Category: Ski Patrol

As hard as it was to believe, the last day of 2022 was already here, and I was heading up to the Pass with Shaun for a day of patrolling. I was excited to be patrolling with Patrol 3 since I was covering for Toby, and there was a dusting of fresh snow when we pulled into the parking lot. After the morning meeting, we headed out to get on the hill. Unfortunately, the weather the night before had rained and then froze, and then finished with a little snow, which meant EPA was pretty iced up. It took several of us pushing chairs through the base of the lift for about an hour to get it going, but soon we were in business.

After we got EPA open, I headed over to Peak 2 to take a few laps and help open runs. The skiing was pretty nice, even though the snow conditions weren’t optimal. I ended up getting busy fairly quickly with incidents, and took part in three during the next few hours, either through toboggan transport or assistance in the aid room. When I finally got back out on the hill, it was time for my bump up top. I managed to catch a picture of Tyler at the top of EPA, and then headed down to the bump shack to hang out.

Once my bump was over it was time for Peak 2 sweep. I headed over and we closed the back without incident. Once back at the top, we made the hike up to EPA and the lighting was really nice. I pulled out the camera and took multiple pictures while we waited for last chair. I even managed to have one of the patrollers get a picture of me and Shaun!

The month of December is a great time to get some really good light at the Pass, especially around sweep, and I was happy to pull my camera out and take some more shots as the minutes ticked by. The two shots below of Ian and Sarah and the starburst with Sarah are a couple of my favorite from the day…

A few minutes later, we had last chair, and it was time to begin sweep. Normally I like to sweep RTS, but I chose to head down Good Time with Shaun since I had been so busy all day it was our first chance to ski together.

 We worked our way down the Toothpaste Tube and then onto Charlie. The softer snow from earlier in the day was beginning to refreeze, but Shaun managed to negotiate it without too much trouble.

We swept the run clean and met up with the other patrollers from KP and Eagles once lower mountain sweep began. I snapped the below photo of various patrollers and SPY sweeping KP, and it reminded me of the previous year before Shaun was on Patrol when he was really excited to get to sweep with us.

At the base, everyone shuffled into the patrol room, and we had a quick evening meeting. It was nice to relax after a long but fun day on the hill, and I enjoyed a tasty Pilot Rock Porter from Caldera Brewing.

And just like that, 2022 was in the books. I’d have to say it was a pretty great year, and I’m hoping 2023 is even better!

 

Sunshine was in the forecast, and it was looking like it was going to be a great weekend at the Pass. Peak 2 was on the docket, with it opening for the first day of the season the day prior, and the stoke factor was high as I pulled into the parking lot for a day of patrolling. We had a good morning meeting, and headed out shortly thereafter to open the hill in the bright sunshine. I headed up to the top of EPA and snapped a few pic before opening High Lead.

Once back to the bottom, I called in the run report and hopped on EPA and headed back up and worked my way over to Peak 2. The snow was pretty nice, and I spun a couple of laps on the back with a few other patrollers while waiting for sled check-offs to start. One interesting note — while checking out conditions in the meadow I saw a large slide that had occurred recently, most likely a result of the nasty buried surface hoar that’s been quite persistent this season. More to come on that later…

A bit later, we met at the top of Peak 2 with the intention of doing sled checks for the alpine patrollers on Escalator. Joe was up to help facilitate, and it felt nice to get the sleds out on some steep runs.

We headed off down Boundary, and Anna led the way running the sled unloaded as we headed down. I setup to shoot a few shots with my 70-200 mm Canon mirrorless lens, and was happy with the results…

At the top of Escalator, we stopped for moment to go over the basics of running a loaded sled, and to allow for a “patient” to hop in. Then, it was time to head over the edge…

Anna was in the handles and Jon was on the tail, with Greg in the sled. Anna rocked it, and had no problem skiing the sled with Greg down the run. I snapped a few pictures as they headed down…

Halfway down the run, it was time for a transition, with Anna taking the tail rope and Jon stepping into the handles. Jon did great in the handles as well, and they worked down to the flats below with no issues. I snapped a few more photos, including the shots below.

The next run up, it was my turn, and I partnered up with Dan for our sled checkoff. It was nice to get back in the handles and tail rope on a loaded sled, and it’s always fun to run a sled with Dan. After our check-off, we headed out to the Meadow — I wanted to show Dan the slide that I’d come across earlier that morning.

We grabbed Amber, who was shadowing Dan for the day, and headed out. When we got there Dan was quite amazed, given he’d been skiing back there the day prior and it appeared the slide happened between the morning and when he had skied through there the day before around 3pm. We check it out from the top and the bottom, and the surface hoar layer was definitely the culprit. I snapped several pics of the skiers on the bed surface and toe for perspective.

