Contacting Ski Patrol

[bbinder]

Something occurred to me this evening after hearing about a serious event at Alta: how does one call ski patrol in an emergency? Does dialing 911 work on a ski mountain? Does one have to try and find the ski patrol number on the resort's website while an emergency is taking place? As an aging skier, I am considering programming the number for ski patrol before I go skiing for the day at any particular resort. Of course, being an aging skier, I will probably forget to do this tomorrow morning...

 

[jmills115]

Something occurred to me this evening after hearing about a serious event at Alta: how does one call ski patrol in an emergency? Does dialing 911 work on a ski mountain? Does one have to try and find the ski patrol number on the resort's website while an emergency is taking place? As an aging skier, I am considering programming the number for ski patrol before I go skiing for the day at any particular resort. Of course, being an aging skier, I will probably forget to do this tomorrow morning...

ASP is (801) 359-1078.
Before I had it programmed I wasn’t able to connect to the web and skied away for help.

PSA: When Someone Needs Help, Do This

You ski to have fun, so you don't often think about when things go wrong for someone and they need help. Whether someone has an injury, illness, is over-terrained, or just tired and needs help from the patrol consider these points. When you see someone that requires patrol’s help, it is...

www.pugski.com

 

[raytseng]

Pretty much all the top tier resorts also have developed an android and iphone mobile app. Even smaller resorts have whitelabelled apps as well.
Within every app I've seen, there is an emergency button with ski patrol numbers and press to dial. I've tended to download the app instead of picking up trail maps, and especially use them for extended trips.

After saying all of this, i can't find an official standalone app for snowbird nor alta; but they have entries and info under the ikonpass app. Epicmix has it as well for vail resorts.

But yea I would say this is more for self rescue or out of bounds or isolated or lost scenario. If you are in contact and have or lasso in 1 more person, have someone stay with the injured, and send strongest skier to nearest resource to get help in person.

 

[SBrown]

I read this article recently, and it kind of surprised me that many wanted you to call 911 first -- but yeah, the GPS thing. This is for CO only, no help at Alta, but...

Who to call if you’re seriously injured at a ski area

Most ski areas publish emergency numbers on their trail maps, but some recommend calling 911 first.

theknow.denverpost.com

 

[raytseng]

The issue I think is usually patrol hq doesnt necessarily always have a phone dispatch office dedicated to a phone just to field phone calls. They're on radios and could be on the other line.
Plus 911 has a lot of extra builtin metadata structure for phone dispatchers like call recording, call handoff, robust rollover resources so you don't get a busy signal, location tracking and GPS that is really unlikely a local ski patrol phone system would have or use or staff

 

[bubbamsu]

Last year we came upon a teenager, his dad and uncle on the SolBright run coming from Brighton to Solitude, just inside Solitude's ski area. It was obvious that the kid had tore up his knee pretty bad.

They said they were there maybe 5 minutes at most and were hoping that someone would see them since none of them had a phone. The kid was in good spirits besides having a knee going in the opposite direction and more then likely a broken leg. In the time I did a quick vitals and assessment of the kid, my brother called Solitude's main line, got transferred to Ski Patrol and was able to give location and details. When we heard the snowmobiles coming, we took off. It was a very quick turn around by the time we got on scene to when we heard the snowmobiles.

I am not sure if every resort is that efficient, but at that time, Solitude was spot on with their help.

 

[Carolinacub]

When we heard the snowmobiles coming, we took off.

Glad you stopped and got in touch with patrol, But next time please, please, please wait till they get there. you never know if they'll make a wrong turn or misunderstood where the victim is.

 

[jmeb]

The issue I think is usually patrol hq doesnt necessarily always have a phone dispatch office dedicated to a phone just to field phone calls. They're on radios and could be on the other line.
Plus 911 has a lot of extra builtin metadata structure for phone dispatchers like call recording, call handoff, robust rollover resources so you don't get a busy signal, location tracking and GPS that is really unlikely a local ski patrol phone system would have or use or staff

I wouldn’t say “usually” don’t have a phone dispatch. I’m on what would be considered a smaller patrol out West and we have someone acting as dispatch at all times interfacing between phone calls (incoming and outgoing to EMS etc), on hill ops, and area wide management. The metadata infrastructure is likely not as robust—but the ability to get to on hill incidents is faster than looping through the 911 system which will then call the same dispatch.

It is a very good idea to program in a local ski patrols phone number. Especially if you're skiing an area often.

 

[Fuller]

A few weeks ago I was first on the scene with a 17 year old skier who had likely just broken a leg. I retrieved the gear uphill and another skier joined me, she was a nurse so she took over attending the patient while I attempted to get back up hill to keep other people from running us all over. This was all happening right under the main lift on a narrow cat track called "Benches", people go pretty fast through there. By the time I got my phone out and hit the WMR ski patrol icon at least half a dozen people had already called them. I got a busy signal 3 or 4 times before I got through. First time I've ever had to use it.

