by Joe Menichino,
Dec 31, 2016
It’s snowing like mad as I sit here and life is good! We had knee deep powder at Swain yesterday and the groomers were parked. It is just special skiing closed trails with a foot of fresh powder but no base “checking” to see if we should open them. And Management asked us to do it! Patrollers get the best chores!
The Certified Program is holding the annual exam and meeting at Hunter Mountain this year. Dates are Friday March 24 through the Sunday the 26th. Hunter is a great mountain with very challenging terrain. Let’s hope the snow holds so we can enjoy all the terrain. If you are interested in attending and possibly helping as a Patient in the OEC portion of the test please let me know asap. The program has tightened the visitor policy a bit compared to prior years. We’ll still get you in if you are interested we just have to make the needed arrangements. Let me know if you are interested and I’ll send you more information. My email is [email protected]
Many of our Region’s Certified members will be busy teaching at various Division Toboggan enhancement seminars this season. Both the Elk Mountain (Jan 21-22) and the McCauley Mountain (Feb 11-12) programs will be excellent and I highly recommend them. I’m really looking forward to finally skiing at McCauley which is just north of the Syracuse snow belt.
This past summer all 4 active Genesee Valley Region Certified patrollers taught at the Blue Mountain Advanced Patroller school organized by Jeff Baker from Bristol. I believe we set up the low angle Z-rig 100 times minimum! Everyone was comfortable with it by the end of the day Saturday. Sunday we ran an MCI based on a disabled lift with lots of triage, dead folks and even explosions. Jeff goes all out! In the end everyone lived, learned a bunch and had a great time. The food that Jeff and Tom Wallin and others prepared was also amazing! I included some photos at the end of this write up.
Have a terrific and safe season everyone. As always please feel free to contact any of the Region Certified patrollers for help if you are interested in starting the program or want help with a challenging NSP problem. We love challenges.
Take care- Joe Menichino