The US National Ski Patrol has issued a policy for member personal protective equipment (PPE) for the organization’s 30,000+ members. The new policy mandates approved facemasks and other forms of PPE in situations where social distancing cannot be maintained.
Continue reading NSP Issues National PPE Policy for 2020-2021 SeasonYellowstone Club ski patroller and avalanche expert, Darren Johnson, triggered an avalanche near Cedar Basin that swept him to his death. Johnson was in a 4-member group doing avalanche research on 19 January in the southwestern Montana area near Big Sky. Having concluded 23 stability tests over 4 hours of research that late morning and early afternoon, Johnson was well aware of the risk of jumping onto what the group had determined was an unstable wind-loaded slope with a “Considerable” rating for avalanche risk, but Continue reading Patroller and Avalanche Expert, Darren Johnson, Triggers Slide that Kills Him
Patrollers from 13 or more countries are gathering at Big White resort in British Columbia, Canada from 29 March to 5 April 2014. This will be the 19th Congress or meeting of the Fédération Internationale des Patrouilles de Ski (FIPS) member patrollers.
FIPS members gather biannually in member countries forming an international network of ski patrollers with the intent to discuss and disseminate information on new ski rescue techniques, avalanche rescue, medical management of ski injuries, search and rescue, legal issues, ski safety, alpine risk management and accident prevention, both on and off Continue reading Patrollers from Around the World Convene in Canada
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 past may inform the future on that point. Continue reading Happy 75th Birthday NSP: Mission Accomplished?