When I look back on the past few months, I must say its been a blur. Among other things, this winter one of my primary goals has been preparing for volunteer Ski Patrol at Park City Mountain Resort. PCMR is one of the few Ski resorts that use volunteer Ski patrolers on weekends. The process to become a patroler is fairly intense. Last year toward the end of the ski season, PCMR patrol ski tested a dozen or so candidates. Those who passed the test were eligible to enroll in the Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) course sponsored by PCMR. The OEC course started October and ran for six weeks. The OEC is equivalent to an EMT 1, and passing required an 80% on the final. The on hill training began soon after the OEC course was over, and it wasn't until mid February when most of the group was rostered as rookie patrollers.
One of the most time consuming aspects of our training has been toboggan handling. Essentially, you learn to handle several types of toboggans on easy runs as well as most difficult terrain. Sometimes the steepness of the slope requires a tailroper. An additional patroler acts as a brake person, utillazing a rope attached to the rear of the toboggan.
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