A Ski Patroller's Life

Good News From The Doc!

2007-02-21T00:07:00.000-06:00

Rather than re-writing an email I sent earlier today...here's what was sent to the SSD and some friends on the patrol.

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First, I’d like to thank all of you for writing and calling and thinking of me, I sincerely appreciate your kind thoughts and words.

OK, I’ve got some very good news to report. According to the doctor, my knee is in a lot better shape than he originally thought it might be.

According to the MRI that I got yesterday, there is no ligament damage, or meniscus damage, the X-rays show no structural problems and the doc says that my knee is “tight”…which he said is good. There is some slight cartilage damage but not a tear and there are some “loose materials” in there but nothing that will prevent me from resuming a normal level of activity. He said it was difficult to tell because there’s a good bit of swelling and there is some point tenderness so he couldn’t totally palpate as much as he would like to but all-in-all, he indicated that I dodged a pretty big bullet given the description of the mechanism of injury and the swelling and pain on Sunday night.

So, next steps are to continue to ice, slowly increase activity, work on my range of motion and to stop wearing the compression brace; which is extremely good news! I’ve got an appointment on Friday, March 2 to visit with Dr. xxxx one more time. Based on how things are going, he’ll hopefully fully release me, with the appropriate paperwork. As for now, there’s no skiing but my plan is to get back on the slopes Saturday, March 3 for instructing and patrolling; unless anyone objects, please anticipate that my regular schedule will resume at that time.

As for what really happened, now that I’ve had a chance to think about it, the boarder that hit me was young…10 or 12, maybe 14 at the most. I’m not really sure if he was a student, newbie or someone just out of control. About 30 seconds before I got hit, I was talking with my class about clearing the path up-hill when you are entering a trail; always look for traffic. In doing that, I looked up trail and didn’t see anyone. That’s when I returned my attention to the students and then, I got hit. Rob, the patroller, was almost immediately on the scene and he instructed the boarder not to move. He might have had a better sense of who he was and gotten a better look at him than I did. To be honest, my attention wasn’t on that young man, instead, I was trying to figure out how badly I was hurt DCAP/BTLS/SAMPLE…good training never goes away. Even though Rob told him not to move, once the other patrollers and instructors started to come around, I think the boarder saw it as an opportunity to leave, and did. Since I got hit from behind and from my right, and I was looking to the left to make sure all of the students were acknowledging what I had just told them, it is literally like I got blindsided…I truly never saw him coming. In any case, I don’t think we can really blame the boarder; experienced or not, this was hopefully just an accident.

So, I’ll take the next 10 days to stretch, ice, work on my range of motion, get with whatever doc’s need to see me and get ready to get back on hill for the remainder of this season.

Thanks again to you all . . . your support is truly appreciated.

What A GREAT Weekend...Until...OUCH!

2007-02-20T12:53:00.000-06:00

So, Saturday ends with a few runs with Beale and Curtie and a quick conversation with Emilio (Patroller extraordinaire) and a cigar on the way home.

Man, that was some really good skiing and the whole city, it seemed, wanted some of it.

Inside of the lodge, there was hardly an untracked spot and of course, some of the best food in town was being served. It's always cool when you see a client doing well, especially at a place that you patron. So, I'm skiing, patrolling, instructing, hanging out with some really great people and eating some of our client's best stuff.

Is it much better than that?

So, on Sunday, I decided it would be a good idea to do some extra patrolling since it was so darned busy and because of the improving weather, it looked to be even more so.

Met up with one of the newbie's, Randy and we ski'd a bunch of runs together - helping out along the way and checking out his new Nordica Speedmachine 8's. Those things are so sweet and he ski's them particularly well. He's a great guy and I'm going to enjoy patrolling with him for many years to come.

After a few hours of patrolling, a guest came up to us wondering if he had the wrong ski's on. He said that he'd been skiing a few times before and wanted to know if the ski's he had on were somehow different from the one's he had previously rented because the others were "so much easier to turn". We talked about ski length, edge cut and all that but he really wasn't getting it. I told him that there were other ski's to try and that if he wanted to, to just go back to the ski rental shop and ask for a new pair. I recommended a shorter mid-fat and off he went.

Well, as soon as he started to ski away, it became pretty obvious what the problem was. His turning came from the shoulders and it was almost as if he was trying to steer a truck or roll a barrel of beer from side to side. I looked at Randy, he looked at me and then I decided that it would be better to catch up to the guest and ask if I could make a few suggestions on his skiing technique. Which I did and ski'd with him for a bit and gave him some pointers about the "ready" position, balance, quieting his shoulders and turning from the hips, knees and ankles in an effort to make him more comfortable.

Seemed to do the immediate trick and he was thankful for the input. A little later I saw him ski by and he was doing much better. Then, somehow we got in line together and I offered to ski a run with him to give him a more extended "lesson" on some more appropriate technique. It was fun to ski with him, he was a very willing student and it made me feel good to help out someone that wanted to enjoy skiing but was struggling with his technique. Later in the day, he ski'd by again...yelled out my name and said "I GET IT!". Made me feel good.

OK, so, after finishing up patrolling, at about 330p, I took a bit of a break to have lunch out on the veranda (fancy name for cement deck). Absolutely perfect day...sunny, but with enough chill in the air to make the hot sandwich and cool soda go down so well. Met up with Paul (OEC bud) and his very attractive girlfriend and chatted a bit. Paul's a first class guy...I hope we get to ski together more in the future. About 3 weeks ago, he and I handled one of my first actual "backboarding" incidents together. Anyway, after chatting with Paul, I changed coats and became an instructor and headed out for my first class of the day. All adults, 11 in total and it was going to be a blast!

On the way out the door, Tigger and Pooh were hanging out...had to get a shot of them. One really cool thing about HV is the way people really get into having fun. It's not all serious and 'life and death'...it's really enjoyable to be around and the atmosphere is typically pretty light hearted. If you remember from an original post, my entire goal and motivation this year was to really enjoy a season of skiing. So far, that's been happening, even with the patroller struggles earlier it's been well worth the commitment and time and effort.

So, up the hill we go to the Learner's Area and we get organized and we begin the lesson. As we start, things are going great. Everyone's getting the "arc the turn" concept...they're feeling the balance, they can all walk and slide and stop on one ski and then two and now it's time for the star-turn, which everyone gets pretty well. And, that's when it happened.

Every time I teach a class, one of the biggest things I discuss first is traffic awareness, safety when entering an active trail, making sure the path is clear, etc... And, my last word to them, on that subject is, "And, eventhough it's the up-hill skier's responsibilty to avoid you, if they run into you, you're still the one that gets hurt". And DAMN, if that's not exactly what happened. Literally, as I complete that sentence I start looking up the hill and pointing for any traffic and making sure that the area is clear because the class is about to ski onto the open trail behind me. As I do that, I stop about 25 feet from the edge of the Magic Carpet, look uphill one more time, don't see anybody and then turn my attention back to the class. I guess I must have been looking slightly downhill and talking with one of the students because as soon as I said "ok, ski back to the carpet now"...a snowboarder hit me from behind, on my right, and took both of my legs out from underneath me.

I was planted, just standing there with my poles up and I could feel him rolling into my right knee and then my weight folding over the top of the boarder to the right. I immediately felt my left ski release but for some reason, the right ski hung on to my boot and the boarder rolled over my knee and that's when I felt the burning sensation. I didn't feel or hear a pop, but it sure as heck started to hurt and hurt bad.

Likely, I slid about 10 feet or so from the point of impact and when I tried to put some weight on my right foot to leverage myself up, my knee wasn't going to have any of that. I won't tell you the words I started saying to myself . . . but most of them started with FUCK.

Within seconds, one of my patroller buds Rob was there and he could tell I was in pain. Not recognizing him at first, when he said "can I help you, can I take off your ski's?" I very rudely said, "stay away and get the patrol". To which he responded, "Brian, it's me...I am with the patrol". I was so pissed at being hurt that I didn't even look to see who it was. He asked me what happened and I looked over at the boarder and said "that little shithead just rolled me over". Now, in retrospect, I can't really blame the boarder because he was a student, learning how to board and no doubt being out of control is just part of the deal. I do wish he would have at least said "LOOOOOOK OUT!" before he plowed into me, but that didn't happen and I found myself laying on the snow wondering what the hell just happened to my knee.

