Snowcrest Ski Patrol

What Does the Ski Patrol Do ? How To Get On The Ski Patrol National Ski Patrol Web Page NSP Far West Division Home Page Southern California Region Home Page	Other Ski Patrol Pages and Links Snowcrest Ski Resort Southland Ski Server Snowcrest Backside Skiing NOAA Weather Page

What Does the Ski Patrol Do ?

• First-aid: If you hurt yourself, chances are that the person who will help you get to the doctor is a NSP member. We do "lots" of first-aid.
• Avalanche control/rescue: The National Ski Patrol provides training on avalanche control and avalanche rescue techniques.
• Lift Evac: If the lift breaks down the person lowering you out of the chair will be a patroller.
• Hill Safety: The NSP is dedicated to promoting safe skiing. Marking obstacles, the ski area boundaries, maintaining closures, etc. are all part of hill safety.
• Information: Generally the patrollers spend a lot of time just talking to people on chairlifts, providing area information, and just plain trying to insure that everybody else is having as much fun as possible!


How To Get On The Ski Patrol Education - The National Ski Patrol provides education services about emergency care, and safety. It is a Federally chartered non-profit membership dedicated to serving the public and the mountain recreation industry by providing education services about emergency care and safety. Outward Bound School also provides a good educational background.

Method of Entry – Apply directly to the ski slope. Opportunity for experience - Get to know your local ski patrol and find out what that particular resort is looking for. Contact stan72551@sbcglobal.netfor further information about training and recruitment.

Method of Advancement - Move into an apprentice of the job such as avalanche and specialty skills. There are specialty categories. National Ski Patrol provides initiation and certification structure. There are basic patrollers, physicians, auxiliary staff in the first aid room. There's also senior patrollers that have an advanced level of skills.

Salary - $8.00 an hour to $16 plus. Full-time patrollers are on salary. Annual salaries of those who work year-round vary, there are different positions held at the resort during the off-seasons. There are also ski patrollers who work on a volunteer basis in exchange for skiing at no charge.

Fringe Benefits - Full-time patrollers receive same benefits as full-time resort employees.

Working Conditions – Get to ski every day, have the best office location in the world.

Number of Hours - 45 per week, five nine-hour days, often longer hours. Seasonally, November through April.

Occupational Future – The evolution of the career is such that it can be pretty easy to remain a ski patroller for years and move higher up in the ranks, but the majority of ski patrollers have other jobs or careers during the off season, or year-around, and they patrol on weekends both on a paid and volunteer basis.

Personal Qualifications - Strong alpine skiing or snowboarding ability, good, communications and solid people skills.

Advantages - Getting paid for something you enjoy, satisfaction of helping people. You're in an environment you love, the outdoors, and it keeps one physically fit.

Disadvantages - It's a job that you can't rely on a year round basis; sometimes you work in bad weather conditions.

For more Information - National Ski Patrol Association, 133 S. Van Gordon, Suite 100, Lakewood, CO 80228.
White Book of Ski areas published by Inter-Ski Services, Inc., P.O. Box 9595, Friendship Station, Washington, D.C. 20046, provides detailed information for every ski area in the U.S., Canada and South America. Contact stan72551@sbcglobal.net  for further information about training and recruitment.