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Diary of a Ski Patrolman: Week 9

by Josh Allen

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Credit: Josh Allen

Credit: Josh Allen

Credit: Josh Allen

Monday
It's a good thing that I was dispatching today. You see, I had the bright idea to try snowboarding yesterday afternoon. I made it down without falling on two runs. For the other six I think I fell more frequently than I stood upright. I've never had so much fun falling over and over again. I paid for it when I woke up this morning, feeling a bit like I had been hit by a truck. A small truck, perhaps, but still a truck. It didn't help that I've had a cold for the past few days, either. But that's all just fine, because attempting to snowboard for the first time with no lessons or advice was tremendously enjoyable. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and it was exciting because of that. And terrifying, particularly when I started to pick up speed, only to realize as I raced closer and closer to the trees that I wasn't really sure how to stop. It looked easy enough from the lift, though! Luckily I managed to avoid visiting the First Aid room as a patient. I wouldn't have enjoyed that… even if I think toboggan rides are something everyone should try [not injured, of course].

I can't honestly remember learning how to ski. It just feels like I am on my feet, when I click into my bindings. And I'm kind of glad…but at the same time, I feel as if I'm missing something important. It's important to remember the beginning of one's skill development, because then you can look back a few days, weeks, or months later, and pat yourself on the back for sticking with it. You can pat yourself on the back, and be glad that you're no longer gingerly touching bruises because you're falling three times a run, instead of three-hundred. I was humbled by the experience. I don't think of the bunny slope as easy anymore. Honestly, I think the term bunny is pretty misleading, because I swear, on a snowboard, it was more like a tiger-leaping-at-my-face-in-the-dark slope. I can appreciate beginners of all sorts better now. After being laughed at by guests above me riding the lift, I think I better grasp just what each of us goes through in the beginning. Whether you learn to ski or snowboard in the future, or continue to struggle with either, or an entirely different sport, or discipline, or simply are trying to get better at shuffleboard [not sure exactly what category that lies under…], stick with it. We'll have bruises together, and we'll conquer them together. May I suggest though, acquiring a stability ball to use as a chair. It's really soft where you'll need it most.

Tuesday
Until today, I thought I'd pretty much covered all the toboggan skills available to a patroller. I'd taken a friendly [albeit apprehensive] volunteer down moguls on Sel's Choice, I'd preformed chest compressions on a "patient" while barreling down the steep on Sapphire, and hauled real patients across seemingly endless flats at the Jackson Gore base area. Each of these techniques were different, and challenging. But I never felt like moguls were scary…

And so today, because there just haven't been enough scary moments as a patroller, another first-year patroller, Charlie, and I were hauled away into the woods. We were to learn how to transport a patient in a toboggan between the trees of Forrest Bump and Loose Spruce. Since that wasn't challenging enough, we were gifted with a fresh inch or two of snow to cover up the moss-covered rocks and slippery fallen logs strewn across our only path. Charlie and I took turns between tail-roping, or holding the toboggan back from sudden acceleration and doom, and being in front of the toboggan, or guiding our passenger safely between trees, roots, stumps, and unfortunate amounts of jagged rock edges. It went pretty smoothly, considering the tricky dynamics of what we were doing -- guiding a two hundred pound plus sled through a densely packed forest on skis that barely fit between the trees while side-slipping.