Ski Patrolling...er, Ski Instructing

Interesting how different these two worlds are.

I've been ski instructing as well as ski patrolling these past few months and I've come to notice a significant difference between the two groups that make up these two entities of a ski area's operation.

1. Ski Instructors get that they are part of the revenue equation of the business. Ski Patrollers generally have no clue that they are part of the expense side.
   
   
2. Ski Instructors, generally, are much better skiers than Ski Patrollers. Patrollers can ski well and can handle equipment and situations very well...but I find that Patrollers have a very narrow ski window...a Level 2 or 3 Instructor is a stronger and more capable overall skier.
   
   
3. Ski Patrollers are typically a much tighter group and have a significant amount of comraderie that I don't see in the instructor group. Now, there are many very good friendships amongst instructors, but in general all the Patrollers are 'buds' at some level.
   
   
4. The general public doesn't differentiate between Patrollers...anyone wearing the jacket is one. On the other hand, Instructors are better known by the public because you spend an hour, or more, with them and they remember you when they come back to ski on their own or take another lesson. The relationship between "student" and "patient" is much different.
   
   
5. Instructor's have better accomodations than do Patrollers...at least where I ski. The ski school has a little 'locker room' for instructors where we can hang out, hang our gear, talk, commisserate, etc...Patrollers have this little room that's really a place for patients more than anything else and another PQ at the top of the hill...spartan, to say the least.
   
   
6. Instructors talk about instructing. Patrollers talk about skiing.
   
   
7. In general, Patrollers talk about the people they've helped and the situations they've been in with patients. Instructors, on the other hand, typically talk about problems or students that "don't get it".
   
   
8. Patrollers gear is in better shape than an Instructor's...mostly because an Instructor spends most of the day getting ski'd over by students still learning...our boots, ski's and bindings are hacked up pretty badly. Patrollers, on the other hand, ski to a scene, kick out of their bindings and then cross them in the snow. Not much abuse going on there.
   
   
9. I've been called a "traitor" by Patrollers and a "cross dresser" by instructors...when I'm wearing the other groups gear. Funny, it sounds like Patrollers are more upset by me instructing than instructors are upset by me Patrolling.
   
   
10. The one thing that both groups have in common is an unending desire to share their passion for safe skiing with those around them. At least at my hill, money isn't a motivator for either group...neither are the "free ski passes". It's a chance to contribute, share and be with a group that shares your passion. I, for one, am darned glad I'm doing both this winter.