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Ski patrol director reaches out to hospital
By Richard Reeder
This document was published online on Thursday, November 12, 2009
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| Sleeping Giant ski patrol director Mike Rock (right) leads a lift evacuation class recently in the ski lodge. Rock came to Sleeping Giant from Sundance Ski Area in Utah. (Courtesy photo) |
A veteran ski patrol director has taken charge of the Sleeping Giant Ski Area patrol.
Finger Lakes, N.Y., native Mike Rock comes to Wapiti from Sundance Ski Area in Utah.
“I saw the job advertised in a ski patrol magazine and applied for it,” Rock said. “For now, I’m here for the winter. We’ll see about the summer.
“There may not be anything to do because they have no summer activities planned,” he added.
He’s living in a cabin at Shoshone Lodge across the highway from the ski hill.
Rock is rebuilding the patrol from scratch because the ski area has been closed for five years. It re-opens Friday, Nov. 27.
“Every area has different needs and you build the patrol to suit those needs,” he said. “Here, we have three paid members of the patrol and many other volunteers.
“The skills and duties of the two groups are basically the same, but the paid members have either EMT, EMT Wilderness or OEC (outdoor emergency care) certifications,” he added. “We are still looking for more paid members who can join the team and help us provide a high level of care.”
Rock said patrol members receive many benefits.
“The paid and volunteer members all receive season passes, and discounts on food and equipment,” he said. “It’s a good deal no matter which level a patrol member is.”
The paid members of the patrol also will help with avalanche situations should they arise.
“The avalanche dangers at Sleeping Giant are moderate compared to other areas where I’ve worked,” he said. “We have one chute down the middle we will have to watch but will probably manage that with signs and ropes.
“Should we need to mitigate an avalanche danger we’ll use hand charges because we don’t have big areas to worry about,” he added. “The cannons other areas use are too big for this area and are expensive.”
Rock knows about avalanche control through his other activities.
“I also work in Chile in the Andes Mountains as a forecaster,” he said. He also monitors a road to gold mines that needs to be kept open.
The duties of the ski patrol are varied.
“We will oversee any accidents on the slopes and do lift evacuations should there be an emergency,” Rock said. “We would also handle search and rescue operations should someone ski out of bounds and become lost.
“We will set up the hills with boundary markers and post signs,” he added. “We will also check the slopes for any rocks and logs that might be sticking up through the snow.”
Rock said he looks for one simple thing in new patrol members.
“I look mainly for someone with a personality that makes it easy for them to deal with the public,” he said. “If they have that personality, then we can teach them things like first aid.
“And they have to be able to work with the team because we are all doing the same things.”
Sleeping Giant is currently running an OEC class for patrol members It includes more than 100 hours of classroom instruction and practical applications.
“Once students pass the class they come to the mountain and we practice accident situations and lift evacuations.”
Rock said the ski area is beginning a new program never before used here.
“We contacted West Park Hospital and we’ve invited doctors and paramedics to be on call for medical emergencies,” he said. “We give them a ski pass and they rotate being on call.
“The idea is that an ambulance is an hour away and then an hour back in, so we need to bring care to the ski area,” he added. “The patrol would respond to the emergency on the slopes and then determine if the doctor needs to come to them or if they can take the patient to the lodge emergency room.”
Rock said the ski patrol and ski runs will evolve through the season.
“Right now we’re kicking the tires to see what works in the new areas,” he said. “The lifts are at two different elevations and the area between the two will be for advanced skiers.
“And the snowmaking equipment will help keep snow on the slopes and help us keep them groomed and eliminate trouble spots.”
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