Loveland Volunteer Ski Patrol

LIFE ON PATROL

    Overall, I think its fair to say that joining the Loveland Volunteer Ski Patrol is the most rewarding and demanding thing I’ve ever done. I’ve met some weird and wonderful people, as well as some not so weird and not so wonderful ones. I’ve ridden through waist deep snow on glorious bluebird powder days surrounded by my best friends. I’ve gritted my teeth against howling wind and snow while cautiously scraping my way down a sheet of bulletproof blue ice. I have laughed and cried. I’ve been hopeful and confident, frustrated and confused. I’ve been ecstatic, angry, overwhelmed and bored. We’ve been to birthdays, weddings, christenings and funerals.
    Above all, I’ve spent my days with some of the most genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. And we’ve drunk a lot of beer.

It doesn’t get any better than this.

Stem, Yanish and Gilpin: 3 of the finest



SO WHAT’S IT REALLY LIKE? A “typical” day on patrol goes something like this:

Get up at 6am, drive to the area and sign on a lift (shifts are divided into a 90 minute sit duty and a 90 minute ski duty).
At 8am there is a short meeting to deal with any announcements and other important information.
After this, almost everyone helps with pre-sweep. Your specific duties will depend on what your hill leader (the patroller in charge of each lift) needs. Generally, pre-sweep involves riding down a particular run checking everything is OK and that no work needs doing (fencing, rope, tower pads, signs etc). No, we're not just enjoying the powder before you get here! Work details are assembled for bigger projects. After pre-sweep you are required to return to the top of the lift to report in and in case further help is needed.
After pre-sweep, patrollers who do not have a duty can do whatever they want until their first duty.



Your sit duty requires you to sit at the top of your lift for 90 minutes. During this time you may get a call (or two, or three) to take a toboggan to an injury along with whatever equipment the patroller on scene deems necessary. The patroller doing the first sit duty of the day is also required to check all the equipment (sleds, backboard, splints etc). You’ll also encounter all sorts of people needing help: picking small kids up off the ground, answering questions (No, I don’t know when lift 9 will be open), helping people off the lift who’ve gone round the bull wheel, waving at regulars, the list is endless. Almost anything can happen; I even saw a marriage proposal once!

I think she said yes

Avalanche practice

Your ski duty requires you to ski solely on your lift, covering all the runs. In the event that you come across an injury the equipment you need comes from the top of the lift. After this, you are required to stay with the patient until they are in the patrol room where there’s a bunch of paperwork to fill out. This applies to any patroller who comes across an injured person.
Auxiliary duty: Instead of a sit and a ski duty, auxiliary duties are carried out in the patrol room, also for 90 minutes. Auxiliaries can also do yo-yo duties on lifts (similar to ski duties) if they feel comfortable doing so and help is needed on a particular lift.
After this, the rest of the day is yours to do whatever you want until 4pm when you need to be back at the top of your lift for sweep.
Sweep is a coordinated sequence of events, designed so all patrollers come down the mountain together to make sure nobody is left on the mountain. Your hill leader will assign you a run (or 2) to cover and you basically ride down slowly, looking into the trees, shouting at the top of your voice to make sure that everyone can hear you.
Once “sweep is in”, i.e. everyone is back safely, then AND ONLY THEN can you have a beer. Or two. Your fellow patrollers supply beer, every mistake you make will cost you a case.

    Throughout the year there are a number of none patrol events some of which are compulsory and some that aren’t. There are four quarterly meetings (held in the evening), an annual CPR refresher, two AED refreshers per year and for the Hill patrollers there is also an annual toboggan refresher that takes place in Jan/Feb.
    The largest, most important event is the annual two-day refresher held every summer. This covers OEC (a third of the initial OEC course is covered each year) and a hill refresher that covers the patrol room, avalanche procedures, search & rescue and chair evacuation (very cool!). There are also 2 parties: an end of year party the week after the area closes and a summer BBQ.

End of year party
Chair evacuation practice



    As the NSP is primarily an educational organization, your options for further education are excellent. Within three seasons of being a patroller at Loveland, you are required to take the Level I and II avalanche course. The information covered in Level I and II avalanche is extensive to say the least, with an obvious bias towards search and rescue. As such I won’t go into specifics, needless to say you’ll be very knowledgeable when you’ve finished. There is also a Level 1 toboggan course designed for patrollers who have been on patrol for 3 years, who can then work on lifts that just have intermediate terrain (lift 2 and 6 in the case of Loveland). The Mountain Travel and Rescue courses teach you the rudimentary aspects of mountain travel, map & compass, search and rescue (day and night), emergency shelters, fire building, ropes & knots, backcountry first aid and emergency transport. The course culminates in a two-day backcountry trip including an overnight stay in a snow cave.

    Other courses offered include instructor development which allows you to become an instructor in your chosen subject, a senior program (Alpine, Nordic and Auxiliary), Instructor Mentoring Program, Skiing Enhancement Seminars (Alpine/Nordic), Toboggan Enhancement Seminar, Ski Trainers Workshop (Alpine/Nordic), Outdoor First Care and a Patroller Enrichment Seminar. There is also the NSP National Education Conference (Powderfall) that is held every year over the course of several days. All of the courses offered by the NSP will improve your abilities as a patroller and will also prove useful in your everyday skiing/riding.

