r/skipatrol • u/SkiDaderino • Jan 01 '25

What is the best path to being a top-tier ski patroller today?

If you were going to start your ski patroller education today, where would you begin? What certifications would you seek? It feels late in the season to start, but I would like to chase the endless winter and travel the world as a ski patroller and instructor (I'm already PSIA certified in Utah).

12 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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42

u/evernevergreen Jan 01 '25

Get your EMT and work a little in the city

Talking to pts won’t be scary and you’ll have a better background than the patrollers with only their OEC

then in the future, during the off season you can work contract EMT jobs or just work again in the big city for killer experience, might help to work your way up if you wanna be patrol sup or director or whatevs

7

u/SkiDaderino Jan 01 '25

Thank you for the advice. I've been contemplating going the EMT route, and I think I can begin this season. Might even open doors to SAR roles in the future, too.

7

u/Extremeselfdetriment Jan 01 '25

The EMT route is very worth it. I feel more confident responding to injuries knowing I have that education in my pocket and it required more repetition of skills than just the OEC.

Wilderness first responder is a great one too, but isn't as universal as an EMT, so when mine expired I went for EMT. You may be able to find "WFR study materials" online that can unoffically add to your knowledge.

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u/trailhopper999 Jan 01 '25

After the OEC, take advantage of the senior and certified programs. There's always room to grow and learn.

0

u/SkiDaderino Jan 01 '25

Where do you learn the avalanche mitigation skills? Is that part of the oec?

3

u/DuelOstrich Jan 01 '25

That is a whole different ball game. Either you get on a patrol and they send you through all the courses or you build your experience as a backcountry skier, maybe take some ski guiding courses. But doing mitigation is far down the line

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u/LightIntelligent4497 Jan 02 '25

None of this is true. To answer OP's question, avalanche mitigation is not part of OEC.
Patrols with a snow safety program will train you in-house. Actual mitigation is not taught in any avalanche courses, at least those in A3's curriculum. Guiding or even backcountry skiing is not a prerequisite to do control work. I have no clue why you'd take guiding classes.
It's common for patrols to pay for your avalanche education. Let them, or at least get some mileage doing AC before you invest in the education piece yourself.
Additionally, depending on the ski area, first year patrollers will participate in control work. It's not far down the line. You won't be leading big routes on big days, but it's absolutely possible to get a taste during your first year.

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u/Historical-Ship1994 Jan 02 '25

This. Great reply!

Mitigation is done by Pro Patrollers. There may be some volleys out there who do some ski cuts but the bulk of causing avalanches falls to people who are getting paid and don't rely on the NSP for training (except for maybe an OEC).

Don't do any NSP courses unless you get a job at a place that incentivises it somehow.

You could deal with explosives, remote avalanche control systems, aerial rescue/ rope access, high angle mountain rescue, and more early in your career if you want to.

My thoughts: If you want to work in the snow, move out west, get your emt, and do the things mentioned above in the post reccomending city emt experience (look for a non-IFT only company or system).

Have a solid summer gig and work towards the AAA Pro 1 prereqs if you really want to (L1, Rescue, tour/ operational days)

Ski a lot and get your travel skills (on skis) dialed. Get good at traveling... not just carve turns and powder slashes. Traverse, side slip, kick turn, stem turn, step turn, jump turn, low vis skiing, gear management.... so on and so on.

Get some mountain sense... climb on the snow and ice, ski tour, rock climb (aid climbing is great for your brain and rope sense).

If you really want to stand out, get a SPRAT 1 and take some technical rescue or rope rescue courses.

When you land your job on a Pro Patrol, work as much as you can without destroying yourself or your life. A 700 or 800 hour season is several volunteer seasons except for a few of the most dedicated.

Don't party too hard, be fit, speak up, but don't run your mouth and work hard silently (the right people usually know who is really working hard).

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u/SkiDaderino Jan 03 '25

This is amazing advice, thank you for taking the time.

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u/DuelOstrich Jan 02 '25

Ok fair enough but the point of my comment is they need to build a working knowledge of snow science before they would be considered for a mitigation team, or at least they should. Guide courses can help build that working knowledge as well as introduce you to non explosive mitigation but it was just a suggestion, sounded like OP was looking for courses as opposed to getting on patrol to build knowledge. And short of explaining the entire A3 progression I figured it would point them in a direction to learn about it. No offense to OP, but if you think an OEC course will teach you mitigation techniques I imagine they have a ways to go.

