March 2008 issue

Downhill Edge Masthead
Download a printable PDF (including photos!) of this issue.

From The Region Director

Derek Werner – Eastern Michigan Region Director

Our ski season is now over and I wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated in testing and training events throughout the year. Many of the events had to be rescheduled due to weather and I want to commend you all on your perseverance and flexibility.

Evaluations are completed and successful candidates, from basic to senior, should be congratulated; unsuccessful candidates should be encouraged to continue training—the end result is well worth the effort.

We had a very productive training season with high participation in all programs from Toboggan and Ski/Snowboard Enhancement Seminars, OEC Enhancement Seminars, Instructor Development, Avalanche I, and Mountain Travel & Rescue I and II. I hope everyone had fun and found the experiences beneficial. I
encourage everyone to check the calendar and sign up for one or more of the programs next season. We are here to support you and help develop new skills.

I also wish thank the region staff for their continued efforts in supporting and running their programs. I especially want to thank Ellen Burchfield for taking on additional responsibilities as Assistant Region Director – Off-hill Training, as well as Mike Case, Catalin Barbu, Scott Hope and Lynn Ann Hunt for joining the staff this season.

Finally, just a quick reminder that the Region Awards Banquet is May 17th. The awards banquet is open to all patrollers and I encourage you to attend. I hope to see you all there.

Regards,

Derek Werner
Eastern Michigan Region – Region Director

Apple Mountain’s Patrol Director Chosen for NSP National Safety Team

By: Ty Damon - Division P.R. Advisor

Denny McMahan, Patrol Director of Apple Mountain has been chosen as one the seven inaugural members of NSP Safety Team. The NSP Safety Team has been revised in partnership with Patagonia, and the National Ski Patrol to promote safety on the slopes.

The Safety Team, comprised of a diverse group of patrollers from across the country, will serve for two year terms as the public face and voice of the NSP regarding slope safety.
This inaugural team was chosen based on their expertise and proactive support of slope safety. They will be responsible for assisting patrollers nationally with tips and tools for promoting slope safety, and will also be available for industry discussions and public outreach make the slopes a safer place to be.

“We received many applications from strong candidates, but the seven that were chosen have truly gone the extra mile to make the slopes a safer experience for the skiing and riding public,” said NSP Executive Director Tim White.

Two years ago, Denny and his crew at Apple Mountain pioneered an innovative safety program called “Caught Being Safe,” in conjunction with Lids on Kids and the Field Neurosciences Institute. This safety program is made possible through the annual support of McDonald’s
Restaurants of Michigan. The mission of Caught Being Safe is to reward kids for wearing helmets while skiing and snowboarding. Patrollers reward the kids by passing out coupons for a free Hot Chocolate or Apple Dippers.

“I was stunned when I got the call from National. I had been sleeping and woke up to the call. I felt I was still dreaming.” said Denny. “I thought, me from little old Michigan and now I’m on a team with patrollers from Sugar Loaf in Maine, Crystal Mountain in Washington and Aspen Colorado. I am pleased I will be able to represent Central Division, Eastern Region and Apple Mountain.”

“I am thankful to my fellow patrollers, because without all of your support, none of this would be possible. Now I hope to get everyone’s input to carry NSP’s safety mission forward.”

If you want to contact Denny to learn more about the Caught Being Safe program or the NSP Safety Team you can reach him at dmcmahan7@chartermi.net


Off Hill Programs Running Strong

By: Ellen Burchfield – ARD Off Hill Programs

I am pleased that I have been given the honor of serving as your Assistant Region Director for Off Hill Programs. Thanks Nycha Schlegel for your excellent service in this capacity the last few years and for helping me come up to speed.

Our Outdoor Emergency Care Program is strong, and I am pleased that Mike Case, of Mt. Holly, has taken on the responsibility of Outdoor Emergency Care Administrator for Eastern Michigan Region. In his spare time he works as an

EMT and has many years of experience working with the NSP OEC program in our region. Mike is a great addition to the region in this role, and I am looking forward to working with him at the Senior Emergency Management Evaluation on March 9 at Mt. Brighton.

Mountaineering classes are being held and schedules are being set up for next season, so if anyone is interested, please contact Chuck White at cvwhite@kettering.edu.

If anyone is interested in taking an Avalanche 1 class (senior elective), contact Derek Werner at derek.werner@usa.net.

I am also looking for anyone interested in promoting the senior auxiliary program; please let me know of your interest. I feel very strongly about this program and would like to discuss same with you. You can contact me at ellburch@aol.com or at 989-928-1870.

There are many opportunities for classes in our region – for senior electives or for improving your skills. Please see our region calendar located on the Eastern Michigan Region website located at nspemr.org for dates and times of classes as well as contact information for instructors of those classes.
For anyone interested in becoming an instructor for any discipline (OEC, toboggan, etc.), instructor development classes are being offered this spring – see the calendar for dates, times and contact information.

