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- 2014 Outdoor Emergency Care Exam at Nub's Nob
- 2014 Outdoor Emergency Care Traverse City Area Test at Schuss Mountain
- 2014 Senior Emergency Management at Boyne Highlands March 9th
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- 2014 Section 2 & 3 Basic Hill Test - 100% Pass!
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What a season to remember! Phenomenal snow conditions start to end. More ski days than any recent season. Great training clinics. Did I mention the Snow? Very successful Patroller and Senior evaluations. And great snow (when was the last time we had a Toboggan Enhancement Seminar with eight to ten inches of fresh light powder each day). OK, so it was cold…but who noticed with the great skiing and boarding.
Northern Michigan Region will gather on Saturday May 3rd to reminisce about the great skiing this past season and to honor our fellow patrollers that have gone above and beyond. Without giving away any secrets; • Seven members will be recognized for completing 50 years of service; • Five will be recognized for several years of service at multiple levels and programs; • Six patrollers and two patrols will be recognized as 2013-2014 Outstanding Awards In total members from seven of our ten patrols will be honored. Are they from your patrol? Is your patrol NMR’s Large or Small Outstanding Ski Patrol? Join us on May 3rd to find out. See the attached flyer for details. Thank you to everyone that responded so far, to everyone else, please join us for an evening of comradeship and recognition May 3rd. See the attached flyer for details. Sincerely, Dick Jacques Northern Michigan Region Director Could this be spring? The sun is out, overnight low temperatures are significantly higher than daytime highs for the last two months (or more), NMR Evaluations are complete and OEC Classes are starting. All great signs that spring is near. Section 2 Alpine Patroller Evaluation Eight candidates successfully completed the Section 1 Basic Evaluation at Nubs Nob on March 2nd. Congratulations to The trainers at Boyne Highlands and Nubs Nob for preparing these candidates. Thanks to Lisa Ballien, Dan Dryden for planning and all the evaluators that assisted with this evaluation. NMR Senior OEC Evaluations Congratulations to Howard Bates and Scott Lucy on the successful completion of the NMR Senior OEC Evaluation and earning their Senior Classification. Thanks to Rid Kivell, Tena Lechtanski for planning and all the evaluators that made this a relaxed, fun environment for our Senior Candidates to demonstrate then OEC and management skills. Awards The Region Awards Committee met Sunday March 9th to review applications for Outstanding Awards. Thanks to Awards Advisor Virginia Rodeman’s work, the committee had applications nominating seven very deserving patrollers and two patrols for various outstanding awards. All I can say at this point is patrollers from every section and five patrols will be recognized with Region Outstanding Awards at the May 3rd Awards Banquet. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us to celebrate these accomplishments at The Lodge at Cedar River. Reminders All NSP Classes must be registered on the National WEB Site before the class begins and that all class candidates must be registered NSP members or pay the non-member course fee. National and Division Policies require that every class must be assigned an IT by the Region or Division Advisor. IT’s must be from outside the patrol sponsoring the class and where possible, outside the Section. National policy credits dues paid by candidate’s registered in OEC Classes beginning “after the end of skiing season” will count for the following Ski Year. I’m checking the exact procedure for registering candidates for compliance with this policy. Note: NSP liability insurance covers instructors teaching in Registered Classes only. Senior OEC Trainer/Evaluator NSP is rolling out an updated Senior OEC Program including refined training evaluation requirements and tri-annual recertification of Senior OEC Evaluator/Trainers. This program is being phased in over a three year period including the current year. Division OEC Supervisor, Karen Hadden, started the Central Division roll out here in Northern Michigan with eight NMR Instructors in the inaugural class. An additional six Senior Evaluators were updated since then. We are now developing plans to roll out this new program to the remaining OEC Instructors in the Region. We will be contacting instructors with details in the next few weeks. Central Division Spring Meeting I’ll be heading for Chicago in three weeks for the Central Division Spring Meeting. I’d like to take all the Region, Section and Patrol success stories with me to toot our horns and show the Division all the good stuff that happens here in Northern Michigan. Everyone, please take a minute this week and send me a quick note with information to add to my report. Member Injured
