Ski Patrol Radio

On this episode of Ski Patrol Radio, we sat down with patrol directors Drew Kneeland of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and Janna Allen of Brundage Mountain to discuss what brought them into the profession of ski patrolling. They discuss their career path, what they love about their jobs, the threats to the next generation of career patrollers, and how the National Ski Patrol as an organization supports them and where it can improve.

Ski patrollers bring a variety of unique experiences and perspectives to their work, but very few have the experience and background that our guest Peter Gannon arrived with. Peter grew up on the Oglala Lakota Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota and is a member of the Cheyenne River tribe. Listen to our conversation about how Peter's family and life experience affects the way he sees life in the mountains, what it is like to come to skiing as an adult and as a person of color, and what he loves about patrolling.  

As ski season kicks off around the country, we sit down with the National Ski Area Association's Director of Risk & Regulatory Affairs, Dave Byrd, and National Ski Patrol medical committee member and Infectious Disease Physician, Dr. Jon Persichino. We discuss their recommended COVID precautions to keep ski patrollers and guests safe and healthy for the 2021 – 2022 ski season.

We sit down with the National Ski Patrol's new CEO Chris Castilian in this episode of Ski Patrol Radio. We talk about his prior experiences, his goals for bringing the National Ski Patrol forward in the ski industry, and honoring NSP's past without living in it.

On this episode of Ski Patrol Radio we sit down with Mount Hood ski patroller Dave Watson. He speaks about his experiences training patrollers in Kashmir, India, being buried while conducting avalanche mitigation in Oregon, and how his training and experiences as a ski patroller have aided him while climbing the tallest peaks in the world, including Mount Everest twice!

In the historically male-centric culture of ski patrolling, women are finding a better place in the community. We sit down with Kolina Coe, the Assistant Director and a dog handler at Northstar California, and Kristen Russo, the Assistant Patrol Director at Holiday Valley in New York state. We discuss their experiences as being women ski patrollers, what has changed over the years, and what still needs to be improved.

It’s been a year since ski resorts all over the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Listen to Patroller Directors Tony Cammarata of Arapahoe Basin and Denise McLaughlin of Bogus Basin discuss their year of wins and losses, moving through the unknown, and staying safe. Finally, they share the silver lining and light at the end of the tunnel for everyone.

Join us for an in-depth conversation with two Search and Rescue dog handlers and experts, Andy VanHouten and Julia McCarrier. VanHouten is Park City’s Snow Safety Director and the president of Wasatch Backcountry Rescue (WBR). McCarrier is the Patrol Supervisor there and a dog handler. They share experiences bonding with and training their dogs, and some amazing stories of their work in Search and Rescue

Join Schweitzer Mountain ski patroller Nicolas Harper-Johnston as he talks about his experiences as a wildland firefighter for the US Forest Service and National Park Service. Learn about the similarities between a career as a ski patroller and a wildland firefighter, and how growing fire activity on public lands affects ski resorts and our ski season. To learn more about Nick’s story check out his NSP blog: https://nspserves.org/wilderness-skiing-fire/.

Join National Ski Patrol’s Nordic/Backcountry Program Director Rick Shandler and Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s Executive Director Ethan Greene in an important conversation about backcountry travel and recreating. In a year where backcountry travel traffic is expected to increase, learn what to look for, what equipment to have, and how to stay safe in the backcountry. Make sure you know before you go.

Stress injuries, commonly thought of as PTSD, are much more common in first responders than you might think. Listen to this important conversation about the impact of stress injuries on ski patrollers in particular. Laura McGladrey is a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner at Colorado University Anschutz. She talks with Tarrah O'Connor, a professional ski patroller with firsthand experience coping with PTSD as a result of her work as a patroller in the Rocky Mountains.

Learn about the history of the 10th Mountain Division and its connection to the National Ski Patrol featuring NSP Historian Rick Hamlin and former Historian and Dr. Grethchen Besser.

As we enter the 2020 – 2021 ski season, COVID has added a new set of circumstances and challenges. NSP Executive Director Meegan Moszynski discusses how patrollers are preparing for this unique season, how NSP and ski patrols are working with areas and resorts to keep the experience safe for guests, and why skiing and patrolling will still be fun this year.