On-Hill Enhancement Courses – A Great Way to Continue Developing Your Toboggan & Skiing Skills

By: Timothy B. Gaffney – EMR ARD Alpine Training & EMR Certified Administrator

Thanks to each and every patroller/ candidate that made the effort to attend one of the combined all disciplines: toboggan, skiing, telemark, and snowboard in the Enhancement Seminars held this year.

The Alpine Training Staff provides these Enhancement Seminars to offer you the NSP member, with continued training showcasing the newest most up-to-date information available. Taking advantage of these seminars as well as taking any of the other offered training program(s) will help you improve your skills and the image of the members of the NSP in the eyes of the skiing public.

Again this year, we held two Enhancement Seminars. The first was at Mt. Holly and the second was held at Mt. Brighton. Both had good weather and snow allowing for great seminars. Thanks to all of you who took the time to come out and either learn new skills or improve skills you use in your daily patrolling.

We would like to get more patrollers from the entire region involved in these excellent programs. Many of the patrollers are taking the Enhancement Seminars in preparation of taking their on-hill evaluation for their Basic or Senior level. However, these Enhancement Seminars are open to patrollers of all levels at no charge and are designed to provide you the opportunity to gain the most up-to-date information as well as refresh the on-hill skills you may not have used in a while.

Our Toboggan Enhancement Seminars are taught by regional staff and local patrol instructors/training staff. And our ski, snowboard and telemark Enhancement Seminars are taught by PSIA/AASI Instructors.

The bottom line is that these seminars are to help you develop your skills, enriching your patrolling on-hill experience.

If you are preparing to test for your Basic or Senior level next year or you are already at a Basic or Senior level and have not had the opportunity to drive a toboggan in the past year or you just want to sharpen your skiing, snowboard or telemark skills, we encourage you to join us next year at one of the Enhancement Seminars.

I sincerely hope you will take advantage of the Seminars available to you in our Region.

We tried to provide a web site sign-up for this year’s Enhancement Seminars and in fact had one but for some reason most participants were unable to access the page through the EMR web page. I will get on top of this and hopefully by next year we will have a sign-up we can use for the future. I do thank our web master Jeff Henry for his efforts. Please look for Alpine Enhancement sign-up’s on the EMR Web site at www.nspemr.org for pre-registration information as fall approaches.

This year the EMR Alpine Training Staff provided a new event. “Ladies of the Snow,” a Ladies only Ski Enhancement Seminar. Thanks goes to Mary Gaffney for coordinating the event and PSIA Level 3 Instructors Jan Hanczaryk, Apirll O’Connell, and Christine Van Tongerin (a member of the PSIA) for their efforts in providing this program for the 18 attending lady patrollers. We look forward to providing this program in the future. As with other Enhancement Seminars this program was registered with National and credit is awarded to participants. One Patroller received their Senior Patch with this event. Congratulations to Connie Hallenbeck and her efforts. Again look for this event to be listed on the web page sign-up next year.

This year Catalin Barbu was accepted into the Certified program. Catalin worked through the year getting ready for this event. On the weekend on February 29, 2008, Catalin participated in the yearly evaluation held at Marquette Mt. in the upper peninsula. This is a three day schedule of 10 components that are required for completion of this program. Catalin successfully completed four of the required components. Congratulations on your success at this year’s event. For further information on the Certified program contact any of the following Region Certified Patrollers: Linda Barthel, Jay Stubblefield, Derek Werner, Candidate Catalin Barbu or myself, Tim Gaffney Certified Administrator.

EMR Patrollers Again Participate in Detroit Winter Blast

By: Russ Livermore – Detroit Winter Blast Coordinator

For the fourth consecutive year, Eastern Michigan Region patrollers participated in the Detroit Winter Blast in downtown Detroit.

Though our numbers were down over the previous years, the Detroit Winter Blast organizing committee and sponsors continue to recognize EMR patrollers for our performance and professionalism while handling medical emergencies as well as our serving as winter sports ambassadors to the estimated 415,000 guests who walked the festival this year.

This has been a fun event for both patrollers and their families. It has also been an excellent opportunity for our patrollers to support the community as participants. Patrollers wear their patrol jackets/candidate bibs and fanny bags while walking the event area adding to the winter atmosphere created by the event management. But most importantly patrollers get to work with the emergency medical team as first responders to help with any first aid issues. Some patrollers over the years have been first responders to several cases that most patrollers would not normally see on the slopes.

A special thanks goes to Mike Rhadigan, Pine Knob for filling in as the EMR Detroit Winter Blast supervisor this year while many of us were up north at the Senior On-hill Evaluation.

I hope you will consider participating next year at the 2009 Detroit Winter Blast.