As for leaving once ski patrol is on the way, in this case it took 3 or 4 of us to control and slow down the skiers coming through. The patrol gal that arrived asked that we do crowd control after a kid came down the side embankment at mach schnell and missed the group by about 3 feet - I cursed him mightily. In all it took about 30 minutes out of my day but I was happy to have been useful.

 

[pais alto]

I vote for calling patrol directly, or at least the resort main line. Where I worked it was just a needless delay to call 911, and 911 never had the exact location info. IME some 911 operators were totally unfamiliar with patrol capabilities and resort layout and procedures. Also, if you get through on the phone, please stay with the victim to help direct patrol in and control traffic. Crossed skis stuck in the snow 10 ft. or so above the victim is the universal sign for an accident.

I suppose 911 is better than nothing, but IMO Plan A ought to be put the local patrol/resort numbers in your phone. BTW, phone numbers are often on the trail map.

 

[Posaune]

There are places at many ski areas where there is no cell service. I know that at Mt. Baker there is a canyon that blocks service. If you are in one of these places, send someone to the nearest lift operator.

 

[TheArchitect]

Two weeks ago I was at Brighton and had to call the ski patrol. A woman had fallen and her knee was at an ugly angle. 3 others were helping her but hadn't called patrol yet. I had the trail map on me which had the main number for the resort. One of the first prompts was for ski patrol. IMO, they ought to have the direct number for ski patrol on the map but it wasn't that much of a delay.

 

[raytseng]

Yea the difference I was trying to get at with a 911 callcenter specializing in handling voicecalls vs the smaller operation at a resort, with busy signal when they're on the line or getting sent to voicemail, and the return call 30min later that they couldn't understand your vm
For resort accidents, I would send human as 1st option, then call patrol for routine issues 2nd,
But for those survival stories where the single call is the lifeline to safety, like you got mauled by a bear and been crawling for 2hrs and finally got 1 bar of signal, and its flickering in and out and battery is at 5%, I think I'd call 911 over patrol, if this maybe my only call.

 

[mikel]

If you are visiting Copper I recommend putting patrols number in your phone and downloading the Copper app. On the main page of the app there is a big red emergency assistance button. You will need to enable location services on your phone but it is worth it. It can save a lot of valuable time in helping locate you. Even if you are only skiing the front side or flat side I recommend it. You can call patrol directly but having a good idea of where you are is important. The app helps eliminate any second guessing.

 

[pais alto]

I worked patrol at a mid-size independent ski area, and there was always someone staffing the patrol phones, which had auto-forwarding so that a call would be answered if a given phone was busy. And as another f’rinstance, Taos has a continuously staffed patrol dispatch center.

I’d bet $$$ it’s much like that at most ski areas with paid patrol.

 

[stan51]

At our mountain all communication with patrol is by radio, which means that almost all calls are reported to/relayed by the lifties at the bottom of each chair, who then contact us. At least twice this year we have had patients call 911, and the 911 call center would then call our area main number. In both cases they were in the woods (inbounds) and would not have been seen by other skiers. In at least one case the message to us from 911 got garbled, which complicated the response. The best thing that a patient can do is give their number to 911 ( I think this is pretty much automatic) so it can be relayed to us. We can then call them on one of our cell phones, have them get a lat/long from their phone and use that to locate them.

 

[pais alto]

I just want to throw in little anecdote here that amused/amuses me. This one time where I worked one of the lifts was stopped for about 10 minutes, and one person on the lift called 911 three times. 911 contacted us each time, finally asking us (rhetorically) what the caller thought they could do about it.

 

[crgildart]

I've always just asked a passerby to tell the lift ops to contact the patrol when needed. I suppose if there wasn't anyone else to help with that, like if I was by myself I'd try a google search for the resort main phone line. They've gotten stingier with hard copy trail maps at the places I ski.

 

[Doug Briggs]

Another anecdote to relay...

I called the patrol number in the EpicMix app twice in the same day to report two different incidents. A) an equipment challenged skier (bindings were not able to be set to retain his boot; I tried), and B) a face down, immobile skier.

For case B) the patroller who answered recommended I call a number NOT in the app. As I didn't have anything to write with or a good memory, I stayed on the phone with him. I did hang around until patrol showed up for B) as the situation was quite probably a major medical issue.

 

[Sibhusky]

We do not have an app for Whitefish. They got rid of it, it's all online They're is also substantial terrain without cellphone service. But you definitely would not call 911. They'll just tell you to call ski patrol. Which I have programmed into my phone. The last time I attempted to call them, reception was so terrible I gave up. It was faster to ski to the nearest lift shack.

By the way, if someone is on the phone trying to talk to ski patrol, don't stand there telling them what to say, they're probably having enough problems hearing ski patrol without you trying to join the conversation.