Becoming a Snow Bowl Patroller

If you are interested in joining Midd Patrol, please email atruex@middlebury.edu or jdibari@middlebury.edu, and plan on attending the first OEC class on Sunday, September 24th at 6pm in Bihall 216.

To join Midd Patrol, all prospective candidates take an Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) class in the fall. After becoming OEC certified, the prospective patrollers participate in a ski/ride test, which occurs during the first week of J-term. The night the ski test ends, all current patrollers meet to finalize a roster of rookies, usually numbering around 7-12. All Middlebury students who have at least 3 winters remaining on campus are eligible to try out for patrol.

In 2023, the OEC class will start the second Sunday after classes begin, on September 24th, but please also join us for a super chill information session (with hotdogs of course), on Friday September 22nd if you’re interested in learning more about what it’s like to be on Midd Patrol.  The OEC class is a basic emergency medicine curriculum produced by the National Ski Patrol (NSP - see NSP site for more info on class).  Students are not expected to purchase the OEC textbook. There are plenty to borrow from current patrollers or there are also several copies on reserve in both Davis and Armstrong library. Students are expected to attend all classes (every Sunday of the fall semester from 6:00pm-9:00pm, except on school vacations), and participate enthusiastically.  There is a midterm exam consisting of “practicals,” which are hands on exercises designed to test medical response ability, along with a practice written OEC test. There is also a Final Exam a week or two before Midd finals, consisting of the NSP written test (to receive your NSP OEC certification) and additional practical tests. To move past the medical portion of the course, prospective patrollers must pass the written OEC test and all of the required practicals. The candidates who successfully receive their OEC certification are then invited to the ski test which takes place during the first week of J-Term.

Unfortunately, most years there are more prospective patrollers trying out than can be accepted onto patrol, so the ski/ride test is used as a way to select the strongest on-snow candidates out of those who have received the necessary medical credentials. Even though a large percentage of the pool of prospective patrollers often have strong enough skiing/riding abilities to patrol, tough decisions have to be made so that a final group of roughly 7-12 "rookies" is chosen: every decision is made unanimously by our entire current patrol and is based on a holistic combination of a candidate’s skiing/riding performance, medical performance, and effort in the OEC class.

The ski/ride test is administered by all the current members of patrollers as well as Patrol Director Sean Grzyb at the Snow Bowl during the first week of J-Term. The ski/ride test consists of skiing/riding several runs with the whole patrol and all of the candidates as one big group performing long and short radius turns, then candidates are assessed on a cone obstacle course involving sideslipping, jump turns, hockey stops, snow plowing, close-quarters maneuvering, sidestepping, etc. The ski/ride test was designed to demonstrate which candidates are "expert" skiers (alpine or telemark) or snowboarders, who are comfortable and in control under any conditions on the hill.

Those who do not make the final roster are encouraged to pursue patrolling at other local mountains or to try the ski test again the next year (trying out twice is a common path to Patrol membership.) With an NSP/OEC certification, you can work as a volunteer or part-time paid patroller at many local mountains. Midd Patrol will be more than happy to help you make connections at other mountains. You may also take the Middlebury OEC class if you are pursuing just your NSP certification and are not looking to join Midd Patrol.

NSP and Midd patrollers must also successfully complete a Healthcare Provider-level CPR class to validate their NSP OEC certs.  Information about attending an on-campus CPR class will be provided to OEC students and current patrollers.

For more detailed information on the OEC Class, see our OEC Class page!

Being a Snow Bowl Patroller

If a candidate becomes a rookie Bowl patroller, they will be required to work three half day volunteer shifts a week (often one full weekend day and one half day during the week), from J-Term through the end of the season. Middlebury Carnival Weekend (usually the third weekend in February) is an extra fun time for patrol, especially for the rookies, who get to work all day every day from Friday through Sunday! Midd Patrollers are eligible to work during school breaks in the winter, during which time they are paid: break patrollers usually live together in one of the houses on the Breadloaf campus while they work, often Earthworm Manor. Patrolling over breaks includes lots of cozy fireside Catan, Pirates of the Caribbean marathons, and chilling in the evenings and is an extremely enjoyable experience!

The duties of Midd patrollers include not only responding to accidents, but marking hazards, helping close lifts/trails and sweeping the mountain, helping maintain the features on the Lang Super Park, and numerous other mountain operations activities. Midd patrollers also maintain an active response presence at the Rikert Nordic Center; there are several dedicated Nordic patrollers on Midd Patrol, but other patrollers are also expected to work Rikert shifts. There is generally more than enough down time during the work day to enjoy some free skiing, and patrollers often have the rare opportunity to snag prized first tracks while opening trails—not that it matters all that much, since fresh tracks usual stick around for days after a storm in the world-class Snow Bowl glades. Finally, patrollers are ambassadors for the mountain, and are expected to maintain a friendly, helpful, and approachable presence in the Middlebury skiing community, both on- and off-duty (which has the advantage of being super fun)! For more detailed information about the expectations for and responsibilities of patrollers, see the Expectations and Responsibilities document created by director Sean Grzyb.

Patrollers often form bonds and participate in social activities outside of work, but everyone’s experience is different. What unifies patrol is a shared love of skiing and the outdoors, and we aim to foster a healthy and happy community around the sport. Some on-bowl traditions include a Fall Family Bash during parents weekend, with grilling and lift rides to enjoy the foliage, a pond skim in the spring, and the Gobble Hobble fun run around Thanksgiving. Most of all, we just love the bowl, and we hope you do too!

This video by Middlebury alum Ian Scura provides a good look into patrol life.