April 2024
Hi folks- spring is finally here and I finally put my skis away. Liz is happy they are no longer in the living room.
It was a good season for the Certified Program in the Genesse Valley. We hosted a Patroller School at Hunt Hollow in August. The program was well attended and covered OEC, S&R, Low Angle Rescue and Chair Evac. Sunday morning we held an MCI drill which included a plane crash into the Chair Lift. Crazy but interesting and challenging. Thanks to Hunt for letting use the ski area. The 3-day program was very well attended by participants came from multiple Regions across our Division and included Basic candidates, Patrollers and Certified candidates.
This year’s annual exam and meeting was held at Sugarbush this March. The snow was surprisingly good and the moguls on Steins large but manageable. Our Region was well represented by all 4 of our Region Certified members and at least one interested local patroller. Jon Wilson ended his long run as Program Leader. He did an excellent job continuing the effort to evolve the program placing strong emphasis on consistent requirements, efficiently organized test events and believe it or not- training. The First Aid exam was fun and interesting with Tom Wallin doing all the moulage (lots of blood) and Jeff Baker and I his assistants and expediters. We had 2 full sleds of moulage equipment to move down the slope for scenario setup. There must be at least 60 people involved from examiners to IP’s to candidates to scenario set up teams.
As always I recommend that everyone attend the exam and help us in the First Aid portion of the test as an IP or Bystander. Lots to learn just helping! Next year we will be at Jay Peak in March!
This is my last report as Region Certified Advisor! 23 Years is long enough. Weare lucky to have Tom Wallin as my replacement. As always, if you have questions about the program you can contact any of the Certified Patrollers in the Region- Jeff Baker, Tom Wallin, Jim Nickerson and Joe Menichino.
Have a great and safe summer. Next thing you know we’ll be back at it in refreshers- can’t wait….
Joe Menichino, Region Certified Advisor