Seventy-five years ago this week, two guys from Massachusetts met at the National Ski Races on Stowe’s Nose Dive trail and the National Ski Patrol (NSP) was born.
As the NSP enters its 76th year and reflects upon its legacy, ski patrollers serve a very different skiing population and group of industry stakeholders. In this article we explore whether the National Ski Patrol System has accomplished its mission, and pose the question, “Has the U.S. network of ski and alpine touring resorts now evolved to the point where it can more effectively assume the NSP’s mission to prevent skiing accidents and assist those sustaining accidents?”
The NSP officials that filed the NSP v NSP Complaint in August have now settled all matters related to that suit. The member list has been provided to the plaintiffs without the restrictions originally imposed by the NSP that violated Colorado law. The Colorado District Court for Jefferson County approved the parties’ requested dismissal, with each side agreeing to pay its respective court costs and attorney fees.
From the settlement filing approved by the court:
“The concerns of the plaintiffs have been resolved and all of the parties who have appeared in this action stipulate and agree, by their respective attorneys, pursuant to C.R.C.P. 41(a)(1)(B), that the Complaint and action herein shall be and is hereby dismissed, with prejudice, and that each party shall bear its own costs and attorney fees.”
Theo Meiners, 59, a well-known Alaska heli-guide tour leader and snow science expert, died in an incident at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska on 20 September. Meiners fell more than 30 feet to his death when, according to witnesses, he appeared to be sliding-down the escalator rails between floors. Police are investigating the incident, and are seeking information from anyone that may have interacted with Meiners at the International Snow Science Workshop banquet being held at the facility that night.
STOWE, Vt. The Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum has announced its 2012 Hall of Fame inductees. NSP founder, Charles Minot “Minnie” Dole, will be inducted into the hall of fame at a ceremony on Saturday October 20th at the kick-off of the National Ski Patrol’s 75th Anniversary celebration.
Jake Burton and Donna Carpenter will be the first snowboarders inducted into the hall since the museum added snowboarding to its name in December 2010. The 2012 group also includes D. Trowbridge Elliman, Thompson Hall and Tiger Shaw. The contributions of all inductees will be celebrated on October 21st at the Trapp Family Lodge.
Minnie, they’re at it again! The organization founded in 1938 by Charles Minot “Minnie” Dole, the National Ski Patrol (NSP), has been sued again by 6 patrollers, 5 of whom serve on the 28,000-member organization’s National Board of directors. Minnie Dole, 1940s
NSP watchers and members couldn’t forget, as much as they might like to, the last time this happened just 7 years ago. A group of Division Directors and patrollers was forced to sue the NSP in 2005 to have a say in how the organization was run, by electing their representatives on the NSP National Board. That group ultimately represented just under 8,000 NSP members before the organization relented and settled the litigation. That resolution led to a complete turnover of the NSP’s Board and National leadership team over 18 months. The settlement agreement resulted in a re-write of the NSP’s bylaws as it relates to member voting. Well, apparently old habits die hard.
Patty Tasker Stowe Vermont, April 1937Patty Tasker was just 18 when she moved to Burlington, Vermont from Brattleboro in the late 1930s to work for the government. Skiing was increasing in popularity at the time and two ski clubs near Stowe, the Mount Mansfield Ski Club and the Burlington Ski Club, were helping to attract a lot of young adults to Northern Vermont on the ski trains and via automobile on New England’s rapidly expanding highway network.
A girlfriend of Patty’s in 1937 kept telling her about this guy, Winston “Win” Morris, that she just had to meet. He lived in her friend’s apartment building and worked for the National Cash Register company (NCR) in Burlington. Win spent a lot of time at Stowe in the winter, and was affiliated with the mountain and the Mount Mansfield Ski Club. Win (and later Patty) was among the first ski patrollers of the Mount Mansfield Ski Club when it established one of the first US patrols around 1935, the organization that ultimately spawned the National Ski Patrol. Continue reading Patty (Tasker) Morris Interview: One of the NSP’s First Female Patrollers→
Dr. Gary S. Dankworth, 60, a patroller and Toboggan Instructor Trainer at Heavenly Area in California and Nevada died in an incident after summiting 13,855-foot Norman Clyde peak in the Sierras.
An official from the Carson Tahoe Medical Center confirmed the news, saying, “The Carson Tahoe family is saddened by the news of Dr. Dankworth’s death. The past several days have been difficult and we, like the rest of the community, have been hoping for the best. We are a small, close knit community and tragedies within our medical staff affect us all. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and we will do all we can to support them during this very sad time.” Continue reading Obituary: Heavenly Area Patroller Dies in Climbing Incident→
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