Ski Patroller Under Construction

[Muleski]

 

[ZionPow]

Congrats!!!

 

[BC.]

Congratulations...You must all be very proud...seems like a great young man.

 

[Tricia]

Congratulations are also due to the proud father for facilitating the making of a young man’s dream into a reality. He’s the driving force who took Kevin’s casual interest and showed his son the possibility of making a career out of doing something you love.

@ChunderBlunder This is serious stoke.

 

[Pete in Idaho]

Congratulations to all of you !

 

[ChunderBlunder]

It's about time I get back on here, thanks everyone for the congratulations and kind words.

As far as the OEC class, the only bad part was the reading. Depending on how your local patrol runs the class, I'd highly recommend another way of studying like Quizlet.
The level of passion the patrol shows for skiing and the community is something I've only seen once before, at the Utah Gathering. The on hill training is fantastic, out of all the instruction I've had so far, @jimmy may be the only person to trump the patrol.

It's not until you need the Ski Patrol or you join it that you realize how important it actually is. At a small hill like mine, I usually will only be making someones shitty day slightly better, which feels amazing by itself. As of yet, I can only imagine what it would feel like to prevent irreparable harm or worse.

In closing, Patrol is far more than just a free lift ticket. Many of the people I have met I will likely remember for the rest of my life; Many of the skills I have learned I will extend far beyond the world of skiing, and hopefully, many of the people I help will have a much better experience than they would have otherwise.

p.s. - I plan on carrying my pack at the next gathering.

 

[jimmy]

Nice work Kevin. I can’t think of too many people I have met who love skiing more than you, and your Dad. Glad we got to ski together, it’s cool to know someone with such a strong desire to be of service to others. See you on the hill.

 

[Nitrobunny]

Kevin continues to spend about 20-30 hours a week patrolling and promoting the sport of skiing. He took this photo yesterday at Winter Blast in downtown Detroit. 21 ski instructors gave anyone who showed up a free 20 minute lesson on the baby bunny hill made of snow they trucked in. Kevin volunteered to join the ski patrol detail for the event. We are super proud of our sport ambassador!

 

[PisteOff]

Here’s a couple more pics from the @ChunderBlunder Patrol Files.....

First is one of him working with an adaptive skier for Michigan Adaptive Sports a chapter of Disabled Sports USA.
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Second is a photo he took of his fellow patrollers at sundown.
View media item 3151

 

[Nitrobunny]

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this thread but there’s lots to report! First off, last month Kevin completed and passed his EMT. We are super proud of baby bird (he’s the youngest at 18, my three boys are 20 years older then Kevin, yikes I’m old! And Jeff has two beautiful daughters somewhere in between). So the big news is BABY BIRD HAS LEFT THE NEST and moved to Colorado!!! With his OEC and EMT under his belt he’s ready to do just about anything. Personally I can easily see him going to med school. He never hesitates for a moment to jump in to help anyone. When he was going through his rotations all of his evaluators commented on the same. All Jeff and I really want for him is to be happy.

He and Jeff are at Beaver Creek checking out Birds of Prey. I’m sure Jeff will be posting shortly. I’m home binge watching TV and couch surfing after my four stint in the hospital but that’s a story for another day! Best to all~

 

[PisteOff]

Well, he passed his National Certification for EMT-B this week. He is signed up to ski with the Loveland Patrol on January 4th. He wants to get his OET certificate and move up to the Alpine Patroller rank. Loveland starts their OET training in January with completion in late March. He just flew down to TX to work on some projects I have going here at the GM plant over the holidays. We're working 12 hr. days from today until the 2nd with no off days. I'm planning to fly back to Denver with him and go ski a couple days. So I'll be at Loveland that Saturday while he is with the Patrol. We'll likely follow that up with A-Basin on Sunday. Give us a shout if anyone is around.

 

[chilehed]

Well, here we are.....Today @ChunderBlunder graduated the OEC with the National Ski Patrol. He's got 4 consecutive days patrolling this season already. His alpine training commences tomorrow. His peers think and speak very highly of the young man. I watched him on his first call last night when a young boy broke his collar bone. I am very proud of him. Congratulations Kevin!!

Excellent! I've not been spending much time here, but congratulations from a brother at Mt. Brighton.

 

[Nitrobunny]

Well, he passed his National Certification for EMT-B this week..

I am super proud of him too. Kevin has a special kindness about him that translates to him being an excellent first responder. I would not be surprised if he goes on to be a doctor and Jeff and I would be there to promote that too. I cannot say enough about the time and energy Jeff puts into supporting Kevin in whatever he does. He’s an amazing father and husband.

 

[Carolinacub]

Congrats to Kevin, he sounds like a great young man with an exciting future ahead of him

 

[jmeb]

Awesome thread and sound like an awesome dude. I won’t be around for Jan 4th tryouts—but am a brand new member of their volunteer patrol. If he passes the ski test we will likely be in toboggan training together. PM me and we can share contact info, and I can try to answer any questions he may have.

 

[PisteOff]

Awesome thread and sound like an awesome dude. I won’t be around for Jan 4th tryouts—but am a brand new member of their volunteer patrol. If he passes the ski test we will likely be in toboggan training together. PM me and we can share contact info, and I can try to answer any questions he may have.

Will do JMEB. We'll be in touch. I'll send you a PM. Kevin is out in the plant right now. I'll let him know as well and we can swap numbers. Thanks!

 

[VickiK]

Woot! Congratulations to Kevin (@ChunderBlunder ?) - best wishes at Loveland! Reading and catching up on this thread is so nice.