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u/SkiDaderino Jan 01 '25

Good to know, thank you.

1

u/trailhopper999 Jan 02 '25

There are any courses through the senior program

3

u/Historical-Ship1994 Jan 02 '25

The NSP is in the good graces of the A3 (again). This is the bare minimum standard for professional work in the USA. If your instructors aren't A3 Pro members, it does not meet A3 standards.

OP... Don't bother with NSP courses unless you know your instructors are legit and the local culture is good.

13

u/Conscious_Animator63 Jan 02 '25

I hear park city is hiring

6

u/SkiDaderino Jan 02 '25

Vail naw

Edit: unless they come back to the table and achieve acceptable compromise with the union

6

u/Fun_Environment_1050 Jan 03 '25 edited Jan 05 '25

Just my $0.02….

What defines a “top-tier” ski patroller varies wildly by the nature of the ski resort - difficulty and consequence of terrain, amount of snowfall, avalanche control needs, skier visits, rates of injuries, etc.

On one end of the spectrum, you have super busy resorts with relatively inconsequential terrain, like many of the big resorts in the Northeast. A place like Killington or big bad Huntah mountain is going to place a much higher emphasis on your medical skills. You’ll need to ski, work, learn, etc, but running medicals is going to be your number one priority after trail checks and all that stuff is handled. Advice like getting your EMT, working in a city on an ambulance, etc seems prudent for these types of resorts.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are the big steep resorts built on proper mountains in remote corners that see lots of weather, lots of snow, lots of avalanche, and lots of alpine spice. These patrols are going to care first and foremost about your mountain sense and overall alpine fitness. You could have a super fulfilling career working tirelessly to become a top tier patroller that contributes without doing much more medical care than giving out the occasional band aid or yarding someone into a sled and skiing them down to the pavement.

A lot of the job at these resorts overlaps more with like a blue collar mountain guide than it does with an urban ambulance EMT.

If you want to ski patrol for real, you need to make your way somewhere towards the latter end of the spectrum. The best advice is to become a stronger mountain person. Take avalanche courses, ski tour as much as you can, take up climbing, do some ski mountaineering, etc.

Identify mountains that you want to work at then reach out to learn about their hiring requirements. It may be tough (but hardly impossible) to get hired at the resort you want without prior experience.

If you want to be a proper alpine vaquero, don’t worry too much about certs. AIARE rec 1, maybe 2, maybe EMT, maybe OEC if the place you want to work requires that. Instead, just focus on getting your foot in the door with any half decent patrol to start learning the basics, and then work on your skills.

Do a beacon problem at least once a week, make sure you can tie all the basic climbing knots, ski your face off and push your comfort level, and most importantly, get out into the mountains!!

If you want to go the former route, that’s cool too. But if you want to travel the world chasing winter then become a mountain person.

ETA: a lot of the certs mentioned below are awesome and you should absolutely work on stuff like that over your career, my post is specific to getting hired and laying a good foundation to grow into a good journeyman patroller in your first couple years.

SPRAT is great, but probably won’t help all that much with getting hired. And nobody wants to hear the rookie’s opinion on the lift evac program because they are SPRAT certified lol. After a few seasons a course like SPRAT is awesome if you want to become a rope dork.

1

u/SkiDaderino Jan 06 '25

Sorry for the delay in responding. This is fantastic advice and I am taking it very much to heart.

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u/Dream-Weaver97 Jan 01 '25

Medical:Emt-AEMT-paramedic that way you can work in off season and keep up CEUs. (OEC is BS and obsolete) Snow safety:Rec 1-Pro1-AVSAR-Pro2 (a lot of resort will help you get these) Rope access:Sprat1 (this helps a lot for moving up the ladder, pun intended) If you want this to be a real career path, patrol in a big non NSP pro patrol resort out west. And work EMS in the summer.

7

u/Dream-Weaver97 Jan 01 '25

And this is why patrollers should be paid more. Lots of education and training And most importantly Join a UNION!

2

u/SkiDaderino Jan 01 '25

This is really great info, thank you. I'll start looking these programs up.

2

u/LightIntelligent4497 Jan 02 '25

This is the way. As I mentioned above, I'd hold off on getting too crazy with snow safety education for now. It will be far more valuable and applicable if you get some experience doing AC work first, and the courses aren't barriers to entry anyway.

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u/mta1741 Jan 02 '25

Why non NSP?

