by Joe Menichino,
December 1 2017
Hi folks- The slow start to the season is at least giving us lots of time to train and prep. Not sure about you but I’d rather be skiing. Making those first few turns on my first run of the season always feels great. It always amazes me how the skills just wake up again after a long summer off.
As usual the Certified staff have a busy year ahead. The Division is running a large number of Skier Enhancement and Intro to Certified seminars all around the Eastern Division from Pa. to Maine. Closest are Elk and MacCauley Mountain in late January and early February. Look them up on the Eastern Division web site calendar page. The 4 Certified patrollers in our Region will be supporting these events.
The Advanced Patroller School held at Holiday Valley in late September this year was successful, fun and a great learning experience. All four of our Region Cert’s were in attendance and helped coordinate the event. If you have time see the separate article about this event in this issue of Valley Views. I can’t recommend these schools enough for pre-season prep and meeting new and interesting Patrollers from other Regions.
This year is the 50th Anniversary of the Certified program and we are planning a big event at Killington the weekend of March 23, 24 and 25. This will coincide with the annual exam and meeting. Killington is always fun that time of year and usually still has lots of snow left. Let me know if you are interested in coming up and participating and I’ll get you the details and housing arrangement info. The only hard commitment expected is that each member will be available to be an IP during the OEC portion of the test on Saturday morning. It always turns out to be a Hoot for the IP’s (Not such a Hoot for the candidates). If you have any interest in the Certified program this trip is the best way to learn. As always, all of the Certified patrollers in our Region are ready to talk to you about the requirements. Please don’t hesitate to contact Jeff Baker, Tom Wallin, Jim Nickerson or myself. If you are ready to learn, challenge your skills, your self-confidence and your determination this is the program for you.
Have a great and safe season. Hopefully those first few turns are just a few days off.
Joe Menichino, Region Certified Advisor