After all of that, it was time for lunch. We worked our way off Peak 2 and over to the front, and skied corn on Good Time on our way down to the Patrol Room. I guess if you can’t have powder in mid-December, corn is the next best thing.

 After lunch, we headed out to do some saw work on some of the downed trees that had fallen during the intense windstorm a few days earlier. Dan had his electric saw, which works great for limbing trees in the snow, and our first stop was a smaller tree at the top of Good Time. With the tree of us (Amber, Dan and I), we made short work of the tree and limbs, clearing it off the run in about 20 minutes.

Next up, we headed over to Timburr to work on a tree that Fischer and Chad had worked on the day prior. The snow on the way down Charlie enroute to the base was quite nice, and it’s always fun to shoot photos of a patroller carrying a saw…

At base, we dropped Dan’s saw off at the Patrol Room, since the beta we had on the two trees down on High Lead and Timburr was that they’d been limbed up the day prior and just needed disposal. That turned out to be about half true however (at least for the tree on Timburr). We were able to easily get rid of all the cut limbs on the tree on High Lead, but needed the shovel and saw for the other half. Dan had to leave for bump, but we radioed Jon and he picked up Dan’s saw at base and headed down to meet Amber and I.

With the saw in hand, I was able to get the rest of the limbs cut while Jon and Amber cleared the limbs. It was amazingly warm in the sun, and all of us were sweating by the time we were done, but it felt great to get the trees off the run before more snow came in to cover them up, creating potential nasty hazards. We managed to make it to the top of EPA just in time for sweep, and I hung out up top with Dan, who was running upper mountain closing, after the rest of the patrol headed down to sweep the runs. Sitting there as the sun began to set behind Diamond Peak reminded me of dusk patrol tours in the spring, and it felt really nice to enjoy the quiet after a busy day.

Shortly before upper mountain sweep was completed, Amber and I headed down to ski RTS and help out iwth lower mountain sweep. RTS was really nice, and the turns were enjoyable as we headed down in the waning light.

Lower mountain sweep went off without incident, and soon we were back in the patrol room for the evening meeting, which meant it was time to enjoy a cold beer after a hard day’s work. My offering for the day was a Public House Pale Ale from Oakshire Brewing, and it hit the spot. I should have either cranked the ISO or pulled out the tripod, but I was too tired to remember either, so the photo came out a bit blurry, but that’s the way it sometimes goes:)

The next half hour or so was filled with laughter and talk about the day, and it’s really one of my favorite parts of patrol (the camaraderie with great folks). All in all, the season’s off to a great start, both from the patrol perspective and with respect to the snowpack. I hope it keeps it up on both accounts!

The snow was flying early this season, and the stoke factor was high, with the Pass making one of it’s earliest openings in recent memory. After opening on Friday, December 2nd, I was on duty for both Saturday and Sunday on the weekend. With all the new snow, I was hoping that maybe EPA would open, but it looked like it would be Twilight only for weekend. Even so, the area was looking good, with really nice coverage for early December.

I was on duty both days, and covering for Hutch with Patrol 1 on Saturday. After a good morning meeting, we headed out to open Twilight and catch our first lift rides of the season.

Even though the Pass was open the day before, we still found some really good snow on the runs and in the trees around Swoosh and Rough Cut. After a few runs, I headed down to the patrol room for a drink of water, and then headed out to meet up with Shannon and Greg to run some unloaded sleds to knock the rust off from a several month hiatus….

It’s always fun running sleds, especially when they are unloaded. Shannon, Greg and I each took a turn in the handles, and had a friendly competition to see who could dig the downhill skag in the furthest and get the sled to turn up on edge the most…..I’m not sure who won but I almost tipped the sled over :).

The rest of the day went well, with only a couple of incidents, and soon it was time to sweep the hill and call it a day. Before we all set out, everyone got together and Laurie snapped a picture of our Saturday opening weekend crew.

Sweep went without a hitch, and then it was time to enjoy a cold beverage after the evening meeting. My offering of choice for the day was a great tasting PCT Porter from Crux Fermentation Project.

After enjoying some fun camaraderie with Patrol 1 after the evening meeting, Shaun and I headed down the hill to stay at Brian and Shannon’s for the night since the four of us were all back up and on-duty the following morning. Brian cooked up a great tasting piece of salmon and coupled it with a baked potato bar, and the meal hit the spot. We washed it down with a bottle of wine, and then it was time to hit the sack. The next morning dawned early, and after making the short drive to the Pass we were out making turns again. I finally got the chance to make a few runs with Shaun, and captured the below picture of him right after he went off a small roller on Swoosh.

Up next, I made a few runs with Greg running sleds, and then I headed up to the top of Twilight to catch up with Brian, Shannon and Jen.