Within about 2 minutes, there were many voices around me, instructors, other patrollers, people I didn't recognize. It wasn't fun.

The long and short of it is that one of the other instructors picked up for my class and I got to experience the best care that HV's Patrol can provide. I never thought I'd get to experience that but after having done so, it's likely the best possible scenario for any patroller in training; to have the experience of being 'taken care of' with an injury. In my case, a real one, but for training, it could be 'faked' to experience everything from on-scene arrival through loading into the ambulance to get the full scope of the experience.

So, I get sledded to the Patrol Room and who is there to meet me but Dick, the OEC instructor and all around good dude...really good dude! As he always does, he's kind and careful and examined me and took the notes and did all the things you're supposed to do. Eventually, he along with several others, got my leg splinted and had me ready to be shipped off for the exam at the hospital.

Probably the dummest thing I did was insist that my wife drive me to the ER, rather than take the ambulance ride. I won't repeat that mistake. She was all worked up anyway, after hearing that I was hurt; to make her come out to the hill and get me into the car and then drive me to the ER was not smart, on my part. It added to her fear and anger and just got me all riled up because she wouldn't calm down. Next time, I'll take the bus...or, as one of my clients calls it, the Whaaaaambulance.

The ER wasn't particularly eventful . . . standard exam and Xray stuff, wrist tag, crutches and then meds to reduce the pain.

Here's what I wrote to the ski school director, when I got home:
I’ve been to the ER this evening and have some good news and some unknown news to report:

Good News: There’s nothing broken. I went to the ER at Barnes West and had a series of X-Ray’s taken and I’m told that they show no bone breaks or anything significant in the ‘structural’ arena. Additionally, the orthopedic (Dr. Bassman) indicated that there’s no significant instability and upon palpation he didn’t feel anything ‘detached’.
Unknown News: Due to the swelling and pain, he wanted to make sure that we get an accurate picture of what’s occurring so I’m currently on pain medication, leg elevated and wrapped in a compression splint. Oh, I’m the dork on crutches! On Monday morning, I’ll be calling to make an MRI appointment and seeing him on Wednesday for a full analysis and next steps. Based on what he finds on Monday/Wednesday, we’ll figure out what to do.

UPDATE: I went to the MRI yesterday afternoon and have an appointment setup for this afternoon with the orthopedic to see what’s going on. The knee is still very stiff, still swollen and painful when I either rotate or angulate but I can put weight on it as long as I’m in the splint and on crutches.

What this means for skiing and instructing is:

I’m out of business until at least Wednesday (no instructing Monday or clinic on Tuesday), and likely after that until the pain subsides and I successfully complete some level of rehab, even if there’s no surgery.
If there is surgery, I’m done for the season and rehab will begin immediately after eithercartilage debreeding (scope) or ligament repair. I’m crossing my fingers for none ofthat.

I've got an appointment with the Doc in a couple of hours...let's hope the MRI shows nothing and I'm back on ski's before this season ends.

More news...later!

What A GREAT Weekend...Until.

2007-02-19T09:33:00.000-06:00

This weekend, President's Weekend, was one of those fabulous weekend's that are just so cool to be part of...Until.

It started Saturday morning, arriving at the hill early, I got to be part of the early morning crew, setting up fences, moving poles and "ski school signs", greeting the early-riser guests, it was just fun. There's something really enjoyable about being there "backstage" when the crew is getting the show ready. From all of my days as an airshow guy, there was just something about being there with the planes ready to fly, the pilots getting briefed, vendors rolling out their goods; that bug is still with me.

So, as Saturday dawned, I was ready to go and since there were no students early, I got to run first-tracks with Beale, a heckuva a skier and awesome woman to boot and Scott (yellow vest, on the right), a student at Mizzou and a superb guy. Scott, earlier in the day, rescued me from the edge of the access road heading to the hill. Friday night, St. Louis got 1/2 inch of snow and unfortunately, by the time Saturday morning rolled around, the access road hadn't been plowed or salted. Dumb me decided it was a perfect day to try to get to the hill in my convertible (rather than taking the SUV which was just sitting there begging to be driven). So, as I'm going up and down the access road, climbing to the entry, I get stuck on a just too steep to climb section of the road. Once my forward momentum had stopped, I tried to slowly accelerate in the lowest gear I could get to and the wheels kept spinning . . . and then, I started to slide towards the edge of the road and a big ole tree-filled cliff. Freaked out??? You betcha. So, rather than accept that as my fate, I stopped with the gas and started in with the brake...not so fast dumbass. Now, I start to slide backwards down the hill...still veering towards the edge of the road. As a last ditch, I decide the only thing I can really do is put the car in reverse and drive-backwards, down the hill and try to positively control my direction. Still, no such luck but at least things weren't getting worse. As I started to slow down, my right rear tire fell off the side of the road and I stopped, dead in my tracks.

Now, to say I'm hyperventilating would be an understatement...but, here's where the star-alignment part comes in. Who should be directly behind me but Craig (L2 about to be L3 ski instructor and an amazingly great guy) and Scott (Mizzou student, from above). They were watching the whole thing and as I came to a stop at the side of the road, they met me at my car as I was getting out. To say that I was relieved to see that it was them would be an understatement. After about 30 seconds of discussing it, Scott and Craig decide it's going to be best if they push me back on the road and I drive all the way back down the hill to the church parking lot. And so that's what happened. A little gas, a whole lot of their muscle and voila...safely on the road and backing down I go. I said it to both of them before but once again, THANKS GUYS FOR RESCUING MY BACON!

OK, so, I finally get warmed up, after skiing with Scott and Beale and it's time for the first of the 6 classes I tought on Saturday. One after the other it was just fun, fun, fun! My first class was "shadowed" by one of the senior instructors, Hawkie. Superbly amazingly great guy and as good as an instructor as there is. Well, I was a little bit nervous, kind of like in flight school when the senior instructor watches you conduct a lesson, but I figured I would just do what I'd been doing and get the feedback for improving once all was said and done. Luckily for me, my first class was filled with athletic studs and everything I asked them to do was easily done by them. By the end, 9 of the 10 were sliding, wedging, turning, stopping...it was cool. One thing I've gotten into a pattern of is at the top of the learner's hill, as we're getting ready for our last run as a class, I stop everyone and give them a recap of what they've learned and ask them "OK, an hour ago when we started the class...I asked each of you if you're a skier. So, an hour ago, how many of you were skier's?" To which none of them raise their hand and I then ask, "OK, it's an hour later, how many of you are skier's now?" To which ALL of them raise their hands. It's a great thing to see them realize how far they've come and for me, it's a thrill to see that in their faces.

So, once that first lesson is done, I ski back to the "Ski School Meeting Area" and wait for Hawkie to join up. He skied up and said, "best primary lesson I've seen a junior instructor deliver in a long time...way to go". Uhhhhh, me? You're talking to me? It was so cool to hear him say that. From where I'd come as an instructor 3 months earlier to Saturday was well, quite a journey and it was cool, cool, cool to have him tell me that I was decent enough to keep instructing. He did say I was a little "verbose" in the beginning...yeah, well, ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you I love the sounds of my voice. But that's something I've been working on and am well aware of. So, in all, the feedback was super positive and I spent the rest of Saturday enjoying being a ski instructor.

More about the weekend will be written...likely, it's above this post...in just a bit.

Thanks for reading!

A View From My Office

2007-02-14T12:48:00.000-06:00

I'm one of those lucky few that get to work from home...and really enjoy it!

My business partner and I founded a communications technology company last year (Click The Link) and to date, we're doing quite well. One of the best parts though, I do have to admit, is being able to work from home whenever I want to.

So, yesterday, I decided "I want to" and took some time to enjoy home while it was snowing 6 inches in my yard.

First, I decided I wanted to do a hot tub, but then, I got a look at it and decided, that's probably not such a good idea. The stairs at the top of the picture go up to the deck...the small stairs go into what is likely 100 degree bubbly water. But, that's not going to happen any time soon...dab nab it.

So, after not being able to coax myself into the tub, I decided it was likely just better to get to work. Nose to the grindstone and all that for a few hours until I finally rolled back the blinds and took a look outside.

So, as we're buried deep in the woods, it was pretty cool to see the trees dusted with snow, the deck railings piled up and the backyard a total snowdesert.