From Your Section Chiefs

EM1 Section Chief Report

By: Mike Schons – EM1 Section Chief

Basic On-Hill Evaluation

EM1 held it’s Basic On-hill Evaluation Sunday February 3, 2008. There were five Basic Patroller candidates and two dual certification candidates. We are proud to announce that all seven passed their Basic on-hill evaluation.

• Christopher Janis – Alpine Valley
• Gayle Staskiewicz – Alpine Valley
• Rob Ruppe – Alpine Valley
(Basic Dual Discipline on Telemark Skis)
• Jennifer Banacki – Pine Knob
• Rae Ann Ruddy – Pine Knob
• Sean Fitzgerald – Pine Knob
• Kevin Williams – Mt. Holly
(Basic Dual Discipline on Snowboard)

Senior On-Hill Evaluation

The Senior On-Hill Evaluation was held at
Boyne Mountain on February 9, 2008.
We are also proud to announce that Doug Young, dual registered with Alpine Valley
and Pine Knob has successfully completed his Senior On-Hill
Evaluation.

Senior Emergency Scene Management Evaluation

We would like to congratulate Doug Young who fulfilled all of his requirements to receive his Senior rocker on Sunday March 9, 2008. Doug successfully completed the ESM evaluation as his last requirement. Also successfully completing their Senior ESM requirement were David Karnes, Rae Ann Ruddy and
John Mehl. Congratulation to all!

EM2 Section Chief Report

By: Dave Petrak – EM2 Section Chief

EM2 had scheduled their on-hill basic exam for Sunday February 17 at Mt. Brighton. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans and decided very early that morning to coat the land with a layer of ice. The thought was to delay the test from the original start time of 7 am to 10 am. But by 8 am it was decided by Mt. Brighton that the hill would not open that morning and the decision was made to cancel the test. With many phone calls and lots of hard work by a few Mt. Brighton patrollers the word was passed that the test would be Wednesday evening the 20th.

Again in typical Michigan weather fashion by Wednesday it was cold and winter like again. Unlike the quiet Sunday mornings to take a test, we now had the pleasure of multiple race courses to contend with.
Our toboggan course had to cross in front of the starting gate for the beer league and run parallel to the high school practice course. The candidates were all well trained and obviously this small inconvenience did not matter.

Three candidates took the test and three candidates passed. EM2 would like to welcome into the patrolling community its three new Basic patrollers:

• Joey Bickerstaff
• Eric Gresock
• Pete Mitchell

Their hard work and dedication has paid off. I would like to thank all the trainers, candidates, hosts, and patrollers who helped to make the EM2 section test a success.

Region Banquet – May 17th

The Eastern Michigan Region Annual Awards Banquet will be hosted by EM2 this year on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at Mt. Brighton in the Baury Restaurant. The evening’s festivities will begin a 6:00 PM. The cost is $25.00 per person. Please join us to honor patrollers from our region.

EM3 Section Chief Report

By: Mary Gaffney – EM3 Section Chief

2006/2007 Recap

EM 3 held two Basic on-hill Evaluations last season 2006/2007. The first one was held at Mt. Holly. Everything ran smoothly for all eleven candidates. I know we know, but allow me the honor of introducing the eleven Basic Patrollers:

• Mark McPhearson – Snow Snake Mt.
(Basic Dual Discipline on Telemark Skis)
• Polly Felix – Mt. Holly
• Dana Hutchinson– Mt. Holly
• Steve Meek– Mt. Holly
• Steve Fuller– Mt. Holly
• Phil Williams – Mt. Holly
• Mike Forester – Mt. Holly
• Brad Stuart – Mt. Holly
• Dave Bricault – Mt. Holly
• Brett Schaap – Mt. Holly
• Steve Shin – Mt. Holly
(Basic Dual Discipline on Telemark Skis)

Six out of eleven took advantage of the clinics that were offered and stated that they would attend again. The Region offers great clinics for all levels in skiing, snowboarding, telemarking or tobogganing. If you get a chance to take advantage of them, do so. They are very beneficial to patrollers at all levels.

Our second evaluation was hosted by Patrol Director Roger Crockett and Mark Kuehl, APD at Snow Snake Mt. Weather was a little bit challenging; six inches of snow, with high winds. That didn’t stop the Basic candidates. Congratulations to the Snow Snake Mt.’s new Basics:

• Tim Elwell
• Pete Pendergrast
• Timm Richardson
• Dave Peterson
• Cindy Kapplinger
(Basic Dual Discipline on Snowboarding)

Great job everyone! Some are already talking about Senior.

Speaking of Senior…Connie Hallenbeck from Mt. Holly passed the Senior Scene Management this year. After another elective she will receive her Senior Status. Nice job Connie. Also thank you to all my helpers and evaluators, you’re the best. With out your support it would be hard to hold a fair evaluation.

