January Message to the Patrol

Hello NSP Members,

Now that the season is well underway, I wanted to say a few words about it. Pictured above is a pristine shot of one of those glorious days at Dodge before anyone, even Patrollers, have layed down a single track on the freshly groomed corduroy. A few weeks later, the coverage is still incredible, but firm, while we wait for the next storm. Skiing is fantastic! What a great mountain we have!

The Christmas holidays were great and tough with the massive December storm. I know many folks had a difficult time getting up here, digging out wherever you live or stay, dealing with power outages and all of that winter drama. But it was exciting for those of us who managed to make it. The crowds were huge and it was very apparent that the public had pent up desire to get outdoors and have some fun!

The big crowds also meant lots of codes. As a Patrol, we did a great job! Thanks to all who made it up those days. The last two weekends, we have had our biggest patrol days as well and I want to thank everyone for coming up. The mountain definitely runs better the more members we have.

Now that the season is underway and the crowds are leveling off, we can focus on our routine…Training! We have 6 Candidates this year who are fully engaged and helping our instructors teach. We have also had some mini toboggan clinics for checkoffs that are stress free and help us all. Please take advantage of the excellent conditions, instructors and good air. It is a lot of fun right now!

The senior training whether it’s SEM, Ski and Toboggan is being calendared as we speak. The Senior program is an excellent way to improve your skills and become a better patroller. It’s also much funner share with a few Patroller friends. It’s a great time to do it, because we have a handful of folks fresh off the program that would love to pass on their knowledge. We intend to offer those training opportunities every weekend. SEM is typically done on Sundays, Ski and Toboggan either day. Jules Vaughan is spearheading that program this year. Thanks Jules!

Our Mountain Host program is doing great too. Thanks to Bill Borelli who started this program, we now have 7 Mountain Hosts. Last year, which was the first year, we had 2. We will cap that number this year at 7 and look to expand again next year. Our Mountain Hosts are great! Dodge loves having them out there, interacting with the public and just being a friendly face. Please take some time to get to know them. They are part of our Patrol family. Indeed a few of them are married into our family 🙂 It is really great to have additional eyes on the mountain, with radios, who can assist us and help us on sweep. My advice, take some runs with our Mountain Hosts. We are all up here for the same reason – we love our mountain!

That’s all for now. Come up, have fun, and enjoy being around our Patrol family again!

Chris Petersen
Dodge Ridge NSP Patrol Rep