As the day wore on, I made a few more runs and captured a few more photos in between incidents and while managing the hill. A couple of shots that piqued my interest was the afternoon light on the upper mountain, as well as new snow gun at the bottom of Twilight…

The afternoon wore on mostly without incident, and everyone made their way to the top of Twilight for the evening sweep. Since only Twilight was open, we were able to start sweep a few minutes after 4:00, as opposed to having to sweep the upper mountain first.

Sweep didn’t take long, and a with the mountain cleared it was time for our evening meeting. Being a Sunday, I brought beer up for patrol, and it was nice to sit back, relax and enjoy some socializing with the crew again. My beer of choice for the second patrol day of the season was a good tasting Lager from Ninkasi Brewing Company.

After enjoying the beer and company, it was time to check the incident reports and close up the patrol room, and put a wrap on the opening weekend at the Pass. Brian, Shannon, Shaun and I piled into Brian’s truck and headed back to Oakridge, fully happy with a successful opening weekend at the Pass. Here’s a parting shot of Shannon from Saturday pulling an unloaded 100…

 

After enjoying a great week in Hawaii, I returned to Oregon and the colder weather. Soon, the weekend rolled around and it was time to head up to the Pass for the Patrol Room Cleanup. I met Dan at his house early and we made our way to the Pass in time for an 8am start. A few inches of snow greeted us as we rolled in to the parking lot, and it was refreshing to see the snow guns working for the first time in several years.

As usual, Dan and I set to work first thing by checking the avalanche beacons and installing them with batteries. Once that task was complete, we worked through the evacuation gear and ropes to check for damage and make sure everything was in working order. Usually everything is in good shape, but this year a mouse had chewed through the EPA evac tote and into one of the ropes rendering it damaged and unusable. Good thing we check the gear at the start of every season…..

Once the evac gear was fully checked and put away, we moved to the sled garage and took all the sleds out to do a once over and cleaned out the garage as well. After we had all the sleds lined up, I snapped the below picture of Dan for perspective….

Around 11:30 am, a representative from Life Flight joined us and we did a half hour training session in preparation for a helicopter visit a short time later. After discussing logistics of calling for a helicopter, landing procedures, etc. we headed out to Sleepy a few minutes before the team arrived.

The refresher on helicopter protocols was timely, given our incident last year where I had to call for one due to a patient with a serious injuries. It’s always fun watching the pilot land the helicopter in the area, and he did it perfectly as we all stood by and watched…

The next several minutes were kind of a blur, and we discussed numerous things associated with landing, loading a patient, etc. We also checked out the helicopter, including the loading area at the back of the bird.

The crew, which consists of a pilot and two medical personnel gave us detailed instructions about how to load a patient at the back of the helicopter and how to make sure to avoid the rotors while doing so.

After that, we got to climb up and check out the view firsthand, which was pretty cool. After climbing in the bird and looking around, I do think being able to pilot one of these things would be pretty darn cool.

After checking things out, we brought out a backboard to do a couple of practice scenarios and load a patient into the helicopter. Brian volunteered to be the patient, and several patrollers worked swiftly to get him strapped up and ready to go.

Once he was securely strapped to the board, he was lifted up and carried around to the rear of the helicopter in preparation of loading through the small entry port. Everyone crouched as they approached the helicopter to avoid the rotors…

They got him loaded securely in the back of the helicopter and I was able to get a few pictures of him snug up in the bird from both the front and the rear of where was….

A few minutes later, we got Brian out of the helicopter and then it was time to do it again for a second run. This time Sarah was the patient and a different group of patrollers loaded her up, going through the same motions as before. I caught one picture of that scenario, as well as the below picture of Laurie with the pilot in front of the helicopter….

Eventually, we wrapped up the training and got ready to take care of the remaining tasks at the patrol room. Prior to bidding the Life Flight crew farewell, we took a group shot of everyone (below)….

The crew took off and headed back to Cottage Grove, and we headed back to the patrol room. After another half hour or so of work, Dan, Kyron and I finished up what we were doing and donned skis, skins and packs and headed out, hoping to find enough snow to eek out a few turns. Given the hour, we only had enough time to find something to ski on Twilight, and chose to skin up Swoosh which, generally speaking, is the smoothest run worth skiing on the lower mountain.

The snow started out crusty, but soon turned soft in the shade. We were unsure how it would ski, being only 8-10 inches deep, and soon we arrived at the top of Twilight. As usual, the first order of business was to put the beer on ice, and my offering on this afternoon was an excellent tasting Nut Brown from Alesmith Brewing Company.

