Opening Day

Another opening day come and gone. Sometimes it's marked by blazing heat and only a couple runs, sometimes it's a mountain that's 100% open but all groomed out and no freshies, and sometimes it's marked by a foot and a half of super light powder. This year it was powder! Sure there were lots of pads to put up, toboggans to check off, rope lines to string, and general 'house cleaning' to be done, but don't worry, we get our turns in. It's just that we're usually carrying something in our hands and it's probably not ski poles. This is of course in addition to our normal duties on the hill such as running accidents (four today), training, being visible, and generally helping out the people on the mountain.

I hate to admit it but my legs are sore! I know, I missed a few of the Rec Center's winter conditioning classes this fall and this was my first day of real shredding so I can't complain too much. I did get a few runs in during the last couple days but nothing like skiing a mountain that's actually open. Oh well, the burn feels good!

Over the last few days we've been doing a lot of pad work. We pad everything that is man-made; lift towers, hydrants, and sign posts. We also put out a lot, and I'm not kidding, a lot of rope line out. We put ropes on ski area boundaries and lift loading areas and large obstacles, such as low chairs, also get roped as the season progresses. We use bamboo ('boo) with the ropes and also to mark general obstacles such as a rock poking through in the middle of a groomed run or a snowmaking gun and hoses that are still out. Our 'boo comes in 3 styles; natural, orange/black, and red and they each have a purpose.

• Natural is used on area boundaries
• Orange/black is used generally to mark obstacles and also the lift boundaries
• Red is to mark snowmaking hydrants so the snowcats don't run them over and so we can find them in the spring

I want to give a shoutout to our fearless leader who set one of the boundaries before we started working - thanks D!

This year there are 7 returning paid patrollers (not including the boss-man) and 3 new patrollers, although one of them has been on the volunteer staff for two years. I'll keep you updated on the progress of the rookies. We have to get them checked off on medical and get them trained to run toboggans before the holiday. It's a lot but luckily they're already excellent skiers/snowboarders and are proficient in emergency medical. It's really about fine-tuning.

I mentioned that we had a few accidents today. I brought toboggans to 3 of them and besides a few broken bones and bruised egos everybody is going to be ok. Luckily for us, one of our new trainees managed to be in the right spot at the right time and also saw three different scenes. Each one was a different injury and each was on a completely different part of the mountain. I think that's some good training for him. The main thing is that he was still stoked on the job at the end of the day.

There's still more work to do before we are ready for the holidays but we'll get it all done by closing on Saturday. If you're coming up this weekend and feel like setting a mile long rope line instead of skiing the mountain let me know, I'm sure we can accommodate you. Or, you can just say hi as you get off the chair - we'll understand. ;)

Be Safe Out There!

The mountain can be dangerous, freezing temps, whiteouts, avalanches and other catastrophes are out there waiting for the unprepared. In some cases even the prepared.

Wolf Creek Ski Resort lost their Patrol Director, Scott Kay on November 22 from an inbounds avalanche. He was a husband and a father and will surely be missed by his patrol as well as the whole patrol community. He was working an avalanche route, working to keep the mountain and it's guests and employees safe, and was unfortunately caught in one. Wolf Creek closed the mountain for the day in response to the accident.

NSP has reported 22 American Ski Patrol deaths in 52 years which is amazing considering the circumstances of the work. I think that's a merit to the meticulous training that we go through before being checked off to do more dangerous things such as avalanche bombing and ski cutting. (I'm not sure how accurate these numbers are for all patrollers. Does this number include non-NSP patrollers? I don't know)

Our mountain doesn't typically have avalanche concerns. We have a cornice that we knock down on a regular basis and in 'perfect' conditions there is one area that will slide - about 20 feet. Although I've never actually heard of it sliding, it could just be a rumor. The only regular spot that slides is a 'secret' spot that we ski until it slides and the whole 'run' is only about 2, maybe 3 turns long.

We do have other concerns though, people get lost. And they typically aren't prepared. At our mountain we have two areas that will draw people out. These people usually duck under rope lines (trust me, we don't put them up for fun!) or cross 'soft' closures. This is where it would be impractical to actually rope the area off so there are signs placed marking the area out-of-bounds. We make sure these signs are close enough together so you can't pass through them without seeing a sign. Our job is to keep you safe, keeping you inbounds is safe. Going out of bounds is illegal, and at our mountain, doesn't lead you back to the mountain. It leads you further down, away from the mountain.