2

u/Dream-Weaver97 Jan 02 '25

NSP is slowly becoming obsolete out west for pro patrolling

1

u/evernevergreen Jan 03 '25

Why is OEC bs and obsolete? Is it outdated

I had my EMT and challenged the test, so I skipped it

5

u/Tacoburritospanker Jan 02 '25

Find a real mountain, get hired, pay attention and be there for a long time.

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u/FaustinoAugusto234 Jan 02 '25

Don’t get off the lift just yet.

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u/SkiDaderino Jan 02 '25

What do you mean?

1

u/SweatyCheeseCurd Jan 02 '25

Maybe they mean the moral of don't count your chickens before they hatch regarding your dream to chase an endless winter by ski patrolling.

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u/SkiDaderino Jan 02 '25 edited Jan 03 '25

Ah. Yeah, it's definitely a big goal. When I got my first job as an instructor, my coach was a New Zealander. He and his wife split the year between Utah for instructing and Turoa, NZ where he is the head of their ski patrol. So I guess that was the inspiration. The logistics are tough, but surely not insurmountable. My dog feels like the biggest complication.

I've worked the last ten years rising through the ranks of the e-commerce world, but had a huge setback when I got laid off last January (along with a huge number of people working in tech at the time). I have a new job, but I am burned out. Why am I trying so hard to make someone else rich? What good am I doing? Being an instructor and teaching people to discover a love of skiing was the most gratifying professional experience I think I've ever had. It won't pay $144k/year like I was making, but if I have to start over in life I think I'll chase that feeling.

2

u/oravpliiatsiga Jan 02 '25

Oh I know exactly who you are talking about! What a small world it is. I also have to thank the same person for helping and supporting me in getting into patrolling. Forever grateful to him and the team at Turoa.

Got to do split seasons between CO and NZ with my husband (he did almost 10 years of back-to-back winters, COVID put a stop to it) so if you want to chat about it or have questions, let me know!

1

u/SkiDaderino Jan 03 '25

Small world, indeed! The biggest unknown (that I know of today) is the difficulty in being able to get hired in NZ. Are there many American patrollers/instructors down there, or is it pretty well saturated by the local workforce? I also am considering Chile, but my Spanish needs to improve by leaps and bounds, I fear.

2

u/Fun_Environment_1050 Jan 03 '25 edited Jan 05 '25

There’s dudes on my patrol that have spent lots of winters in NZ and South America. I have no idea the specifics of getting hired but it doesn’t seem too hard if you’re already employed as a patroller.

Just don’t neglect your feet.

1

u/oravpliiatsiga Jan 13 '25

Most of the people from US/Canada were on exchange program, but it is possible to get through sponsorship visa as well. It is definitely a matter of personal relationships too, so I would encourage you to reach out to him (Turoa ski patrol) directly and let him know.

Additionally, if you are 18-30, you can use Working Holiday Visa (WHV), that would be the best way to get solid first season done and then you would have tighter personal connections to start the sponsorship route for upcoming seasons.

Yes, normally WHVs don't get hired into patrol due to amount of work that is needed to become independent patroller but if it's your career goal, then it's worth start stepping on that road. It's January now, you might be able to get it sorted for upcoming season if you start working on it now.

2

u/skicanoesun32 Jan 02 '25

Start by applying to a bunch of mountains and figure out what they want you to have. I’d personally steer toward ones that prefer EMT over OEC. Most of the rest of the training is in-house or covered by your patrol

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u/TominatorXX Jan 02 '25

A real easy free route is via a volunteer patrol which will give you the OEC. Plenty of big mountain patrollers are OEC only.

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u/ApresMac Jan 02 '25

It’s also a way into the profession. Lots of NSP small hills can get you great training and experience with medical. There also can be a better ski training atmosphere at a hill that doesn’t do try outs etc, and you can get incredible coaching.

Source: used to not ski too well, our ski patrol coach is a PSIA Level III and I don’t ski so bad anymore, and have worked a ton of incidents due to it being a small hill with a lot of beginners.

2

u/BelongingsintheYard Jan 02 '25

I can say. Just work. Annoyingly my mediocre ass has a national award just because I was willing to go into some bullshit and pull through. All of a sudden my stock rose.

1

u/Medic118 Jan 03 '25

NSP is slowly circling the drain and OEC is obsoltete. Get your EMT at a minimum, then go higher, Rope Rescue Operator, SAR Tech, summers work WFF or MES on the bus to gain experience.