Becoming a Patroller

roach1324

roach1324

Member


I'm almost finished high-school and i have been spending a lot of time thinking about what i want to do with my life. My plan is to move west as fast as i can, but after university i will need to support myself as i hide from the real world for like 2-10 years.

Based on moderately extensive Google research i have decided that being a ski patrol at a cool mountain would be a pretty kick ass way to waste my 20's

the next obvious step was appealing to a bunch of 12 year olds to help me plan my life. i'm looking for real experience in terms of stuff that would be good to do to get hired. (specific certifications) as well as any other helpful hints or anecdotes you may feel like offering.

helping people is cool, so be cool

 
Let me send you a pm, I've worked at two different mountains as patrol. Would you be patrolling in BC/AB or USA?
 
You have to become an EMT-B. If you do it somewhere in the mountains, there are almost always 'ins' between the EMS community and Ski Patrol to help facilitate a job (CMC-> Vail resorts, for example).

It's pretty hard to get a job at a legit mountain 'cold'/without connections. Lots of places have volunteer patrols that'll take anybody and can be a good way to get some hands on experience. I did this at Big Sky and it was super fun.
 
Do many places even start peoples as paid patrol? I know most smaller mountains are almost entirely volunteer and some of the bigger mountain with paid patrol still have some volunteer at the base. Not sure about out west though.

You don't have to be patrol to have safety meetings though.
 
Most places on the east coast will be volunteer based, but will still have some paid patrollers for workplace injuries, and being a leader for chair evacs and such.

Now on the west coast, the idea of having to volunteer first isn't always true. If a person is qualified for the job then they might just get it. Now at popular places like whistler and revelstoke you won't get a job there without patrol experience, so it's best to work at smaller place like Panorama, Mount Washington, Silverstar etc... before applying to a place that was previously mentioned.

I had a person in my OEC class get a job at Breckenridge as a rookie patroller doing avalanche control work.
 
If you live in Canada a good place to start is with volunteer ski patrol. Or rather the CSPS. To start out getting a feel for the whole dynamics of patrolling this is the way to go. you get roughly a 60 hour advanced first aid course and when everything's all said and done you pay about 300 bucks for uniform and for the training. (no other place will offer this sort of advanced first aid for anywhere near this cheap) Anywho you get all the toboggan training and certification for the various terrain levels (all the way from low country aka city to high county in the big boy mountains. Once you've got the big mountain certification you can volunteer anywhere essentially skiing for free anywhere in Canada that has volunteer patrol. You just have to do a bit of chatting to the patrol leaders at the hills before you go. You also get every single contact you'd ever need in the patrolling world if you want to do patrolling for full time work. You have a much better chance of getting a job since everyone knows everyone in the patrolling world whether your volunteer or paid.

Get your feet wet though, I know patrolling isn't for everyone even if they think its gonna be baller. It's not just putting up fences and getting first tracks, you also can be put into very stressful medical situations with patients on the hill and some people can't handle having another person's life in their hands.

Other than some seriousness from time to time, most of the time its just a huge party with copious amounts of wing nights and chili cook-offs. I love patrol.

Hope this helped a bit

ps we get some insane gear deals too
 
csps is okay if you live on the east coast, otherwise they are kind of a joke in BC. Just speaking from experience of a place that runs their own volunteer patrol, and one that uses csps for their volunteer patrol.
 
Pretty much.

Red Mountain is one of the few that do things a bit differently. The hill is unionised, so it's a bit odd due to seniority. I know some people who were volly patrol and at any normal hill should have been next in line to get on pro patrol, but they end up getting skipped over for someone who was full time ski instructor because being a paid full time position gave them more seniority over part time volly patrol.

Avy level 1 and level 3 first aid (I believe?) are your prerequisites for a pro patrol job at all the main ski resorts in Western Canada (at least, those that have a bombing program).
 
Listen man, I understand wanting to "hide from the real world" but if you approach being a ski patroller the same way you approach getting a "real world" job, you'll gave experience so that when you're out in the real world...you're not boned.
 
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