Big Sky ski with patrol day provides insight for potential recruits

By JODI HAUSEN

Chronicle Staff Writer

SEAN SPERRY/CHRONICLE Clare Magneson, left, enjoys a non-emergency ride down the mountain with Big Sky Resort snow patroller Josh Thompson pulling the sled. Magneson spent the day learning about Big Sky’s volunteer ski patrol program during Ski With a Patroller day Saturday. BIG SKY n So you want to be a ski patroller. About 10 hardy souls thought so and attended “ski with patrol day” at Big Sky Resort Saturday. Despite numerous caveats to the perks, most who participated said they would try to join Big Sky’s team of more than 70 volunteers next season.

Participants ranged in age from early 20s to nearly 65 and their reasons for wanting to join the ski patrol were just as wide-ranging as their years.

“I love to ski,” participant Chuck Tufts said, sitting in the patrol shack at the top of Andesite Mountain.

“This is just a way to get out more often and meet more people. I just think it will be fun,” the 52-year-old banker said.

Frederic Moulin, 43, is a veterinarian who currently lives in Newtown, Pa., but is originally from France. He spends a fair amount of time skiing at Big Sky and used to ski in the Alps, he said. He wants to join the patrol because he likes to help people, he said.

“It’s not for the skiing,” he said. “Fortunately, I’ve never broken anything badly but I’ve had a few rides. Ski patrol has taken care of me.”

Participant Clare Magneson had the opportunity to ride in a toboggan piloted by patroller Josh Thompson on a snowboard. Before Saturday, she wasn’t sure if Big Sky accepted snowboarding patrollers and was pleasantly surprised by the ride.

“It was impressively smooth,” she said. “Josh did a really good job on a snowboard. I appreciated it because I hope to patrol on a snowboard.”

Magneson, 22, moved to Bozeman last summer after graduating from college in Maine. She has friends on the Big Sky ski patrol and “everybody just loves it,” she said. “I just love being on a mountain and this is just an excuse to be out all the time. I want to be working outdoors.”

Though he’s never patrolled, Robert Montague, 31, has experience as a climbing guide on Mt. Rainier. He recently moved to the area from Washington and is working on becoming a backcountry ski guide, he said. He is considering trying to join the professional team of ski patrollers at Big Sky next year.

“I’m not sure if I want to do it,” he said while riding the lift. “The experience I want from patrol is avalanche control and more time on skis.” But it hasn’t been his dream to become a ski patroller, he said.

Sitting in the cafeteria during a brief break from skiing, volunteer ski patroller Jim Bowker outlined some of the perks patrollers enjoy -- season passes for the patroller and family members, reduced purchase rates for some of the patroller’s required gear, half price discounts at the resort’s cafeteria, the ability to ski when the general public is not on the mountain during morning trail checks and afternoon trail sweeps and the camaraderie and friendships that develop over the years.

Despite the perks, there are some downsides to patrolling, particularly in the first year, volunteer patroller Rock Larocco told participants.

“Jim paints a pretty picture,” Larocco said. “This is not the easiest way to get a ski pass. I really dig it. You’re on the mountain first thing in the morning, but it’s a lot of work.”

Patrollers are expected to have a valid emergency medical technician license before the start of the season n that, in itself, is a tremendous commitment of time, energy and expense -- $650 and 120 hours of classroom time and then there’s the notoriously difficult National Registry exam. Once a person is accepted onto the patrol, they are required to commit to working 16 days each season and first-year patrollers must attend an additional four days of training.

Doing it for only a year or two isn’t optimum, Larocco told them. “If you’re only going to do it for a year, go buy a pass and ski your brains out,” he advised. “If you’re going to do ski patrol, you gotta love it.”

Jodi Hausen can be reached at jhausen@dailychronicle.com or 582-2630.

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