The 2007 Region Banquet went fantastically for Section 3! Michael Case from Mt. Holly and Mathew Stilson from Apple Mountain received their National Numbers.

Mathew Stilson also accepted the “Outstanding Patrol Award” in honor of the Apple Mountain’s Patrol. Way to go Denny McMahan and Crew! Roger Crockett from Snow Snake Mt. and Lynn Ann Hunt from Mt. Holly received the Meritorious Service Award. Distinguish Service Awards were presented to Mt. Holly’s Tim Gaffney and Dennis Heeger. Catalin Barbu and Jon O’Dell from Mt. Holly receive the Patrollers Cross (from two different accidents). There were many well deserving Angel Pins presented to Our Angels as well as Certificates of Appreciation for Support and Service.

At the Apple Mountain & Snow Snake’s refresher there where more awards presented. Our New Region Director, Derek Werner presented Mike Taylor with the Distinguished Service Award. Two Leadership Commendation Appointments were presented to Ellen Burchfield and Denny McMahan. Congratulations to all and to those that I didn’t mention that had the honor of receiving an award.

I had the honor of working with Ty Damon as our Region Director; I would like to thank Ty for all his support not only to Section 3 but to all of the region patrols. Ty stepped down from our Region Director but….he hasn’t totally left and will still be working on staff. I also want to thank my former Patrol Directors, Roger Crockett, from Snow Snake and Jerry Geru from Pine Haven. Thank you for your support to myself, and your patrols.

A big Welcome and congratulations to Mark Kuhel our new Patrol Director of Snow Snake, and to Bruce Thill our Patrol Director of Pine Haven. They both have some good ideas for their patrols!

Speaking of Good Ideas? Our New Region Director is! Yes he is! Welcome fellow patroller and friend Derek Werner. He has all the right ingredients to becoming a successful Region Director for our patrol. Thank you Derek. Also, thank you for those that stepped up and took the challenge of a position in the patrol. Catalin Barbu is now the Region PSIA-NSP-C Advisor and Mike Case took on OEC Administrator. Ellen Burchfield move up to ARD for indoor activities. Way to go Section 3. You all have done well for yourselves and your patrol.

Bob Knox from Mt. Holly moved up to becoming a National Board member. Denny McMahan from Apple MT. moved up to becoming a member on the National Safety Committee. Congratulations to both of you!

2007/2008 Report

Our 2007/2008 season started right off with a bang. I had the honor of being instructor of record on January 27, 2008 for Eastern Michigan Region’s first Lady Patrollers Ski Enhancement Clinic. Taught by lady patrollers, we had a great response with 14 lady patrollers that took the free clinic. The “Ladies of the Snow” learned and enjoyed themselves. Thanks to our wonderful PSIA Level 3 instructors; Lady Jan Hanczaryk and Lady Aprill O’Connell from the Mt. Holly Ski Patrol. Jan also had a wonderful surprise for us. Lady Christine Van Tongerin from PSIA Education Staff joined us, what a treat! They were all excellent and fun. They even did video analysis on all 14 of us. The clinic ran later than scheduled but no
one complained. Once again, thank you Jan, Aprill, and Chris. It was a great experience to have us lady patrollers together from the region and mingling.

New Seniors

The Lady Patrollers Ski Enhancement Clinic experience was even better for Connie Hallenbeck from Mt. Holly. Connie took this clinic as her final elective for her Senior status. Derek Werner surprised her by showing up to present the Senior patch to her after the clinic in front of all.

We also had four patrollers from our section that passed this year’s Senior Ski and Toboggan Evaluation at Boyne Mountain:

• Steve Fuller – Mt. Holly
• Timm Richardson – Snow Snake Mt
• Brice Giles – Snow Snake Mt (snowboard)
• Scott Nemeth – Snow Snake Mt (snowboard)

Congratulations to all on your great accomplishment. They all need to take their on the hill Senior Scene Management.

Section three didn’t stop there. Due to Mother Nature, we were able to hold two Basic On-Hill Evaluations to accommodate our candidates. Congratulations to our new Basic Patrollers:

• Gary Spilman – Snow Snake Mt.
• Lori Jackson – Mt. Holly
• Dan Mikolaizik – Mt. Holly
• Jacob Meganck – Mt Holly (snowboard)
• Dean Corrion – Mt. Holly (telemark) (Basic Triple Discipline)

February 24, 2008, Pine Haven held their Nordic Basic evaluation. The sun shined on all 4 candidates. Our newest Nordic Patrollers are Barb Bedbury, Linda Criswell, and Tim Elwell who is also a Basic Patroller at Snow Snake MT. Nice Job Tim! Mark McPherson also became a Nordic Patroller. Mark is a Basic in Alpine and telemark skis. This is Mark’s third Basic level disciple! Nice Job and Congratulations to all.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the Award Banquets this year.

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