to properly set an anchor in ice, and I am the only patroller who has an ice axe, an ice screw, crampons, and assorted slings in his pack. Will I use them? Frankly, I doubt it, but they will be there just in case.
I gotta go, but if you need more info, drop me a line.

Dean.

cheers for the beta guys, interesting stuff. Dean, is the weather more severe than here in Scotland?! Hurricane winds currently threatening to blow my roof off, very worrying growns coming from the general loft direction!! :

ok so patrol is generally voluntary, however, free lift access and probable cheap accomodation easy to find through patrol contacts sounds good enough to me

Catskills - have you guys tried simply approaching good skiiers out on the mountain? Maybe set up a "join ski patrol" info table next to the blood drive if your mountain does one. Posters in the lodge, on college bulletin boards, in the race room, etc? Maybe have someone guest speak at ski clubs etc? Set up a "tag along with ski patrol" open house day?

Here in WV, we have quite a few seasonal employees in the rafting, kayaking, mountain bike business.

A few that I have met, are basically gypsies. They go from sport to sport, season to season.

I would try picked up some help from the rafting and MTB touring group guides.

Or...If you can meet my salary demands, I'll be your Huckleberry.

With us, the problem is the cold. I have twice patrolled this year with temps in the -20s and the wind chill in the -30s. At those temperatures, our biggest problem can quickly become doubled with hypothermia, so we have become the champions of quick immobilization and fast evacuation.
Winds here are generally moderate at the base of the mountains, but at the summits, well, that is another story. Many of the mountains of Eastern Canada have summits that are either close to or in the Alpine Zone, so summit conditions can be extreme. (I have skied with the wind chill below - 40.) So you have to be well prepared for that. As for accomodations, I do not know anything about that, as I live in the area.

Dean.

Another good place to recruit is a ski school locker room. Generally good skiers, and the young ones are looking for experience. I've also gotten a couple from construction jobs. A lot of climbers and boaters are in need of good first aid training. If you present the OEC as a high intensity training that will benifit any one whos spends time in remote settings you may pick up a couple there as well. We only require 10 shifts to stay active. Sounds like a lot of other patrols are much more demanding. We also get to pick the shifts we want and sign up online. Seems like the last few candidate classes have been larger, younger, and more talented than in the past. We are always looking... I got recruited through a newspaper ad. Another perk that hasn't been mentioned is comp passes at other areas. There is nothing official that I know about it, but when I know I am travelling through an area I contact the PD at the hill I want to ski by E-mail about 2 weeks ahead, then by phone about a week ahead. I have always been given a pass and sometimes a guided tour. I always show up with beer. This works esp well in UT.