Best part of all was that the girls schools were cancelled for the day so they got to hang out with me at home. Sheri too...it was quite a party.

Unfortunately, my attention was continuously called away to a software project that was being rolled out so with a tweak here and a nudge there, our developers and project management team were able to get things rolled out successfully.

Felt good to complete a 2 month project on time and within budget. Made for a great day at home.

One last view from my office window!

Ski Patrolling...er, Ski Instructing

2007-02-12T21:57:00.000-06:00

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Instructors talk about instructing. Patrollers talk about skiing.
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".
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.
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.
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.

CONGRATS...to those with the guts to stick it out!

2007-02-10T22:06:00.002-06:00

Today was the on-hill for all my OEC buds and I'm so excited that so many of them passed!

Randy...a 17 year old with one of the greatest dads; Dick, one of our OEC teachers. Randy's so absolutely cool and so mature and just a really talented and super nice guy. He's fully certified as a Basic and was already patrolling today during the "Big Air" competition. This is one awesome guy.

Julie...if you read my first post again, you'll see a picture of Julie from way back in early December. She's a fully certified Patroller...way to go Jules!

Plus a bunch of others made it past the gauntelet today...CONGRATS, it's an honor to be in your hands!

More Fun...More Skiing...Less Weight

2007-02-04T13:11:00.000-06:00

In a variety of private messages, there have been some comments (some rather nasty, I might add) about my weight. Well, tada....I'm down 10 pounds since Jan. 1 and continue on a losing path! There is no secret, it's pretty simple; eat less, exercise more. Duuuh.

The good news is that as I lose more weight, I feel more confident as a skier and that certainly showed yesterday.

Assisted on 3 scenes and in every case, was able to fully and physically assist the lead patroller without feeling confined or bunched up. Now, that's a good feeling that's going to start getting better. I've even been able to enjoy instructing much more because of my ability to move around more easily.

I've been here before, I'm commited to continuing on this path until I reach my goals (sub-200) and we'll see where we go from there.

On the very cool side of things, am being asked to assist other instructors and patrol with other patrollers which is lots of fun. The best part if being of value. My goal is to share my passion for safe skiing and assist people get to a level of confidence that allows them to overcome their fears of either never having ski'd, or being instructed poorly at the start.

Yesterday, that happened with a family of 3; Mom, Dad and 9 year old daughter. Very cool group, you could tell they were really chomping at the bit, but had a very poor experience 4 years ago in Colorado. Yesterday, after an hour they could all safely wedge, safely turn and safely ride up the lift. When I cut them loose, the dad asked me about season passes...VICTORY!

The Doctor Rules!

2007-01-29T18:08:00.000-06:00

Got a total signoff from Dr. Jennifer today.

Swelling is all but gone, I have no idea what the deal was but whatever it was, it was temporary...yeehaw!

Saturday, back at it!

2007-01-28T21:17:00.000-06:00

Saturday was a completely enjoyable day on the slopes...almost.

Got to the hill early and practiced side slipping, wedging, transitions and generally got a better feel for the control of my ski's. It was very enjoyable to practice without the pressure I've been putting on myself to be perfect.

Then, I met up with CraigL, a fellow instructor, and we skied a few runs together which was a blast. Craig's working towards his L3, actually he's ready to take the test, and he encouraged me to follow him on a few runs and just 'track his tracks'. Seeing as he's an amazing skier I was concerned that he's leave me in the dust but it turns out that while concentrating on staying in synch with him, my fears of where my ski's are, where my body was positioned, what the terain was doing and all of that was just not there . . . at all.

I was impressed with my ability to stay on his tails and even more so, was impressed that I was just skiing, without doing any thinking. It was a bunch of fun!!!

Then, I engaged my first few lessons and really enjoyed one particular student; Samantha. What a cool young woman she was. At first, she was horrendously fearful of the slopes, of the speed, of the hill, the entire process. But, after a few successful wedge-runs and the feeling of control that she mastered in our hour together, I got to see her actually wedge-turning all by herself a few hours later. The coolest thing about that was as I was taking the 'magic carpet' up with another group of students, she slid by me down the learner's hill and yelled out "hey, Brian, I'm skiing!". Now THAT was cool.

Then, as my final "act" of the day, I took a 6 year old girl up for her first lesson. She was a really neat little lady and was all gung-ho for her experience. The first half of the lesson was just getting her comfortable with the motions on the snow, me skiing backwards and her practicing "sticks and A" (her version of parallelling and wedging). Then, I made the mistake of skiing next to her with my poles on my knees and her just hanging onto them. That, she LOVED, and it was super tough on my legs as we wedged down the learner's hill. But, I could see her progressing and she would occassionally get into a wedge and control our combined speeeds so I was feeling pretty good.

Then, as we were riding up the magic carpet, she suddently forgot how to walk and started to back peddle. I eventually caught up with her and tried to grab her and lift her off her ski's and ski with her off the carpet but somehow, her ski got caught under mine, she was kicking with her left ski, tripped me up and we both went for a slip down the slope off the side of the carpet. The thing that totally sucked is that while she was ok, (I kind of set her on the ground as we were falling), I got in this totally awkward position and ended up having both my ski's release. I immediately felt a jolt of pain in my right knee and thought I heard a snap. Luckily, that wasn't the case because within about 5 minutes, I felt ok enough to continue the lesson and eventually did some free skiing before heading home. My knee was tender, but no more so than any other time I've managed to do something dumb.

Well, overnight, you can guess what happened...my knee ballooned up and now I can really feel the pain. Ugggggh, I hope I haven't done anything permanently funky. Throughout today I've elevated and iced and the swelling and pain have diminished significantly such that both knees look almost identical to each other. I have no idea what's going on so I'm headed to Zamir in the morning to have a look-see.

So, while in all it was a rewarding day (assisted on 2 calls and actually helped backboard and collar a patient), I'm sure hopeful that I haven't done anyting permanent.

I'll let you know.

A Balanced Post . . . amongst the hatred

2007-01-26T19:44:00.000-06:00

From someone on Epicski.com.

It's a learning experience all the time.

The other night I screwed up. I've been patrolling 4 years now and things can still go wrong. Luckily it wasn't a patient or injury or something like that. Just a bad call by me. But it goes to show you that there's always more to learn.

If someone wants to show you how to do something. Don't hold back. Don't look at it as "I'll show him cause he screwed up". They're watching you to show you how to guide what you're doing in the right direction... How to better what you already have. Become interested in learning.

The first year isn't to ween the weaker people out, but rather to make you realize you are more capable of doing what you thought you couldn't. Light the fire inside and make it a passion to learn.

Push yourself. If you don't feel comfortable doing something, talk to the PD and tell him. He might set you up with someone to go practice with. It might be a patroller or a PSIA instructor.

Some people are harder to learn from than others. I've had my share of people I can go out and listen to and better myself by one little thing they tell me to do. Other instructors had completly dismantled my bump skiing so bad that I went from skiing them without thinking and doing great (not bragging) to the point of where I completley lost my capability to ski them. This was a level 3 Instructor!

My point is, go LEARN this year. Don't worry about "did I pass or fail", because I guarantee you by the end of this year you'll be a better patroller and a better skier than you were in the past.

Keep up the hard work.

Anonymous...!

2007-01-25T20:09:00.000-06:00

Thanks for all the kind words, your thoughtfulness is appreciated.

When you get a chance, please be sure to come out and visit. I'm sure we'll enjoy skiing together.

WTF . . . This, I don't get - Part 2

2007-01-24T22:18:00.000-06:00

Well, I may not get it, but a bunch of other people do...read on:

http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=51026

WTF . . . This, I don't get.

2007-01-24T10:18:00.000-06:00

Some of you may know that my background is as a college professor and flight instructor. As such, one of the first things you learn is how to not only teach your speciality but at least as importantly, how to do things that help build your student's confidence.

So, I've got to wonder WTF was going on last night during our on-hill training.

First, some background:

Through the process of on-hill training, I've discovered that I'm a pretty decent every-day skier, but a marginal ski-patroller skier. Some of the skills that patrollers use on an every day basis are things I haven't done in years, if ever.
My level of fitness is suspect, at best. My legs are in a continuous state of 'burn', my feet are aching (even with the really cushy superfeet) shoulders, butt, abs, the whole package.
Our on-hill training season has been cut short by almost 4 weeks because of the lack of snow.