I’m sad to report that Mike Longfellow-Jones was involved in a serious car accident last week. An oncoming car was rear ended and pushed in front of Mike while he was traveling. Mike sustained serious but non-life threatening chest injuries. He is recuperating at home and would enjoy snail mail or text messages as talking for any length of time is painful. Section 3 Basic Seventeen Candidates from three patrols successfully completed the Alpine Patroller On-Hill Evaluation last Saturday. Candidates from Hickory Hills, Mt Holiday and Schuss Mountain enjoyed 10 inches of light fluffy powder while demonstrating their ski and toboggan skills. Candidates are now finishing their Patroller 101 classes on the way to becoming full Alpine Patrollers. The Schuss Mountain Ski Patrol threw a delicious potluck for the candidates, evaluators, friends and families following the event. Thanks to all the evaluators and to the Schuss Patrol for making this a great day for these candidates and their families and congratulations to the patrol trainers who prepared these candidates. Senior On-Hill Howard Bates and Linda Murphy Jacobs (on Telemark Skis) from Northern Michigan Region and Kevin Dietrich from Eastern Michigan Region successfully completed the NMR Senior On-Hill evaluation last Sunday at Boyne Highlands. Four additional NMR patrollers completed all or part of their Senior On-Hill evaluation at Eastern Michigan Region’s evaluation last Saturday. Chuck Moran and Jim Luyckx passed the Senior Skiing component and Brice Bredell and Bob Garbula passed both the ski and toboggan components. Awards Virginia Rodeman has received several nominations for individual awards which will be reviewed via email by the awards committee and forwarded to Division following local approval. All Outstanding Patroller and Outstanding Patrol awards are due to Virginia by March First. The Awards committee will meet following the Senior OEC Evaluation at Boyne Highlands to select this year’s Region Award Winners. Winning applications are then submitted to Central Division Competition. Region winners will be announced at the Region Awards Banquet. Spring Meeting and Awards Banquet The 2014 NMR Spring Meeting and Awards Banquet will be held at The Lodge at Cedar River, Schuss Mountain, Shanty Creek Resorts on Saturday, May 3rd. The Spring Meeting will begin at 1:00PM and wrap up about 5:00. The dining room will open for cocktails at 6:00 with dinner at 6:30. Mark your calendars now. It would be great to have all region staff members at the meeting to participate in planning the 2014-15 season and at the banquet to help honor this year’s awards recipients. Instructor Development In addition to the Spring Meeting and Banquet, Virginia Rodeman is planning an Instructor Development “mini-presentation” session on May 3rd at Schuss. If you have anyone who would like to become an NSP Instructor have them contact Virginia ([email protected]) for the course number so they can take the eLearning Instructor Development module before May 3rd. On-hill Evaluation
Next weekend February 22nd & 23rd kicks off Northern Michigan Region’s “Evaluation Season”. NMR Section 3’s Alpine Patroller Evaluation is Saturday at Schuss Mountain followed by the NMR Senior Evaluation at Boyne Highlands on Sunday. In addition, Eastern Michigan Region will be conducting a Senior Evaluation at Boyne Mountain on Saturday. Continuing a long standing cooperative relationship between EMR and NMR both evaluations will include candidates from the other region. In total approximately 40 alpine and senior candidates will take the hill at this weekend’s evaluations. Evaluators will barely have time to catch their breath before gathering at Nubs Nob Sunday March 2nd with another 15 – 20 candidates for NMR Section 1s Alpine Patroller Evaluation. Congratulations and thank you to the training staffs that have worked with these candidates to bring them to this place in the season. Congratulations to the Candidates, you have already passed the biggest test by being certified by your patrol trainers. Now it’s time to go have some fun and show the Section, Region and Division what you