How did you become a ski patroller at Purgatory?
I became a ski patroller at Purgatory after I was an employee at the retail and then a rental and then the demo shop. It was brand new here and back in the day the ski area had what was called the “Suckercup”. That was a multi-dispensary employee ski race. I started to get to know some of the ski patrollers and at the same time I was starting to compete with and beat some of the ski patrollers in the ski race that they had. The ski patrol at that time, with the director being Dirty, was fairly adamant about hiring only ski race type skiers. So, I really wanted to be one of the monks. The monks were a trail maintenance crew, but ski patrol really wanted me to be on the patrol due to my racing abilities. There wasn’t really room for me to get hired on as a monk and therefore I was recruited by the patrol. So, that’s where the opportunity was. So, I got involved and ran with it.
What are some of your job responsibilities, as a ski patroller and as a supervisor?
One responsibility that I was given as a rookie and you may have notice that we have assigned responsibilities that we divvy up amongst the patrollers, they assigned me to of the responsibility of signs, boundaries, and closures. So, as you’ve probably noticed we have a lot of signs, close signs, trails merge signs, slow signs, all of that sort of thing. And of course we have our boundaries, and so we have to do our upkeep with keeping our boundaries labeled with signs. And also our closures where we have temporary closures where we might open or close certain trails depending on what’s open and where we have snow or not. Then we also have permanent closures as well and you may have noticed that. There is one above the cliff under lift 3 that is a close area and we have established a closure there. And then all of our backside closures that we have to put up in preparation for our sweep. We didn’t always have all of those nice spools that we have nowadays and so we had some pretty not so great pop fences, netting fences and ski poles that were ugly and that is what we used. So over time we have improved those and especially with the spools that we use now. Once we found out there was a welder in the vehicle maintenance shop, we had him make several of those spools and we have replaced a lot of those rough closures with spools. We then have to find placements for those spools, usually attached to a tree. So, that has been one of my assigned responsibilities for as long as I’ve been here. I just enjoy doing that because one, it really keeps me in tune with the big picture throughout the entire mountain and its also a fun responsibility that I like to manage because it gets you out of the indoors and out on the hill.
A big responsibility as a supervisor is looking after lots of minor details. Major details would involve making sure that we have our daily schedule printed out by the end of the day for the next day and addressing various needs throughout the mountain. Early season we have to do tons of setup and so we have a lot of our supplies stored away in various buildings; our pads, our ropes our signs. So that is a bigger responsibility on my part as apposed to Steve being more in charge of the monthly schedule, the budget, and more administrative duties. I am more of an operational, mountain operational, supervisor. So just look after our snow conditions; what’s open, what’s closed, if things like blown down trees, if we need signs in certain places, build new signs. I am also in charge of setting up exchanges. We did eventually get an exchange worked out with Copper Mountain and that’s where we send two patrollers from our crew and swap two patrollers of their crew. And what is the purpose of that? It’s kind of a fact-finding, observation. Seeing how other ski areas work, operations of other patrols. How they operate, how many people they operate with; things of that nature. It is also a little bit of a reward for our patrollers. We have a sign up sheet that we open up to anybody but then when it comes time to do a selection as to who would go, I was kind of leaning towards a full timer that would take precedence over a part timer. Travis Laverty got to go on exchange with Andrew Scarborough. Travis has been one of our stellar patrollers, he’s about a fourth year I think with four or five seasons now, he’s rocked it. Travis is a great skier he grew up at Wolf Creek, his father works there, so he knows the operations and he knows the ski area business.
So you mentioned that you were a ski racer, but what other education or training do you have?
Actually, I’m going to correct you, I wasn’t a ski racer. I was just an athletic skier and I just kind of immersed myself in skiing. So I just got involved and went with it. I was able to preform at a level that ski patrol liked. Ski patrol has a year-end party/convention/race and Dirty would pride himself and their patrol with having a winning team at that event on a yearly basis. Well after a few years of full time I went to school and I got a degree in sports medicine. So when I started out I just had a basic first aid. Patrol put me through EMT class. Then with my sports medicine degree I went looking for a real job and I found another job but they didn’t pay to well. But the knowledge that I gained, acquired from going to school crosses over with ski patrolling very well because it is all based on addressing sports related injuries, lots of anatomy, kinesiology. Which kinesiology is the study or science of muscles, tendons, bones. But then you also learn a lot about how to assess injuries, how to rehab injuries, how to treat them. Beyond injuries it also teaches you to know and understand illnesses as well. So its kind of a precursor to nursing in a big way, in terms of knowing signs and symptoms of different illnesses, whether is gastral intestinal or nerve injuries or just common illnesses too. Then I also went to x-ray school and became an x-ray tech. So I have learned a whole lot more about anatomy and physiology, so I kind of took it to another level. When I was in my educational period, I was very part time ski patrolling but as I’ve come and gone from these different career choices they always fell back on ski patrolling. It kind of has been something to fall back on which has been really good because here I am full time ski patroller. This is my first season as a supervisor, which has been challenging. Dana is the new manager. Our former director resigned two years ago so they didn’t want to make a rash decision and so we made it through last year without a director and then they posted the position. Steve was made foremen last year and we had pretty much all our other foremen and supervisors had gone other directions. So our entire management staff is brand new this year.