So, I've got to wonder why, after almost 3 hours of tugging, wedging, skiing, lifting, slogging, last night, it was only then that we were instructed to take on the most challenging, ice-filled run on the entire hill. WTF...tire us out and then put us in a dangerous position on the hardest/most challenging run we have?

That, I do not get.

If the job of the instructors is to instill confidence in the students, if the job of the instructors is to teach and make sure the situation doesn't overwhelm the student's ability to learn, if the job of the instructors is to "do no harm", then WTF were they thinking last night?

Yeah, I know,when I'm a fully-minted Basic I'll be required to be tired and still safely get a patient down the hardest run, got it. So, here's an idea, help me build my confidence in doing that when my body is fresh and my legs aren't screaming (like maybe the first run of the training session) instead of the 5th. Then, you can help me build my confidence while I'm physically fresh and less likely to be injured.

Last night was an open invitation to injury and no matter how important Ski Patrolling is to me, it's definitely NOT worth getting hurt over.

These "trainers" might be really good skier's and patrollers and I know that they are totally committed to the Patrol, but as people concerned for the well-being of their future staff, I've got to wonder WTF they were thinking was the good that would have come from last night.

It's Been 3 Weeks...

2007-01-22T09:41:00.000-06:00

since I was last on the hill.

Due to the crummy warm, rainy and non-snowy (or snow-blowy) weather in St. Louis, our local hill has been closed.

But, this past Wednesday it was "Katie bar the door". Everyone came out to ski and I was one of them.

Thursday night was more on-hill ski patroller training, Saturday was ski patrol and ski instructing and Sunday was 6 hours of ski instructing. Yeah, I had a darned big time blast!!!

Saturday afternoon both Katie and Kimmy were out boarding. It's so darned cool to see both of your daughter's having so much fun with an activity that I love so much. Kimmy even started "double-planking" with a friend of hers. Of course, she couldn't stay out of the park (glad she used rental ski's). Katie was rocking toe-side on Saturday. I've so impressed with how proficient and good she's gotten on the board. She's a little freaked out by the steep/ice, but being the trooper she is, she's taking step-by-step and getting more proficient and comfortable.

Sunday, Kimmy and I drove together to the hill while she was working in the rental shop and I was instructing. Missed having dinner with her (I was instructing when she called for her break)...but did get a chance to meet up with her later before I left and she went out to dinner with friends.

Saturday night, took a hot tub and had a big ole robusto cigar while I was cleaning the muscles. Calves and thighs are totally barking today, but it's that really good kind of bark!

More posts and pics to follow!

Cage Your Ego Dude

2006-12-26T23:15:00.000-06:00

Wedge, Wedge, Wedge...that's all I heard tonight and despite my best efforts, I can't wedge to save my freaking life.

Unless, of course, you count me wedging all the way down the main slope (Missi's) right under the main lift (Gateway) and right onto the grass at the edge of the snow. Wedge...you betcha, all the way to the most graceful faceplant there ever was.

So, here's this newly minted stud ski patroller, bright and shiny red jacket with the big white crosses, super sharp ski's and polished up boots, with the really fancy NSP hat. If nothing else, at least I'll look the part.

So, while working on my wedge, I was damned and determined to wedge all the way down the main slope - that is until my legs started to go soft and I lost general control and managed to wedge my way to a massive ego crushing garage sale.

Nice . . . and I thought the skiing part would be easy.

I'm HIRED!

2006-12-21T07:09:00.000-06:00

Happened last night.

Spent 2 days with a client and while heading back to the Detroit airport I got a call from the Snow Sports School Director, Merle.

"Hello, Brian . . . I'd like to offer you a position on our ski school staff".

YESSSSSSS!

More training and skiing tonight, in-processing and all that.

Can't wait!

Ski Season Is Here!

2006-12-18T13:24:00.000-06:00

It finally happened . . . ski season at Hidden Valley!

Man, I thought it would never get here but suddenly, Opening Day is behind us and there's 75 days of skiing to be had.

Saturday started with a couple of hours of free-skiing, catching up with Ski Patrol buds (Emilio, Charles, John, Hans, Ian, Gene and several others) . . . Man was it ever fun!

Then, at 2pm, Ski School for Newbie Instructors began led by Hawkie Moore. This guy's a stud - seriously. And not in a "too cool for the room" sort of way. He's just really good and really smooth and a real teacher. His task is to turn skiing-enthusiasts with some level of skiing capability into instructors good enough to safely take completely untrained "wanna be's" into wedge-stoppable capable skiers in 50 minutes.

The instructor class had about 10 of us, a couple of 'collegiates', several school teachers and of course, career guy that "just wants to have fun" this winter (that'd be me!).

Very odd thing started to happen, about an hour into Saturday's clinic I started to realize that my simple goal of "helping people have fun with this new thing they're doing called skiing" was really pretty short-sighted. While a reasonable and worthy goal, my focus really needs to be on making sure people get how much fun skiing can be and are able to do so in a safe and consistent manner. Yeah, I knew all of that 25 years ago but in the interim, I forgot that people allowing you to be their instructor is the highest complement they can afford you . . . in return, you promise to make sure they're safe and are going to have an enjoyable experience.

So, we spent several hours learning the 4 basics: Balance, Rotational Motions, Pressure and Edging and fought with Hawkie about them for the better of that time. Eventually, even thick-skulled me got how important the rotational motion element is in skiing and even I started to notice my technique improving towards the end of the day.

Then, it was time to go free-skiing!

Not that the clinic wasn't enjoyable . . . it was . . . but hey, I've got to start assimilating all this new knowledge and there's no better way than to cut a few turns.

So, off I went into an amazing sunset lift. Smartly, I didn't do any shooting while I was skiing, I think my ski patrol friends would have certainly found it amazing if I wrapped myself around a tree, camera in-hand. Didn't want to give them the pleasure of sledding me off the hill.

All I can say is, it's a great time to be a skier in St. Louis . . . this is going to be fun (and, it already is!).

Oh, one last thing to notice . . . the ski industry is definitely changing. I guess I never noticed how many ski-boarders there are but man, they're everywhere. You'll notice that in this picture, there's only one set of ski's (mine) and the rest are boards.

I'm not one of those skiers that shreds shredders, frankly, I think they're all pretty cool and especially since my daughter's are two of the best all-around shredders that I know, I really enjoy the scene.

Spent some time over at the terrain park, very cool stuff going on. Maybe, one day, if I'm brave enough . . . we'll see. It's kind of cool to be around when an industry is re-inventing itself. This winter's going to be a fun observation.

OK, you know the drill, email, or comment . . . enjoy!

What...No Skiing?

2006-12-11T21:54:00.001-06:00

No snow, too warm, no skiing.

Aaargh!

At least we're talking about skiing! A bud of mine and I are organizing a local group to head to the mountains this winter. Likely, a trip to Jackson Hole late Feb with my buds, likely Breck mid-to-late March with my daughter's (and then a meet-up with my wife in Cabo) and then one more time to Snowbird mid-April for The National Ski Patrol Snowpowder, or Powderfall, or whatever it's called.

I'm either going to be so addicted I can't stand it, or totally burned out on skiing once May rolls around.

I'm betting on addicted!

So, if I play my cards right, I'll have about 50 days on-hill by the time Hidden Valley shuts down mid-March, and then an additional 15 or so by the time May rolls around.

This could be an awesome year of Ski Patrolling, Ski Instrucing and just plane old free-skiing.

Yeeehaw!

A Day In The Life of A Patroller

2006-12-09T23:17:00.000-06:00

Click the title of this post for a really good series of articles on what it's like to patrol at a major Colorado resort; Loveland, near Denver.

I'm going to include this link, on the right . . . defintely worth the read but I don't think it's updatedtoo frequently.

CPR...Kinda Cool

2006-12-09T19:27:00.000-06:00

Completed the CPR course today with my wife Sheri, Katie and a former colleague Mark Lammert.

Interesting story Mark, he would have been the 3rd partner of ours as we started the company but he got cold feet at the end and stayed on the safe course. Too bad, he didn't look like his career is fulfilling him.

Anyway, had a very nice time with Sheri and Kates and learned a bunch about primary care and first responder elements. Captain Smith of Valley Park was the instructor. Very good guy, knows his stuff and super accomodating.

