Thank you so much for sharing that article. It is beautifully written and also informative. It starts to touch on the changes that are happening in that profession, changes for the better, at the same time as the snowsports participants seem to have slowly gotten more reckless and entitled. The red to green system is in place in many ski areas today.
I just had dinner with our annual french ski patroller on exchange for the season here in the US. He pointed out that while he would not want to be injured here, he did find that the psychological health component of the work is much more front and center and important at our local hill. He was impressed, and had only been at the job for a couple of weeks.
This brought on more talk by the US career patrollers who all mentioned that not drinking and having a zero alcohol beer, or a few of those after a single real beer, was now totally acceptable on a work night with colleagues, where maybe it was not deemed OK ten years ago.
They all brought up the improvement in counseling too. Instead of a number they could call in the old days, which the rest of us working for the resort can also call, patrol has trained colleagues that can now provide that first link of support from within the group who are also trained to be on the lookout for changes withing the team.
We as a society are hopefully making some real changes to help those who help us have more fun. The article failed to mention the very long, cold hours, in the dark, working with explosives that have also injured and killed patrollers.
I always argue that we can do without instructors, groomers, food and beverage, but we can't ski at resorts without patrol or lifties. Let's all give them a nod of appreciation!