Overall, I think its fair to say that joining the Loveland Volunteer Ski Patrol is the most rewarding and demanding thing I’ve ever done. I’ve met some weird and wonderful people, as well as some not so weird and not so wonderful ones. I’ve ridden through waist deep snow on glorious bluebird powder days surrounded by my best friends. I’ve gritted my teeth against howling wind and snow while cautiously scraping my way down a sheet of bulletproof blue ice. I have laughed and cried. I’ve been hopeful and confident, frustrated and confused. I’ve been ecstatic, angry, overwhelmed and bored. We’ve been to birthdays, weddings, christenings and funerals. Above all, I’ve spent my days with some of the most genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. And we’ve drunk a lot of beer.
It doesn’t get any better than this.


Stem, Yanish and Gilpin: 3 of the finest

SO WHAT’S IT REALLY LIKE? A “typical” day on patrol goes something like this: Get up at 6am, drive to the area and sign on a lift (shifts are divided into a 90 minute sit duty and a 90 minute ski duty). At 8am there is a short meeting to deal with any announcements and other important information. After this, almost everyone helps with pre-sweep. Your specific duties will depend on what your hill leader (the patroller in charge of each lift) needs. Generally, pre-sweep involves riding down a particular run checking everything is OK and that no work needs doing (fencing, rope, tower pads, signs etc). No, we're not just enjoying the powder before you get here! Work details are assembled for bigger projects. After pre-sweep you are required to return to the top of the lift to report in and in case further help is needed. After pre-sweep, patrollers who do not have a duty can do whatever they want until their first duty.



Your sit duty requires you to sit at the top of your lift for 90 minutes. During this time you may get a call (or two, or three) to take a toboggan to an injury along with whatever equipment the patroller on scene deems necessary. The patroller doing the first sit duty of the day is also required to check all the equipment (sleds, backboard, splints etc). You’ll also encounter all sorts of people needing help: picking small kids up off the ground, answering questions (No, I don’t know when lift 9 will be open), helping people off the lift who’ve gone round the bull wheel, waving at regulars, the list is endless. Almost anything can happen; I even saw a marriage proposal once!


I think she said yes	Avalanche practice

Your ski duty requires you to ski solely on your lift, covering all the runs. In the event that you come across an injury the equipment you need comes from the top of the lift. After this, you are required to stay with the patient until they are in the patrol room where there’s a bunch of paperwork to fill out. This applies to any patroller who comes across an injured person. Auxiliary duty: Instead of a sit and a ski duty, auxiliary duties are carried out in the patrol room, also for 90 minutes. Auxiliaries can also do yo-yo duties on lifts (similar to ski duties) if they feel comfortable doing so and help is needed on a particular lift. After this, the rest of the day is yours to do whatever you want until 4pm when you need to be back at the top of your lift for sweep. Sweep is a coordinated sequence of events, designed so all patrollers come down the mountain together to make sure nobody is left on the mountain. Your hill leader will assign you a run (or 2) to cover and you basically ride down slowly, looking into the trees, shouting at the top of your voice to make sure that everyone can hear you. Once “sweep is in”, i.e. everyone is back safely, then AND ONLY THEN can you have a beer. Or two. Your fellow patrollers supply beer, every mistake you make will cost you a case.



Throughout the year there are a number of none patrol events some of which are compulsory and some that aren’t. There are four quarterly meetings (held in the evening), an annual CPR refresher, two AED refreshers per year and for the Hill patrollers there is also an annual toboggan refresher that takes place in Jan/Feb. The largest, most important event is the annual two-day refresher held every summer. This covers OEC (a third of the initial OEC course is covered each year) and a hill refresher that covers the patrol room, avalanche procedures, search & rescue and chair evacuation (very cool!). There are also 2 parties: an end of year party the week after the area closes and a summer BBQ.


End of year party	Chair evacuation practice

As the NSP is primarily an educational organization, your options for further education are excellent. Within three seasons of being a patroller at Loveland, you are required to take the Level I and II avalanche course. The information covered in Level I and II avalanche is extensive to say the least, with an obvious bias towards search and rescue. As such I won’t go into specifics, needless to say you’ll be very knowledgeable when you’ve finished. There is also a Level 1 toboggan course designed for patrollers who have been on patrol for 3 years, who can then work on lifts that just have intermediate terrain (lift 2 and 6 in the case of Loveland). The Mountain Travel and Rescue courses teach you the rudimentary aspects of mountain travel, map & compass, search and rescue (day and night), emergency shelters, fire building, ropes & knots, backcountry first aid and emergency transport. The course culminates in a two-day backcountry trip including an overnight stay in a snow cave.



Other courses offered include instructor development which allows you to become an instructor in your chosen subject, a senior program (Alpine, Nordic and Auxiliary), Instructor Mentoring Program, Skiing Enhancement Seminars (Alpine/Nordic), Toboggan Enhancement Seminar, Ski Trainers Workshop (Alpine/Nordic), Outdoor First Care and a Patroller Enrichment Seminar. There is also the NSP National Education Conference (Powderfall) that is held every year over the course of several days. All of the courses offered by the NSP will improve your abilities as a patroller and will also prove useful in your everyday skiing/riding.