On the 9th of February, I had the pleasure of attending the first National Ski Patrol Women’s Clinic held at Willamette Pass. It was a regular patrol day for me, and after our morning meeting we opened the mountain prior to the clinic beginning. The runs on Peak two skied really well, given that 6 inches of snow had fallen a few days prior and the lifts hadn’t turned until Saturday morning. After getting a good dose of new snow and several runs, I grabbed my camera and joined the ladies, who were doing drills with the 350 sleds on Where’s Waldo…
Most of the ladies at the clinic were from Willamette Pass, but there were several women from Mt Hood and at least one from Mt Bachelor. After skill drills on Waldo, we headed in for lunch. I grabbed some food in the lodge for the first time in several years, not having time to pack a lunch after getting home late the night before from a great tour at Mt Hood. The mini pizza I ordered was actually pretty tasty. After lunch, we headed out again for some more training with loaded sleds.
The women were killing it running the loaded sleds. I was impressed with the way they handled the 350 as we cruised down Waldo for a few more runs, with each lady taking turns in both the front and rear handles.
After several runs on Waldo, the group headed over to June’s Run to step it up a notch. Just like on Waldo, the ladies cruised down the run with loaded sled like they did it every day, looking strong in the handles. I was able to snap a few photos on June’s but ended up getting called to a few incidents, including three separate ones for a bloody chin, a hurt shoulder and a twisted ankle. The twisted ankle and hurt shoulder both ended up in sled rides, and I was able to tail rope on both.
After the sled rides, I coordinated sweep on EPA and enjoyed the solitude of being alone up top while everyone closed the frontside runs. Once the top was clear, Dan and I vacated via RTS to help sweep the lower mountain. Cold beer hit the spot a bit later after our evening meeting, and it was the end of another good day of patrolling at Willamette Pass. Here’s a parting shot from the day…..
