The Bowl Patrol Skiing Hard, Saving Livesw

Author: Brendan Bechtel
Special to The Campus

The radio in your chest pocket squawks as a call from Steve comes in. He reminds you to drop the rope under Bailey Falls as you open the Middlebury College Snow Bowl at 8:25 a.m. on a 12-inch powder day, cutting mandatory fresh tracks down Allen or the Bowl's backside, to make sure it's "safe" for everyone else… Just another day at the office for the men and women of the Snow Bowl Ski Patrol.

The Patrol consists of two full-time professionals, Ski Patrol Director Steve Paquette and Assistant Taylor Cook. The rest are 20 to 25 part-time student volunteers, led this year by co-presidents Mandy Walker '02 and Chris Kautz '02.

Student patrollers receive no pay, except those invited to work at the Bowl during vacations. Each week, they work one weekday afternoon from 12:30 to 4:15 p.m. and one weekend day from 8 to 4:15 a.m. Students invited to patrol the Bowl during vacations are paid employment wages.

Patrollers are licensed First Responder Units, who respond to any rescue or medical calls in nearby areas, including Route 125. Additional duties include opening and closing all chairlifts and runs, enforcing closed-area boundaries, providing medical coverage for ski races and preventing accidents by, for example, reminding people to put the chairlift bar down—it's Vermont Law!

While ski patrol is a demanding job, the perks are attractive. Patrollers earn free skiing and free lunches at the Bowl, free or half-price skiing at other mountains, deep discounts on ski/snowboard equipment (typically 45-55 percent off retail) and personal lockers at the Bowl. In addition, patrollers get to know and contribute to the Middlebury and Ripton communities. They also get to be a member of an extremely close-knit group of people who work and play hard.

Becoming a Bowl patroller is an extremely competitive and rewarding experience. All of the patrollers have, at the very least, successfully completed the National Ski Patrol Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) and Healthcare Provider Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) classes taught on campus in the fall. Many have Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) or Wilderness-EMT training on top of the OEC medical curiculum. With all this preparation, the patrollers defy the stereotypical bumbling big-resort patrollers who ski too slow and fall too often.

To pass the OEC course, candidates must master six to eight hands-on skills sets, known as "practicals." They must also pass midterm and final situational essays, as well as a multiple-choice final exam. Nearly everyone passes these tests and receives their National Ski Patrol OEC certification. Certified students can patrol at most ski mountains nationwide. Thus, every year a few Middlebury students take the OEC class to work at mountains other than the Bowl, which is always welcome.

The Bowl Patrol written exams are significantly more difficult. They challenge Bowl Patrol candidates to develop comprehensive assessment, rescue and treatment plans for difficult emergency situations, as well as thoroughly testing their understanding of the human body and its vulnerabilities. Cumulative OEC scores are calculated from all of the exams and practicals, and typically the top 15 students are invited to the next phase of the selection process: the ski test held at the beginning of J-Term.

The details and conditions of the ski test evolve from year to year, but candidates must demonstrate (1) the ability to ski any terrain in any snow conditions on our mountain, (2) proficiency in certain maneuvers on the hill – kick turns, snowplows, traversing, sideslipping, skating, etc., and (3) be a "solid" skier or snowboarder. Typically, candidates first free-ski several runs with the entire patrol to get warmed up and have some fun before tackling challenging terrain features, an obstacle/maneuvering course, and, finally, "running the gauntlet." This last exercise evaluates each candidate's skiing performance for an entire run down the slope.

After two days of ski testing, the current patrollers come together to discuss the next generation of patrollers. Anywhere from six to 10 (usually seven or eight) candidates are selected to become Bowl Patrollers, based on their medical expertise, ski performance and other pertinent factors (i.e. mean people don't interact well with patients and don't make good healthcare providers). The "rookies" are on the slopes patrolling by the first weekend of J-Term, all the while getting support and continuing education from their more experienced cohorts.

The Bowl Patrol must consistently deliver professional on-the-hill healthcare, and Paquette sees to it that the level of care meets exacting standards. Student patrollers come and go, but he is always there. Paquette runs a tight ship, demanding excellence from all patrollers in all of their duties. Supporting him in this endeavor are the Patrol co-presidents, Walker and Kautz, who share the director's venerable responsibility of ensuring professional care by organizing classes, assisting with logistics like fundraisers and scheduling, and providing excellent student leadership for an excellent student group.

Patrolling Ski Carnival races, being the first to lay tracks down Allen, knowing everyone at the Bowl by name, helping the sick and injured, skiing for free, enjoying the camaraderie of good people doing good work, celebrating the end of the season patrol banquet at the Dog Team Tavern…these might be the best parts of being in the Bowl Patrol. The patrollers have their own favorite moments, but there certainly is no shortage of them. Mandy Walker shares: "[Patrolling's] the best thing I do here at Middlebury, and it's the people that make it. It's a great opportunity to get out of the Middlebury 'bubble.'"

So, we're here to help. Next time you see a patroller in a blue Snow Bowl coat with a red cross, a silly looking bumpack and a little plastic nametag, shoot us a smile and a nod. We'll do the same…and please remember: put the bar down–it's the state law. Ski on.