Meet Our Staff - Chris Ski Patrol

Chris - Mount Peter Ski Patrol, Crew Chief

Chris
Ski Patrol Crew Chief
Employed since 2002

Ski or Snowboard? Ski
When did you start skiing? When I was 16 years old.
Where did you learn to ski / ride? Bobcat Ski Center in Andes, New York. My friend’s family had a cabin up there and they taught me to ski there. 
What’s your favorite run at Mount Peter? St. Pete’s
Patrol training is pretty rigorous. Please tell us about it. A patrollers training begins with a year spent “shadowing” an experienced ski patroller. Then there is 100 hours of medical training which takes about three months to complete. Then of course, there’s the ski ability component. We train every week on what we call “S&T” which means ski and toboggan.

Lunch time in the patrol shed at Mt Peter.

Tell us something we wouldn't know about Ski Patrol.  We have 28 to 36 patrollers who come from wide range of backgrounds - carpenters, plumbers, entrepreneurs, Secret Service and IRS agents, a pastor’s wife – we all get along great and work well together. We have a tradition of sharing lunch at the patrol shed on the top of the mountain. One time lunch was a full turkey dinner. Another time was surf and turf. I guess you could say it’s a friendly competition.

Torch Light Parade at Mount Peter 2011

What’s one of your favorite Mount Peter memories? Last year we did the first torchlight parade to celebrate Mount Peter’s 75th anniversary and to commorate Charlie Booth's service to the mountain and its guests. Charlie was on the Mount Peter Ski Patrol for over fifty years. We had about 60 flares going. The parade went from top to bottom. We had staff from all over the mountain join. A friend who lives on a hillside facing Mount Peter called me to see if we were having a torch parade. You could see it from across the valley. It was a special night.


Photo Credit: Torch light parade via Straus Newspapers http://www.strausnews.com/articles/2011/03/25/warwick_advertiser/news/4.txt