The Mountain
Mt. Mansfield Ski Patrol 75th Anniversary
On January 16, 1934 the Mt. Mansfield Ski Club (MMSC) was legally incorporated with a charter that stated the club was to promote “good health” and “all other facilities for recreation in winter.” Thus was laid the beginnings of the Mt. Mansfield Ski Patrol (MMSP) which remains as the oldest in the United States.
During 1934 the MMSC board appointed Frank Griffin to begin looking at forming a volunteer patrol along the lines of what director Roland Palmedo had seen in Switzerland. Griffin began to spread the word and Turk’s store in Burlington provided Stowe’s first patrol patches – a simply yellow triangle that said, “Ski Patrol.”
It was a rather loose organization designed more to ensure that skiers were well informed of conditions and which trails would be appropriate for their ability. Little thought and no training was given to providing any form of first aid. However, the growing number of skiers coupled with too many volunteer patrollers who were not qualified quickly led to a major change during the very next season.
In 1935 the MMSC appointed Charlie Lord and Craig Burt Sr. to be the MMSP Leaders. Both men obtained their Red Cross First Aid certification then implemented a rule that to be a member of the MMSP, one had to first obtain the proper certification. The size of the patrol instantly shrunk but those remaining were far more like the patrollers we would recognize by today’s standards.
In 1940 with the opening of the new Single Chair, Fritz Kramer was hired as MMSP’s first paid patrolman. Kramer lived in the Stone Hut but came down once each week for supplies and a shower. The MMSC couldn’t afford to pay his salary so the Vermont Department of Forests and Parks stepped up to provide the funding because all of the trails were in the state forest.
From 1935 to 1940 Lord and others spent tremendous effort in creating a patrol staffed entirely by volunteers but with a powerful work ethic of providing professional level services. Although rather primitive by today’s standards, training and equipment were second to none.
In 1938 with the coming of the National Races on the Nose Dive, people from across the U.S. were so impressed by the level of MMSP professionalism that Charles “Minnie” Dole and Roger Langley agreed to use the MMSP for the model on which to build the entire National Ski Patrol System (NSPS).
During World War Two the National Ski Patrol was the driving force behind the formation of the famous 10th Mountain Division. The argument can clearly be made that the MMSP lead to the NSPS which lead to the 10th Mountain Division – the only ski troops fielded by America during World War Two.
Since World War Two, the MMSP has continued to grow with ever better training and equipment. Volunteers and paid patrollers are all required to meet today’s standards and almost all members are at least EMTs. Seventy-five years after its founding, the MMSP now responds to more emergency calls than any other First Response squad in Lamoille County.
"Stowe's Mt.Mansfield Ski Patrol, Oldest in the Nation" by Brian Lindner
Click here to view the Tribute Video taken on January 14, 2010.