A few minutes later, my beer was cold, and it hit the spot as we sat up top and enjoyed the afternoon and the sunshine. We took our time drinking our beer and removing our skins, but soon it was time to strap into the bindings and see how the snow would ski…

None of us were expecting the conditions to provide much, but after our first couple of turns we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the snow. It was soft and surfy, and immediately I wished we had a bit more daylight left so we could make another lap.

We worked our way down the run, enjoying the soft snow as we skied. I setup a couple of times to shoot shots of the skiers as they came down, and Kyron even managed to get a little air off one of the rollers on the run.

Somehow we managed to make our way to the bottom without hitting a rock or going down, and the three of us were all smiles as we rolled up back to the patrol room.

The rest of the crew was just wrapping up with a few tasks in the aid room as we arrived, and everyone hit the road, happy to have another Patrol Room Cleanup in the books. Dan and I stopped off at Gold Lake to cook up some brats as well as enjoy another cold beverage, and it felt nice to sit back and enjoy a good meal after the long day…

Over the years, I’ve come to enjoy the Patrol Room Cleanup day more and more. No matter the year and conditions, it’s always a fun day, be it making turns if there’s snow or cutting trees on the runs if there isn’t. This year in particular was quite enjoyable, both because of the helicopter tour and because of the quality turns afterwards. At any rate, another Cleanup was in the books, and now it’s time for the season to begin as soon as the snow flies!

Like it somehow does every year, the refresher weekend was upon us, and it felt like summer wasn’t even over yet. The weather also didn’t help to make it feel like fall, with ample sunshine and warm temperatures abundant. Nevertheless, we had a successful in-town refresher on Saturday, and headed up to the Pass on Sunday for the on-hill day. Shaun, Dan and I met at Dan’s house early, and headed up the highway, pulling into the Pass around 7:30 am. The day started with a few announcements, then after I led a review of our lift evacuation plan, we headed out for the first rotation. With the help of TW, we got the first group loaded on the Twilight lift, and lift evacuation commenced.

This year was fun, because my son Shaun, was up for the day since he is in his first year of the Ski Patrol Youth program. I’m pretty sure getting lowered from the chair was one of the highlights of his day. During the second rotation of chair evacuation, I managed to break away from my on-the-ground duties and snapped a few photos of him getting lowered from the chair…

By 12:30 pm, we finally had wrapped up lift evac, and I was happy to get just a few minutes to eat some lunch before we headed over to begin the search and rescue component of the day. While we waited for a couple of minutes for that to begin, I grabbed the camera and snapped a few photos…

A few minutes later, Laurie wrangled our group outside the patrol room and we began discussing the ins and outs of search and rescue. Holding on to the reporting party, information gathering, communication protocols, point last seen, and other steps of a search were all discussed.

Once the general concepts were discussed and we ran through a few radio exercises to locate a missing person, it was time for a search. As usual, we sent a few teams out to check the base area, parking lot, lodge, etc. and eventually the “missing” person was found on Sleepy.

Our day finished up with several OEC scenarios out in front of the lodge, which is always good practice. Hannah led the discussion portion of the training, and then we headed off for some practice.

I was paired up with Doug and Craig, and McKinley (our new P2 mountain host) was our patient. We worked through a few scenarios, taking turns being lead, including a really fun one that involved a dislocated hip. A bit later, I also found a few moments to sneak away and grab a couple of photos of Shaun, who was a patient for James, Brian and Nancy…

We worked our way through a few more scenarios, and finally it was time for the day to be over, or at least mostly over (a few of us still were slated for self-evacuation after the regular refresher activities were through). Everyone shared in the duties of putting all the gear away, and the on-hill refresher was pretty much complete!

Once we got all the gear away, several of us headed over to Sleepy for some self-evacuation practice. It ended up being the pretty core group of patrollers as usual, including Hutch, Brian, Shannon, Dan, myself, Laurie, Tyler and Kerstin. Mindy fired up the lift, Shaun surveyed the scene from below, and we got it done. I shared the chair with Brian, and after we both came out of the chair, I was able to capture a few pics of Hutch ready to come down…

Finally, with self evacuation over, our day was done, and it felt great to have another refresher in the books! I was looking forward to grabbing a cold beer and enjoying some tasty brats at Gold Lake, and so was Dan, so we loaded into his Tesla and headed out. A few minutes later, I was enjoying a tasty Double Hazy IPA from Pelican Brewing, and we had brats on the grill!

The beer and brats definitely hit the spot, and we enjoyed them along with the nice weather while reflecting on a fun day. It always feels good to have the refresher weekend over, and it especially feels good in the moment while at Gold Lake. A bit later, with the food and beer gone, we loaded up and headed down the road. Back at Dan’s, Shaun and I headed out, and we’re definitely ready for this year’s season to begin! Here’s a parting shot of Mark at work during the chair evac earlier in the day…