Finished in about 6 hours, took the test and now all we await is our cards.

This stuff is kinda fun.

But, the most important and best thing about today is that it's Kimmy's 19th birthday. She's out with all her buds and going to the Blues game tonight (our insurance guy gave me 4 tickets yesterday for her birthday...thanks Myles!).

Kimmy's a great young lady. Looking forward to spending a bunch of time with her this winter as she's employed at HV in rentals. Last year she was in the ticket booth but I think she wanted a little more action . . . and she'll get it. Rentals is always hopping - gonna be cool!

Ski Hill Web Site

2006-12-08T20:56:00.000-06:00

I know I'm a web snob. I truly believe that my company produces the best technology products on the market.

Notice, not web sites, that's only a part of what we do . . . but nonetheless, I've been watching the local ski hill's web site and especially the snowcam. See anything wrong with this picture? Anything? Nothing?

Here's a hint: There's no people, yet!!!

I hope this is the last time that we have pictures of Hidden Valley with this much snow and nobody on the slopes. If we're lucky, we'll get 90 days this season . . . I plan to be on at least 60 and with a trip to CO and then UT, it could be a really good year!

So, I can't wait until we finally get to shred-it-up on the slopes. Hidden Valley is such a sweet slope, especially for St. Louis where we're pretty darned flat compared to other places in Missouri.

The best thing about HV is that it's darned close to my house (same distance from Breck to Vail) and with pretty fast lifts and decently long runs (if you get a bit creative), it's an ideal ski-venue.

Really nice facilities, the lodge is right next to the Patrol Head Quarters (PHQ) and it's just a really fun/family place.

With a pair of black runs, mostly intermediates and a slug of greens, it really can be a place to start, learn, improve and even challenge yourself boarding or skiing. With the advent of a pretty significant shredding community in St. Louis, the folks at Peak Resorts have made a commitment to terrain parks that allow the two communities (skiers and snowboarders) to exist together and enjoy watching each other.

My oldest daughter Kimmy is a big-time boarder, as are most of her friends . . . and she's really good and not for a girl, she's just really good. Last year, she started to pull some bigger air and in Colorado, it was fun watching her in the parks, in the bowls, in the pipes and moguls and in general free-riding. I can't wait to see what she advances to this year, she's a cool kid!

OK, back to the web for a second...keep in mind, I'm a web snob: I just don't understand why anyone would switch from a fully functioning .asp site to a so-so, kinda blah, .php site. The old site had all the industry-standard functionality that was needed and then, the decision's made to go Open Source? Uhhhh, what? Not that I have any of the inside picture on why that's been done, hopefullyit has something to do with an inside resource being able to more easily maintain the systems, or a less expensive web host. If it was made because a web developer "sold them on the idea of this cool new tool", well, then, I'd question that pretty seriously.

But, since switching, the snowcam has gotten a new address . . . finally figured out where it is (eventhough it's not publically available) and have been watching the Hill Crew push stuff around. One more week, and we'll be skiing!!!

Oh, one last thing . . . got a call from the Ski School Director and hopefully, I'll be able to earn my way onto the School Staff. Interviews and auditions are next week . . . wish me luck!

You can do that by commenting or emailing . . . enjoy!

Avalanche Training

2006-12-07T23:16:00.000-06:00

Got in a round of "slab, sluff, wet, slush" and all sorts of other avy orientaition tonight.

Unfortunately, forgot the camera because:

Emilio was there. OEC bud and now a Basic Patroller (took the on-hill last Spring). Really good guy and MAN, can he drive an SUV up hill, chasing me all the way to the base lodge. He's a true Italian, great accent and a super friendly guy.
Charles was there. He's a geek like me, was in my OEC class and is now a Basic as well. Super good guy, just purchased his 'pack' from NSP and was showing it off.
John, the OEC instructor, was there as well. He just became a brand new, for the first time, daddy. One of those good, quiet and super capable guys. Looking forward to patrolling with him.
Some others but like I said, no camera.

OK, so, on to the avy orientation. Got a super lesson in weather, snowpack, terrain and human factors. It was pretty interesting but I've got to admit, after waking up at 530am to deliver a product for a client, I was in no mood to learn about the fine points of gnaurl snow at 930p. So, when we started to talk about V-canyons and their dangerous aspects, I just had to get out of there.

I know, it was rude, and what the heck, I'M BUSY!

Learn all you want to about avy's at the link and as always, comments or email.

I Get It...You're Busy

2006-12-06T18:30:00.000-06:00

Just a quick rant . . . there's absolutely no excuse for not returning emails or phone calls. Absolutely NONE (the only exception is unsolicited sales or nuisances...those are ok not to return). But, if you know the person and you contacted them for help...RETURN THE DAMNED CALL....aaaaarggggh!

OK, beginning to feel better.

What I typically get is "I've been so busy..., blah, blah, blah!"

Well, confreakingratulations to you!

I've just been sitting around eating bon-bons trying to get in touch with you and of course, my life isn't nearly as important as yours is and therefore, it's absolutely cool that you don't return my calls or emails because who am I to dare impeed on your "busy day".

OK, the feeling better thing is starting to grow . . . "I get it, you're too busy and better than the rest of us!"

Aaaaaah, all better now!

What I Do In My "Real" Life

2006-12-06T17:55:00.000-06:00

As we started our new company, my partner David and I were fortunate to have as our very first client, the Jewish Community Center of St. Louis. While we had all the experience and a significant record of "have done" behind us, it was still risky to let two guys that had just hung out their own shingle, conduct a Discovery Conference and direct the redevelopment of the web site. Of course, it's no accident that David has an amazing relationship with the powers-that-be within the J network and when they wanted to do make their web presence more powerful, they turned to him.

Originally, they wanted a simple makeover of their web site, of course, we gave them much more. David and I have a basic tennet that putting lipstick on a pig doesn't make it less of a pig. While we haven't used that one at the J (for obvious reasons), we did take advantage of our knowledge and experience examing and building the link between technical and business processes to provide them with the foundation of an improved marketing and sales tool; their outreach via the web to their current and prospective members and the community at large.

As will always occur, there were some learnings and gotchas, in the end; my hope is that this is the start of a new way that the J will look at systems and tools. By examining the integrated link between people, systems and information it's extensively possible to eliminate the human-redundant elements. The goals is NOT to reduce head-count, to the contrary, the goal is to maintain and grow head-count and assure that the people are interacting in a positive and contributory manner to the target audience. The more automated systems become, the more freedom staf members have in impacting the end client, rather than managing the system.

Man, does that sound like sales-garble, sorry about that . . . David says it much better.

So, here's what the current J site looks like (yeah, I know, kind of looooong). The new http://www.jccstl.com is now LIVE and in addition to looking a lot better, if you become a member, you'll even better understand how the efficiencies of this new tool is helping the J serve their target audience and provide a richer Jewish experience for them.

As "Members of the Tribe", you betcha we're darned proud of our work and what's even better, we did some of our best thinking for our own family, if you will. It's always great when that can happen.

As always, email me, or comment, below.

Did I Mention . . .

2006-12-05T23:53:00.000-06:00

. . . that in addition to patrolling, I'm also feeding my Jones by re-upping as a ski instructor this winter, as well?

No?

Well, here's an email exchange from someone on the Epicski .com message boards; someone I've grown to respect for his posts and wise counsel. I'm not going to use his real name unless he is ok with that.

Oh, so you're not confused, the thread starts with me asking for some guidance, then his response, and then my typically long-winded reply.

I may not be a good writer, but I sure have the "volume" thing down to a tee!

-----------------

Hey there <>.
I’m a regular reader and sometimes poster on Epicski.com and have read and admired your posts for some time now.

The reason for my email is a request of you. 25 years ago I was a ski instructor in Pennsylvania – that was during College. Since then, I’ve ski’d regularly but haven’t ski instructed. Through a series of acquaintances, I’ve been asked to become an instructor at the hill near my home in St. Louis.

“Training” begins 12.16 and while I’ve asked the SSD what type of training/evaluation I need to be prepared for, the answer came back as “we just want to see how you ski and how you teach” . . . not a lot of guidance.

So, I turn to you. Let’s say you’re the SSD and here comes a late 40’s type guy that has a bunch of skiing, formerly PSIA L1 certified and was a college professor for 10 years.