How do you handle some of the challenges you face?
One of my objectives has always been to lead by example, so when I am out on the hill I am very observant, my time that I have spent here especially with my assigned responsibilities, I know where all the signs go, I know where the closures go, I know where they are needed. Once these kinds of things are in place they are not just there and good to go, you have to identify the times when all those different things need to be addressed, whether they have melted down or things get buried in storms. There is a constant upkeep, so I am always out on the hill doing work. Every run is a work run, whether it is marking hazards or picking, packing, pulling or resetting signs and pads. By leading by example I hope that then others will follow and I kind of train them with my actions. Also just paying attention to details, there is so many things that go on and when you are not a supervisor you cannot feel responsible to pay attention to those things. We have to revise our sheets that we have for documentation, do the scheduling, you have to be kind of a liaison for the staff members and pass on their concerns to the management, work with the management and take their messages and pass that on to the staff. As a supervisor I realize that I’ve got to do whatever I can for our staff. They always have questions, and you must have an answer and if you don’t have an answer you gotta find out, if you have to hire somebody you have to look at applications. I have had to contact references, read resumes, and those sorts of things. We somehow got a message from Animas High that there was expressed interest in having high school interns. That’s another thing about supervisor things, you take on different responsibilities, some are right there in front of you and others come by surprise. I have had to just take on more things and try to keep a clear mind and take lots of notes, file lots of documents because there is so much stuff that you have to keep track of. It has helped me with my organizational skills, you cannot forget things, I do but I challenge myself to not let things go by the wave side and pay attention to every little detail. So yes it is challenging making sure that people know what their responsibilities are, not forgetting to shut off the lights, turn down the heat, lock the doors, put things away. When things get overlooked, I have to be a leader in the respect that I have become the voice of the patrol, making sure that everyone is on the same page as far as what our policies and procedures are, where things belong and things like that.
Well thanks for taking on the challenge for being my mentor, that’s awesome.
You’re welcome! You got a hold of me early in the season, which was great, there was a little bit of lag time in between but here we are, it’s March now and I have warned the troops that we were going to have high school interns here. We have had them in the past, not on this formal of a level. Here we are and you are half way through. Me personally, I have been looking forward to this and it’s been fun to have you guys here, its fun to kinda pass the torch and share the knowledge and responsibilities that we have. I think that a lot of people don’t realize what its all about until you get immersed in it. I agree. I have identified for a few years now that we have an aging patrol and those folks aren’t going to be here forever. So it’s good to share what we know and do and bring that to a new generation.
My last question is what is you favorite part of being a ski patroller or supervisor, or just working here in general?
I guess the underling thing is that I am passionate about skiing. I love to ski. I skied a little bit when I was a kid, but never too much at the ski area. I was involved in lots of other sports, but I recall being young and always wondering what it would be like to ski big mountains and I love the snow too. I embrace all seasons of the year but because I grew up in Minnesota, I enjoy being in the outdoors, in the snow and cold and all that. I’m a winter person and I like to ski.
Do you have anything you would like to add?
Maybe just going back to some of the responsibilities about being a ski patroller and working at a resort. One, we have to be willing to help people, which is kind of hard. I wasn’t too concerned about that when I first started, I aimed to work on the mountain. Sometimes is can be a little intimidating being sent to a call, having to address someone that is injured and dealing with whatever that might be. With my education I have become very familiar with that. You have to be willing to help. The other thing is working at a resort, these people that are out here are our guests and we need to provide a service to them. Whether they are proficient skiers or first timers and everything in between. It’s good to help them and you want to make their experience positive, you have to have them coming back because if they aren’t here we don’t have a job. So yeah, good luck to you!
