The National Ski Patrol at Sugar Bowl operates under the direction of an internal Board of Directors and mountain management of the Sugar Bowl Ski Corporation.We are a volunteer group who dedicate our time and resources to promote a safe and enjoyable experience on the mountain.
During the last half decade the patrol has been challenged by unprecedented resort expansion. The resort added 33% more terrain, five lifts, a second base area with expanded parking, a full terrain park and half pipe for snowboarders, and a second first aid room. Almost 50% of the terrain is rated advanced or expert, with more than 110 documented avalanche paths. Annual snowfall averages 500 inches. The resort is a Class A avalanche area. The paid patrol will often use more pounds of explosives per acre, per season than any other resort in the country.Terrain accessible to skiers includes cliff areas and waterfalls. The resort is almost entirely located in National Forest, and features an open boundary policy -- effectively increasing available terrain, and associated risks, exponentially. As a result of recent expansion and renewed public interest in our area, skier days have increased by one-third over the past five years.
Our patrollers are rewarded by a sense of purpose, satisfaction in a job well done, recognition from resort management, appreciation from our customers, and camaraderie with our fellow patrollers. Our annual refresher and spring picnic bracket the Patrol's social calendar. In between, we help host a New Year's Eve torchlight parade and numerous other social events. Our newsletter is both informative and entertaining. Want to know about avalanche forecasting, who just had a baby, or who rode the bullwheel? It's in our newsletter.
One can write pages on what makes a particular patrol "outstanding." What sets this patrol apart? Our energy and enthusiasm; our training programs; our passion, for our hill, for patrolling, for our peers. Like patrollers throughout the NSP, we value the friendships and trust we have built over the years of working, training, and playing together. We are a group that knows how to support our fellow patrollers when help is needed, when a rescue is overwhelming, when no amount of effort can produce the miracle that was required. We are a group that knows how to celebrate together. We wear our crosses with pride, professionalism, a sense of common purpose and shared goals. In sum -- we are an outstanding patrol and the reason that the National Ski Patrol recognized the Sugar Bowl Ski Patrol the “National Patrol of the Year” for the 2001-02 season.
If you are willing and can commit 16 days a year and enjoy the sense of accomplishment that comes with assisting the skiing and boarding public we want to talk to you. Please contact or check out www.sbsp.org
