Jenny
Angel Diva
Rescuing the Rescuer: Saving Myself from a Lifetime of Hurt - Longreads
How witnessing trauma after trauma on the mountain exacts a cumulative emotional toll on ski patrollers.
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Ski patrol article
- Thread starter Jenny
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longreads.com
Posse Mama
Certified Ski Diva
Wonderful perspective. I have worked in healthcare for decades, lots of time in emergency departments. Frequently, off colored humor is our deflector for the unimaginable grief and pain that we see. Trying to find a moment to give a look of reassurance or a hand of compassion helped me through the dark moments.Rescuing the Rescuer: Saving Myself from a Lifetime of Hurt - Longreads
How witnessing trauma after trauma on the mountain exacts a cumulative emotional toll on ski patrollers.
snoWYmonkey
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
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!
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!
contesstant
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Thank you for sharing that. It was beautifully written and quite heart wrenching. This paragraph in particular stood out to me: "For me, anger became a problem, and I was angry at the injured. Their careless horseplay, their determined recklessness, and their simple ignorance—everything that led up to a full-blown rescue reflected a series of poor decisions and a certain self-centeredness I couldn’t forgive."