I became a ski patroller at Purgatory after I was an employee at the retail and then a rental and then the demo shop. It was brand new here and back in the day the ski area had what was called the “Suckercup”. That was a multi-dispensary employee ski race. I started to get to know some of the ski patrollers and at the same time I was starting to compete with and beat some of the ski patrollers in the ski race that they had. The ski patrol at that time, with the director being Dirty, was fairly adamant about hiring only ski race type skiers. So, I really wanted to be one of the monks. The monks were a trail maintenance crew, but ski patrol really wanted me to be on the patrol due to my racing abilities. There wasn’t really room for me to get hired on as a monk and therefore I was recruited by the patrol. So, that’s where the opportunity was. So, I got involved and ran with it.
What are some of your job responsibilities, as a ski patroller and as a supervisor?
One responsibility that I was given as a rookie and you may have notice that we have assigned responsibilities that we divvy up amongst the patrollers, they assigned me to of the responsibility of signs, boundaries, and closures. So, as you’ve probably noticed we have a lot of signs, close signs, trails merge signs, slow signs, all of that sort of thing. And of course we have our boundaries, and so we have to do our upkeep with keeping our boundaries labeled with signs. And also our closures where we have temporary closures where we might open or close certain trails depending on what’s open and where we have snow or not. Then we also have permanent closures as well and you may have noticed that. There is one above the cliff under lift 3 that is a close area and we have established a closure there. And then all of our backside closures that we have to put up in preparation for our sweep. We didn’t always have all of those nice spools that we have nowadays and so we had some pretty not so great pop fences, netting fences and ski poles that were ugly and that is what we used. So over time we have improved those and especially with the spools that we use now. Once we found out there was a welder in the vehicle maintenance shop, we had him make several of those spools and we have replaced a lot of those rough closures with spools. We then have to find placements for those spools, usually attached to a tree. So, that has been one of my assigned responsibilities for as long as I’ve been here. I just enjoy doing that because one, it really keeps me in tune with the big picture throughout the entire mountain and its also a fun responsibility that I like to manage because it gets you out of the indoors and out on the hill.
A big responsibility as a supervisor is looking after lots of minor details. Major details would involve making sure that we have our daily schedule printed out by the end of the day for the next day and addressing various needs throughout the mountain. Early season we have to do tons of setup and so we have a lot of our supplies stored away in various buildings; our pads, our ropes our signs. So that is a bigger responsibility on my part as apposed to Steve being more in charge of the monthly schedule, the budget, and more administrative duties. I am more of an operational, mountain operational, supervisor. So just look after our snow conditions; what’s open, what’s closed, if things like blown down trees, if we need signs in certain places, build new signs. I am also in charge of setting up exchanges. We did eventually get an exchange worked out with Copper Mountain and that’s where we send two patrollers from our crew and swap two patrollers of their crew. And what is the purpose of that? It’s kind of a fact-finding, observation. Seeing how other ski areas work, operations of other patrols. How they operate, how many people they operate with; things of that nature. It is also a little bit of a reward for our patrollers. We have a sign up sheet that we open up to anybody but then when it comes time to do a selection as to who would go, I was kind of leaning towards a full timer that would take precedence over a part timer. Travis Laverty got to go on exchange with Andrew Scarborough. Travis has been one of our stellar patrollers, he’s about a fourth year I think with four or five seasons now, he’s rocked it. Travis is a great skier he grew up at Wolf Creek, his father works there, so he knows the operations and he knows the ski area business.
So you mentioned that you were a ski racer, but what other education or training do you have?
Actually, I’m going to correct you, I wasn’t a ski racer. I was just an athletic skier and I just kind of immersed myself in skiing. So I just got involved and went with it. I was able to preform at a level that ski patrol liked. Ski patrol has a year-end party/convention/race and Dirty would pride himself and their patrol with having a winning team at that event on a yearly basis. Well after a few years of full time I went to school and I got a degree in sports medicine. So when I started out I just had a basic first aid. Patrol put me through EMT class. Then with my sports medicine degree I went looking for a real job and I found another job but they didn’t pay to well. But the knowledge that I gained, acquired from going to school crosses over with ski patrolling very well because it is all based on addressing sports related injuries, lots of anatomy, kinesiology. Which kinesiology is the study or science of muscles, tendons, bones. But then you also learn a lot about how to assess injuries, how to rehab injuries, how to treat them. Beyond injuries it also teaches you to know and understand illnesses as well. So its kind of a precursor to nursing in a big way, in terms of knowing signs and symptoms of different illnesses, whether is gastral intestinal or nerve injuries or just common illnesses too. Then I also went to x-ray school and became an x-ray tech. So I have learned a whole lot more about anatomy and physiology, so I kind of took it to another level. When I was in my educational period, I was very part time ski patrolling but as I’ve come and gone from these different career choices they always fell back on ski patrolling. It kind of has been something to fall back on which has been really good because here I am full time ski patroller. This is my first season as a supervisor, which has been challenging. Dana is the new manager. Our former director resigned two years ago so they didn’t want to make a rash decision and so we made it through last year without a director and then they posted the position. Steve was made foremen last year and we had pretty much all our other foremen and supervisors had gone other directions. So our entire management staff is brand new this year.