What are you going to look for?
How are you going to evaluate him?
What should he (me) be prepared for?
What types of ski-specific interview questions are you going to ask?
???

Granted, this all occurs in less than a few weeks so nothing I do, at this point, is going to turn me into the next Stache, but I’d like to at least enter into this with my eyes open and as prepared as I can be.

In advance, thanks so much!

- - - His Reply - - -

Hi Brian,

I am flattered that you would bring your inquiry to me. I will try to reward you with some valuable insight.

First thing an SSD is looking for is your pulse.

OK, you've got one. Can you pick up a four to seven year old when they fall ten times in ten minutes? Good!

Next is a SSN or green card, got it? Good!

Will you give me 25 or more days of being here on time in boots and at all line ups (not off somewhere free skiing)?

Ok, you're committed.

Now, do you want to pursue your own skiing and teaching and go for that L2 pin?

This won't be a deal maker or breaker it will just give us some idea of how to use you in our line ups versus you being in clinic and hopefully our investment in training you will come back as not only a better instructor but also a loyal employee who "owes us".

Your ability to get down the hill on skis rather than a ski patrol toboggan is a plus.

Your ten years as a professional educator a definite plus.

What you do with panamedia will help you on the job but not necessarily help you get the job.

Understanding the different psychographics of people and how different people respond or react to different impulses and stimuli will definitely give you an edge on what to do to connect with some of your students. Regrettably very few SSDs have the slightest, if any, idea of what the heck I just typed in that last sentance.

In fact, if you study the PSIA materials and embrace the American Teaching System you will find ideas and methods to help you in your "other" career. As a Sales Manager and Sales Trainer I have often said "The best sales training I ever received was learning how to sell folks on having more fun skiing more efficiently." Rather than teaching me how to teach, PSIA made sure that I learned how different people learn.

So what most SSDs are looking for is a reliable warm bloody body that will be there when they are supposed to be. If they can ski and teach that is a little less training we have to do before we turn them loose on the public. If they are committed to improving their own skiing and ski teaching by going after PSIA certification, then we may have them hooked for a few more years at least.

Last, but certainly not least, do they have a good sense of humor, can they tell a joke or entertain a group of people for a while? You don't have to be the life of the party but the fact is wall flowers just aren't the best ski instructors.

Notice we haven't said anything about pay? The only thing said about pay is that we ski instructors don't get paid anywhere near what it costs us to be ski instructors.

Hope this gives you some insight and doesn't miss the mark by too much.

Please let me know how you make out and what help if any this does provide.

Having just been fired by email and done a ski instructor job search myself this fall, I believe I have an accurate if not slightly jaded view of the scene, at least here in the east.

Again, please keep me informed as your season and career progress.

- - - And...my reply to him - - -
<>

Thanks so much for the thorough and kind reply.

As a quickie, instructing has never been about the cash; I’ve got a company for that. Now that I find myself in a life-position that allows me to spend some time enjoying a specific quality of life every now and then, I’m finding that just freeskiing isn’t nearly enough to satisfy my need to share skiing with others. The most fun I have is when I get to ski with other people. To that end, I’m also regaining my ski patrol certification this season as well…already passed OEC and CPR, doing the on-hill training presently.

Yeah, it’s going to be quite a season of “snow”…but that’s more than ok with me. Both of my daughter’s are boarders and they’re darned good at it (I had nothing to do with that). They both drive, are independent and love the snow sports as much as I do. Now, if we could only get my wife/their mom to come with us then, well, we’d have it all, but for now, I’m more than ok hanging with my children and teaching others to have fun and patrolling as well.

OK, to your thoughts…I get that ski instructing isn’t about instructing people to ski, it’s about showing people that skiing is fun, they can have fun, that they can master certain skills which will improve their fun and my job is to make it fun, while they learn. As a professor (aviation at Parks College) my job was to make sure people saw that all of the studying/learning was to make sure they could liveout their career choices and it wasn’t an end in itself. I view learning to ski in the same way.

I do hope that I get a bunch of adults to teach, as well as the youngsters. I just LOVE IT, when I get a mom or dad, or older person to see that they can walk, talk, not fall over, wedge, French fry and enjoy the activity of skiing. To feel the cold air, to feel that stinging in your nose and then go into a warm lodge with a roaring fire and let the warmth rush over you…is there anything better than that?

Oh, yeah, this is about ski instructing.

Frankly, I don’t know if I’ll go for an L2, L3, certificate…likely I will because I just like learning new things and testing myself. There’s nothing better than to humble yourself in front of a teacher and put yourself in a vulnerable position and then recognize the ‘student’ that you are and realize that all of your students are feeling the same thing. Surely puts a huge dose of ‘reality check’ into instructing.

You’ve given me some great guidance. I figured that this orientation/test/evaluation was going to be more about me as a person and my level of patience and communications capabilities more than my ability as the best instructor in the world. Let’s hope the SSD concurs.

My goals:

Get my business partner’s children to come out and learn to love skiing. They’re 7 and 9 (boys) and I’ve already been bugging them . . . “hey, you guys ready to go skiing?”
Get my wife out on the slops . . . that’s such a lofty goal I can’t even imagine it might occur but I know that I would revel in that. I won’t make the mistake of trying to be her instructor, but by the time she gets on-hill, I’ll know which are the best instructors and make sure she gets hooked up with them.
Enjoy the heck out of the time I’ll spend with my daughter’s. The hill is about a 20 minute drive from my home, add to that the ‘strapping it on’ time and I’ll be able to spend about an hour each time we go to the hill…cool, eh?
And finally, if by the end of this ski season I’ve been specifically requested to deliver a private lesson, that would be the ultimate.

OK, <> off. Thanks again and I’ll be in touch.

-----------------
OK, you wanna contact me? How about an email or a comment, below.

He Ran Over My Daughter-2

2006-12-05T07:28:00.000-06:00

And...my final words on the subject:
--------------------------------------------------------
[quote=segbrown;610469] We'll never rid the world of violence ... that's what I mean by accepting reality . . . The world is a messy place.[/quote]

Seg, I know you're a thoughtful and caring person. I've read some of the things you've written on Epic and have admired your thoughts.

And, in this instance, you're just plain wrong.

If you re-read your sentence, from above, I could NOT disagree more stringently:

There is NO eventuality that the world is violent.
There is NO eventualy that you have to accept the "reality" of a violent world.
There is NO eventuality that the world is a messy place, unless you (and tens-of-millions of others) keep saying it is.
There is NO reason VailDad did this other than his inability to control his temper and take the right path (of non-violence and tending to his daughter).
And...there is NO reason a civil society has to act the way VailDad did or more importantly, that other members of that society should "understand" his actions.

Simply put, there is no reason and I mean NONE, that we should approve, agree with or even "understand" what VD did.

I'm not John Lennon or Rodney King, but I do think in many ways they got it right...Can't We All Just Get Along?

VailDad was wrong. He should have completely taken care of his daughter; exclusively. There was no reason to go after the boarder because that young man didn't matter. Now, VD's daughter has to live with the horrible vision of her Dad watching her get plowed over, live with the vision of the man she loves and admires getting wiggy on some guy and live with the horrible conclusion that she had something to do with all of that. 8-year old girls get screwed up for life, for far less than that. Can you imagine how scared, terrified and horified she must have been, first knowing that she's "bleeding to death" (my words, not hers and maybe not even the situation but 8 year olds are either OK, or they're bleeding to death) and then watching her Dad's anger boil over into violence? You think she's going to live with that for the rest of her life - count on it!?!

These are life-changing moments and in her most significant time of need, VailDad decided to mete-out-his-brand-of-justice, instead of truly caring for his daughter and letting the "authorities" and other civil citizens take care of DrunkenBoarder.

No, it's not an eventuality...it's not "the way it is" just because you keep saying so. We could change all of this, seriously...on a big scale...we could change this.

We don't have to accept the world as it "is", just because we can't figure out a way to change that.

There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not? - Bobby Kennedy as borrowed from George Bernard Shaw

He Ran Over My Daughter...!

2006-12-05T06:51:00.000-06:00

In a recent event, the father of an 8 year old snowboarding girl was tossed in jail for having taken out his anger on the young man that ran over his daughter, on the hill in Vail.