Another thing I want to mention about going out of bounds is that a lot of them were just "following someone else's track". Can you ask the track if it's owner made it back inbounds? Can you ask the track if it's owner is safe somewhere below? Can you ask the track if the run it took is at your ability? The answer is no, and if you do get an answer, maybe you should get your head checked. Various mountains will have planned treks into it's 'side-country' to show where it's safe and where it's not but at this juncture Diamond Peak doesn't have any planned. Maybe if we get enough response we could do something like that, comment below if this is something that you're interested in.

We've had a few searches in the 4 seasons I've patrolled and I can tell you that skiing down the mountain with a headlamp in a snowstorm isn't the funnest way to spend an evening. The first search I did included our patrol and 3 other agencies (North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District,  Washoe County Hasty team, and the Tahoe Nordic SAR) totalling about 50 people. We found the man around midnight and luckily for him he was scared but OK.

In Reno/Tahoe we recently lost someone due to wintry conditions in the Galena area (halfway between Reno and Tahoe). Rick Gentry went hiking Nov 21st with just a windbreaker, jeans, snowshoes, bottle of water and gloves. This was during the cold and fierce snowstorm we had before Thanksgiving. He was able to call 911 (yes, that 911) and give a rough estimation as to where he was and that was wasn't dressed properly before his call was cut off. They weren't on the line long enough to pin-point his location but Washoe County put forth a rescue effort. Conditions were dangerous for the rescuers, who found one snowshoe, one glove, and his fanny pack containing water and a few other items. Wahoe County suspended the search on Nov 24th saying they would resume on the following Sunday. As of yesterday Dec 1st, Washoe County halted search and rescue operations for Rick.

I want to note that the Sheriff's helicopter will still be making regular routes through the area and there will be another recovery effort when the weather clears up again.

While Rick will be missed, I want to stress that no matter how well you know the mountain, you always have to be prepared. Always carry a backpack with extra layers, water and snacks in it. Learn how to build a rescue structure and practice building it before you actually need it. Realize that your best bet for survival may mean staying overnight in a structure. Determine this early so you can build it when you have the most energy and you're not freezing, tired, hungry and desperate. Maybe if he had checked out this website which lists various survival techniques and things to pack then Rick and countless others would still be with us.

I want to note that while reading things online is useful, it is in no way a replacement for actual training with a professional. Myself and Diamond Peak Ski Patrol are in no way responsible for your safety in the backcountry should you use just information from the internet.

Sorry for such a long post but bottom line, be safe out there! Be prepared, and learn appropriate survival techniques for the weather you'll be traveling in.

Are you ready?

So you love to ski or ride, you've read my little Intro and the post about the refresher weekend and you're thinking to yourself "I don't know anything about medical stuff" or "I don't want to get into the medical profession" don't fret. We all started somewhere and our patrol consists of engineers, rocket scientists, pilots, ret. military personnel, authors, financial advisers, entrepreneurs, computer programers, college students as well as paramedics, nurses and ER docs. Basically, if you have passion for the mountain then we want you here.

What I hope you take from this post is that all we're looking for is for your skiing/riding to be at upper intermediate level or better, attend and pass the Outdoor Emergency Care class (or have a current OEC or EMT cert), and attend and pass the on-hill training (just because you have a cert, we want to see you do it with our own eyes, on snow). While it's not technically a requirement, we're also looking for someone who is good with kids and beginners as that's what we deal with mostly at our mountain.

On-hill training consists of medical and toboggan training (my favorite part). Once you pass these you become a full-fledged patroller, capable of handling a scene from the moment you hear about it all the way through transport and handing them off to the EMT's.

If you're still excited about becoming a ski patroller but are worried about your skiing/riding ability don't worry. We're at the beginning of the season now, giving you a year get your butt in gear. When everybody is riding the groomers, hit up the crud, crust, ice, slush, and powder. Ski in different light/visibility conditions even the rain. Be able to take more then a few runs before your legs get tired. And a little upper body strength and cardio never hurt anybody. The mountain is operating every day and so are we.

That's it for now until the season starts, unless I can think of anything else to post. See you on the mountain!