How do you handle some of the challenges you face?
One of my objectives has always been to lead by example, so when I am out on the hill I am very observant, my time that I have spent here especially with my assigned responsibilities, I know where all the signs go, I know where the closures go, I know where they are needed. Once these kinds of things are in place they are not just there and good to go, you have to identify the times when all those different things need to be addressed, whether they have melted down or things get buried in storms. There is a constant upkeep, so I am always out on the hill doing work. Every run is a work run, whether it is marking hazards or picking, packing, pulling or resetting signs and pads. By leading by example I hope that then others will follow and I kind of train them with my actions. Also just paying attention to details, there is so many things that go on and when you are not a supervisor you cannot feel responsible to pay attention to those things. We have to revise our sheets that we have for documentation, do the scheduling, you have to be kind of a liaison for the staff members and pass on their concerns to the management, work with the management and take their messages and pass that on to the staff. As a supervisor I realize that I’ve got to do whatever I can for our staff. They always have questions, and you must have an answer and if you don’t have an answer you gotta find out, if you have to hire somebody you have to look at applications. I have had to contact references, read resumes, and those sorts of things. We somehow got a message from Animas High that there was expressed interest in having high school interns. That’s another thing about supervisor things, you take on different responsibilities, some are right there in front of you and others come by surprise. I have had to just take on more things and try to keep a clear mind and take lots of notes, file lots of documents because there is so much stuff that you have to keep track of. It has helped me with my organizational skills, you cannot forget things, I do but I challenge myself to not let things go by the wave side and pay attention to every little detail. So yes it is challenging making sure that people know what their responsibilities are, not forgetting to shut off the lights, turn down the heat, lock the doors, put things away. When things get overlooked, I have to be a leader in the respect that I have become the voice of the patrol, making sure that everyone is on the same page as far as what our policies and procedures are, where things belong and things like that.
Well thanks for taking on the challenge for being my mentor, that’s awesome.
You’re welcome! You got a hold of me early in the season, which was great, there was a little bit of lag time in between but here we are, it’s March now and I have warned the troops that we were going to have high school interns here. We have had them in the past, not on this formal of a level. Here we are and you are half way through. Me personally, I have been looking forward to this and it’s been fun to have you guys here, its fun to kinda pass the torch and share the knowledge and responsibilities that we have. I think that a lot of people don’t realize what its all about until you get immersed in it. I agree. I have identified for a few years now that we have an aging patrol and those folks aren’t going to be here forever. So it’s good to share what we know and do and bring that to a new generation.
My last question is what is you favorite part of being a ski patroller or supervisor, or just working here in general?
I guess the underling thing is that I am passionate about skiing. I love to ski. I skied a little bit when I was a kid, but never too much at the ski area. I was involved in lots of other sports, but I recall being young and always wondering what it would be like to ski big mountains and I love the snow too. I embrace all seasons of the year but because I grew up in Minnesota, I enjoy being in the outdoors, in the snow and cold and all that. I’m a winter person and I like to ski.
Do you have anything you would like to add?
Maybe just going back to some of the responsibilities about being a ski patroller and working at a resort. One, we have to be willing to help people, which is kind of hard. I wasn’t too concerned about that when I first started, I aimed to work on the mountain. Sometimes is can be a little intimidating being sent to a call, having to address someone that is injured and dealing with whatever that might be. With my education I have become very familiar with that. You have to be willing to help. The other thing is working at a resort, these people that are out here are our guests and we need to provide a service to them. Whether they are proficient skiers or first timers and everything in between. It’s good to help them and you want to make their experience positive, you have to have them coming back because if they aren’t here we don’t have a job. So yeah, good luck to you!