More details at the link to the story . . . and here's my take on this, originally posted at Epicski.com:

--------------------

Originally Posted by ragin' cajun'

Someone explain to me what I'm missing and not understanding here. A little girl, 8 years old, is run over by a drunken boarder. Her father hits this bum. And he is wrong????????

Yes, the father is wrong...period, end of story.

In our civilized society, we are supposed to be able to climb above the animalistic, jungle-based instincts that led us from the muck, to the swamp, to the land and then to eventually walk upright. A thinking human being has to be able to overcome their base instincts or else we'd have pure anarchy.

So, yep, darned right...the father's wrong.

Let's also consider this, his 8 year old daughter just got shredded by a complete and total ass of an irresponsible boarder. That this guy's even allowed on slope is a mystery, but that's a completely other discussion. So, isn't the guys first reponsibility to his daughter to make sure she's ok? Doesn't he call to the boarder, to passersby, to the patrol, to anyone to render assistance for her? Isn't that what a responsible father needs to be doing at this point? Or, just because it "feels good to rail on the guy", we applaud Dear Old Dad for 'evening the score' and taking his and rightfully all of our rage out on this terd of a human being.

No, dad's wrong in this one and for many, many reasons.

Does Colorado have a conceal/carry law? Would this have ended more tragically had the dad shot the offending boarder? Would any of us have blamed him? Would he be any less "wrong"?

Believe me, I'm no mamby-pamby when it comes to this type of stuff, you should have heard me when my daughter was intentially thrown at during a softball game this past summer...ballistic? You betcha. Violent, not a chance.

My first responsibility was to my daughter;
Then, to my wife who was apopleptic;
Then, to the umpire who was kicking the pitcher out of the game;
And then, back to my daughter. Should I have gone up and punched the kid, the parents, the coach, the ???

Absolutely not, I was tempted, believe me, but we can't have this in a civilized society, period.

Look around the world at society's that permit this and tell me that's what you want. Not a chance; keep your hands to yourself and keep your children protected.

Yup, Dad was wrong and he deservers everything coming to him. __________________

Rams Game - With A Bonus

2006-12-04T12:04:00.000-06:00

Went to the Rams-Cardinals game with my business partner and his family yesterday...had an absolute blast and it doesn't even matter that the the Rams suck!

Our seats were really nose-bleed so about halfway through the first quarter, we went to sit in a block of seats about 10 rows from the field. Those were really good seats, but unfortunately most of the action was on the OTHER 10 yard line...so, we didn't get to see much other than that which was on the jumbotron.

But, I've always wanted to get up close and personal with the "D-Fence" guy...and low-and-behold, once we sat down there he was, about 20 feet away. AWESOME... I'm sure I got on national TV.

Now, comes the fun part. St. Louis quarterbacks are known for their calm demeanor and Mark Bulger is the calmest of them all. So...when the star quarterback begins to call out his team mates as "slackers", well, it gets some notice. Not like it was back in the day with Curt Warner, Marshall Faulk and crew and the "Greatest Show on Turf".

But, all things must pass and as in every ski patrol run, there's the lift up the hill, the effortless run down the glades and then the slog over to the lift for the return...hey, that's pretty poetic.

So, the reason we were even there in the first place is because of my business partner David. He's an amazing fellow for so many reasons and the latest reason is his volunteering as a teacher at the Lift For Life Academy in downtown St. Louis. He developed a curriculum and has now taught it for several semesters...the curriculum is about computers.

It's very cool, so much so that the Rams have honored him with a Community Volunteer Award, which comes with a $2000 grant from the Rams Foundation to the sponsoring organization (LFL). He's now starting to work with other organizations throughout the city to bring this type of program to their groups; as I said, an amazing guy.

But that's not the best part. About 3 months ago, he received a letter from one of the students in a previous class telling him that because of the class, she was switching her career choice from nursing to computers. She even went as far as to apply to one of the Career High Schools in St. Louis and on her acceptance letter the Admissions Committee indicated that they wished there were more students with her type of background and career preparation (read that, computer skills) coming to their school. David was, deservedly, proud!

To say I'm proud to be his partner, and more importantly his friend, is a significant understatement...this is one amazing guy. Too bad he doesn't ski, yet. But, I've been working on his two sons "Hey, you guys ready to go skiing?" They're all fired up, I can't wait.

So, David's getting this award and during the pre-game he gets his mug up on the JumboTron...had to take a picture. Which one is he . ? . you ask? Well, there's only 4 people and 1 guy...right, he's farthest from the Bud Light bottle...which is a darned rare thing for him!

So, here's some pics. My favorite? The one of me,taking a picture of David, taking a picture of his son Ben with allthe Cheerleaders...You don't know how lucky you are young man.

In 15 years, you'll be the envy of your friends. I can't wait to see Ben's wife's reaction to this picture at their wedding reception in a couple of decades...man, that's going to be fun!!!

But of course, Ben's biggest cheerleader is his Mom...Randi. Such a sweetie. I've never really spent any time with her, in her "mom" role. She's really good with her sons and reminds me so much of the way Sheri (my amazing wife and mother to our 2 daughters) is. Caring, concerned, perhaps a bit edgy, totally cool, smart as a tack and really enjoyable to be around. While David and either Ben or Adam were on the field, Randi, one son and I were in the stands hooping and hollering it up!
Randi had a big time career with several of the hotels in St. Louis and now she's got this amazing job where she gets to take all of the concierge's in St. Louis to various events, restaurants, concerts and all that. It's one of those jobs that you'd read about in a magazine article; "The Coolest Job on Earth", or something like that. The name of the company is a big secret, owned by some pretty heavy hitters so I'm not sure what it is...all I know is that Randi knows everyone and more importantly, everyone knows her.

She's alot like David that way. Rarely do we ever go anywhere that David doesn't get approached by someone. He reminds me of my father-in-law, Mel Loewenstein. Same type of guys, everyone loves them and amazingly effective in what they do.

I've always marveled at the way David and Randi's relationship works. I'm priviledged to hear how they talk with each other, working together, truly loving each other. It makes me try harder in my relationship with Sheri.

I had fun with them.

Finally, and as a complete surprise to me, one of our clients was featured on the scoreboard right next to the JumboTron. We're so priviledged to get to work with some amazing people, it's great when they pop-up in the most unexpected places. Oh, try the Brooklyn-Style, it's fabulous.

OK, this posting didn't really have anything to do with ski patrolling, or skiing, or anything along those lines so, here's a picture of one of my two amazing daughter's; she's my youngest daughter with her brand new Spy goggles. She had to pay a heep of cash for those things... Over the Christmas Break, Katie and Sheri are headed to California to see what west coast softball is all about. She's been invited to try out for 4 different 18U-Gold teams. Katie rocks and she's going to find out if she's "got it" enough to play Pac10 softball. I think she does, but, I'm biased.

OK, that's it for now. As always, comments below and email: skipatrollerstl@yahoo.com if you want to let me know anything.

What I'm Packing!

2006-12-03T07:46:00.000-06:00

Here's my current playlist...

I'm thinking a nice 1Gb iPod Shuffle would go well with these.

What's In Your Pack?

2006-12-02T21:29:00.000-06:00

There's a significantly high level of conversation, regarding National Ski Patrol and general ski patroller issues at: http://forums.epicski.com/forumdisplay.php?f=45

Here's something I just posted over there, and a link to the thread:
http://forums.epicski.com/showthread.php?t=47931

What's In Your Pack?

Would anyone be willing to share their "fanny pack" contents list?

I'm looking to stock up on First Responder stuff and just dont' have a good sense of what all should be included. I'll be talking with the local patrol chief about this and other items, this weekend, but wanted to be prepared.

In addition to an official list (bandaids, whistle, flashlight, slings, creams, etc...), which will be very helpful, I'd also like to hear the types of things you carry that you've found really useful that are either not on the list or that you've found in your experiences to be helpful.

Thoughts, help, suggestions...let us hear it!

If you want the "official" list from the NSP, email me at skipatrollerstl@yahoo.com and I'll send a PDF to you.

Who I've Ski'd With

2006-12-02T21:25:00.000-06:00

Since "everyday Joe" is about as exciting as, well, nada . . . here's something I wrote on Epic Ski as a contribution to one of the threads over there.

Wow...and I thought my "brushes with celebrity" would never be useful . . .

Bill Clinton before he was President. If you recall, he gave the longest winded introduction speech for somebody at the Democratic Convention (was it Dutaxis?) and his speech was so long that the acceptance speech was actually no longer in prime time. Anyway, the reason I remember him is because he was on Johnny Carson right after that and then that winter (about 2 months later) I was skiing in Upper New York and somebody said "Make way for the Governor" and bam, there he was...it was very cool looking back at it but at the time, he was a big oaf that was way too friendly (Remember, this was 20 or so years ago and I was alot more interested in riding with cutie girls than with him...come to think of it, he would have likely wanted to ride with some cutie girls too).

Joe Paterno. I went to Penn State and the little ski hill where I patrolled in College was the best and closest version of skiing that we got. This happened right after the 1982 (I think) National Championship, JoePa's first. He was very cool and we didn't even talk about football. Managed to ride up with him 3 or 4 times that day and ski'd down with him a couple times too. He was good.

Michael Dorn...Warf from Star Trek. This is one of the truly normal people I've ever met and I ski'd with him and his three buddies for most of a day at Squaw Valley. He was so cool and normal, aside from being a massive human being and having the longest ski's I've ever seen on someone (something like 230's if I recall) he could actually carve it up pretty well. When all was said and done, he bought me a round or two and was just so normal about everything. Aside from being nearly unrecognizable (because of the make-up), his voice was so recognizable and he was very careful not to cause a scene. Excellent dude.

Someone few of you will ever remember is the first African American US Navy Blue Angel Donnie Cochran. Truly an excellent guy, athletic as all get out and selfless to a fault. Too bad he couldn't fly a Blue Jet well.

OK, now I SWEAR this is true although no one ever believes me and no one saw it and I don't have the pictures to prove it, nor the tshirt, the autograph or anything like that but I SWEAR I once got to ski about 50 yards in trail of Raquel Welch. It was at Aspen, mid 80's or so and since I was in my 20's and she was still hot, hot, hot...it was a dream come true. Not sure why no one believes me when I tell them...but I SWEAR it's true.

Not Hugh Hefner, but his brother Keith (???) in the mid-90's in of all places, some dinky little resort in North Carolina. He was there promoting something, or maybe just hanging out and I got introduced to him by a buddy saying "Here's the guy who's brother shares your birthday" (side bar, I've got the same birthday as Hef - April 9). So, I get introduced to him as he's walking out the door from lunch to go skiing and I end up being in the single line and happen to hook up with his group of 2 or 3 and ride up for about 10 minutes talking about my shared birthday and me asking why Hef has never sent me a birthday card (pathetic story about me, I've sent Hef a birthday card for about the past 25 years and I've never gotten one back...jerk!).

Wayne Gretzky and Janet Jones about 8 years ago in Banff. Janet's from St. Louis and it turns out a friend of a friend, blah, blah 6 degrees of separation knew that they were going to be there when I was there and offered to hook us up. I figured why not, at least I could pimp Wayne for staying on the Blues for only half a season, but it turned out that they were really nice and down to earth and it was just a really nice half day of skiing.

Never did ski with Chuck Yeager (and you're right, he is a total jerk and pompous ass), but I did ski a day with some pretty famous fighter pilots, Francis Gabreski (who was about 300 years old when I met up with him in the late 80's but could still ski the planks off of anybody) and was as nice as all get out and a few years later with Randy "Duke" Cunningham (disgraced congressman from California) and Gen. Steve Ritchie (both Vietnam era Aces).

Then of course, there was the week I spent skiing with Howard Hughes, but it's all so fuzzy now.

I wish I could offer up someone younger and hotter (Brittney???) but, alas, I'm never where they are...or vice versa so, there you have it.

eMail, if you will: skipatrollerstl@yahoo.com, or just post a comment, below.

__________________
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough." - Mario Andretti

Day 1, After 25 Years

2006-12-02T20:07:00.000-06:00

Today was very special.

After last Patrolling 25 years ago, I officially started the journey back to official Patrollerdom today with what's known as the "on-hill orientation".

During college, Penn State's nearest hill was 450 feet of vertical bliss. College was tough in so many ways. Financially, emotionally, academically, it was a real struggle . . . and then I began skiing. Somehow, all of the troubles just went away and so, when I had the chance to actually ski-for-free well, I leaped at it. I don't recall what it was called back then, but the medical component was a snap, the on-hill training was a blast and the 4 years that I spent patrolling was the best time of my life.

Once I left Happy Valley, while I continued to actively ski, I didn't make the opportunity to get back involved with the National Ski Patrol; instead, choosing to build my career, get married to an amazing woman, help raise two fabulous daughter's and in general, live my life . . . but it was always back there; I wanted to Patrol again.

This past fall, the Hidden Valley Ski Patrol near St. Louis conducted another of its Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) courses and I got up the guts to participate. My business partner, while silent about my "distraction" had to be wondering what the heck I was doing.

Only 2 weeks prior to the start of OEC, he and I left the Technology and Communications Consulting company we had been running for a Venture Capital Investment company and decided to make money for ourselves. So, right in the midst of that upheavel, I started OEC.

But, the timing was right and I needed Patrolling back in my life. My daughter's are now both old enough to have their own lives and in an amazingly cool twist of fait, they're both amazing snowboarders. My oldest daughter Kimmy really started us all back to the hills, Katie and I followed and this past spring we took a 10 day vacation together to Vail, Breck, Keystone, etc...

That's when I really caught the bug, skiing in the big west on real mountains with real deep snow, real long trails and big vertical...and red coats everywhere.

So, throughout the spring and summer, in parallel with the changes in my professional life, I got prepared for the Patrol.

So, after 18 weeks, about 200 hours of class and independent studying and an all-day written and practical test, I somehow passed the OEC with a 97%. Yeah, I know . . . I'm a freak that way.

So this morning, the day I've waited 25 years for, I began my journey back to becoming a Basic Patroller. Right now, I'm an auxilliary patroller with all of the rights and priviledges of a Basic Patroller except I can't handle the toboggan/sled with patients onboard, or in reality, I just can't handle the sled, at all. And, that's what this course of the training is all about; improving ski skills, learning new skills and learning the sled.

Three days ago, it snowed about 6 inches in St. Louis and as I got to the hill this morning, I was met with that wonderful "foggy, snowy, slightly stingy and moist" feeling in the air that I absolutely love so much. It was perfect and silent and still and amazing.

As my ears got attuned to the silence, I could hear the low droaning of the snow blowers in the distance. I was so darn psyched.

Hung out, met people as they arrived and eventually settled-in for the orientation being led by two of the Senior Patrollers, Dave and Jim. These two are SERIOUS dudes. Jim (on the right, in the picture on the right) has "been there and done that" from the big hills in the West, to the East Coast and now in St. Louis. You can tell he knows his craft. Dave is a "lifer" having been involved with the St. Louis ski-scene since it's inception and having been a Patroller for 2 decades. Interesting how quickly 'trust' can be built between a teacher and their students . . . I trust these guys, they're going to get us all there.

This is, I think, Gene (I'll correct this if that's wrong), and he's a real patroller's patroller. I forget the name of his designation, but there are only 4 of them on the St. Louis Patrol (out of about 200 Patrollers) and he's been involved with our hill and the Patrol for 25 years. I'm going to need to get to know him alot better in the coming months and years. He seems super knowledgeable, more than willing to teach and help and in general a really good guy.

During the OEC refresher for current patrollers, I got to be at his station and really enjoyed listening to and working with him. Man, I hope his name is Gene.

Speaking of "all of us", a bunch of the OECer's from the Fall, 2006 class (mine) are now taking on-hill:

Brent is a real bud...he's a real good shit and has one of those fun-serious attitudes that is just a joy to be around. In real life he's a detective (cop) and a shredder on the hill. He claims to be able to ski, but I can tell he's got snowboard written all over him. Really looking forward to being in class with him again, and patrolling with him in the future...he's going to be one of those life-long buds, I fear!

Julie is one of those super nice friendly types with a long pedigree of Patrollers around her. Her father is the Fire Chief of one of the really big cities that surround St. Louis, her brothers and most of her friends are EMT/Patrollers and she's got one of those super infectious personalities that's just really fun to be around. Plus, she attends high school with one of the best softball players to ever have come out of St. Louis. In, a really neat human being.

Day 1, of many to come, and many posts and pics to follow.

eMail, if you will: skipatrollerstl@yahoo.com, or just post a comment, below.