have learned. Please note that the NMR Senior On-hill Evaluation has been moved form Boyne Mountain to Boyne Highlands on Sunday February 23rd. Procedural Change The Region will present successful Alpine Patroller (Basic) Candidates with a Certificate of Achievement at the evaluation event. Each patrol will be responsible for presenting pins and patches to new Alpine Patrollers at their end of the year function when candidates have completed OEC, Patroller 101 and/or any other local requirements. Senior OEC Clinic Thank you to OEC Instructors Rod Kivell, Don Desautels, Pete Toundaian, Wendy Sinkus, Lynne Smetzer, Tena Lechtanski, Mary Gaffney, Tim Gaffney, Megan Thompson, Pat Throop, Jerry Rodeman and Virginia Rodeman for giving our three Senior OEC Candidate a great preparation clinic February 9th. Candidates, Howard Bates, Chris Vogelheim & Scott Lucy each led five and assisted with another three senior level scenarios during the clinic. The event was a great confidence builder, helped the candidates get the nerves under control and learn that Senior OEC is simply applying our training in situations we rarely see. The Senior OEC Final Evaluation will be conducted at Boyne Highlands on Sunday March 9th. ROA Rod Kivell will be contacting Senior OEC Evaluators with details. Hanson Hills Patrol Director, Dianne Knapp and four other patrollers from Hanson Hills visited Schuss Mountain for toboggan training last week. None of the current patrollers had been trained or even seen a rescue sled in operation. All rescue transportation is conducted with a snowmobile attached sled. Thanks to Larry and Tom Murton, the Hanson Hills patrollers made several runs mastering the basics of sled operation ready to go back and practice on their own hill. Awards Virginia Rodeman reminds everyone that the deadline for individual award applications is this week. She has received several applications which are starting the region review process. If you are working on nominations for National Appointments, Leadership Commendation Awards, Merit Stars or Patroller Crosses please get them to Virginia this week. The deadline for Outstanding Awards is less than two weeks away. Awards are available in several categories including Outstanding Patrol, Patroller, OEC Instructor and Instructor. There is no magic to preparing an award application. It takes a little digging and time filling in the blanks on the application form. But at the Region level does not need to be “perfect”. The Region Awards Staff can help “polish” a winning application for submission to Division but they need your application as a start. Note there are two separate Outstanding Instructor Awards. Instructional activity in any NSP discipline except OEC counts toward the Outstanding Instructor Award and OEC instructor activity only counts toward the Outstanding OEC Instructor award. Season End Reports PD’s, Section Chiefs, ARD’s, advisors and other region staff, we are rapidly approaching the end of the season (did he really say that?). It doesn’t seem possible but we are only five weeks from the Central Division Spring Meeting. You have all accomplished a lot this season and I will have a brief opportunity to “toot our collective horn” at that meeting, but only if you tell me of all the great things that have been accomplished. Please send me a brief report of activities by March 8th so I can consolidate them and submit a recap to Division. (Rod I’ll hold space for the OEC update until after the Senior Evaluation.) I’ll also use these reports (with any post season updates) for the spring Board Meeting Update). Spring Meeting Please mark your calendars now. The NMR Spring Board Meeting and Awards Banquet will be held Saturday May 3rd at the Cedar River Hotel, Schuss Mountain, Shanty Creek Resorts. We have a lot to celebrate this year, please make plans to attend both events. This will be a short report this week as we are hip deep in preparations for the 2014 Michigan Special Olympics State Winter Games. We are expecting over a thousand Special Olympians to arrive at Grand Traverse Resort this afternoon ready to participate in a variety of winter events including:
• Snow Shoe at Grand Traverse Resort • Figure Skating at Howe Arena in Traverse City • Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding and Nordic Skiing at Schuss Mountain • Broom Ball at Grand Traverse Resort Approximately 30 patrollers from across the State will provide coverage for events at Schuss. In addition, volunteer Athletic Trainers, Paramedics, EMT’s, Doctors and Nurses will be in the patrol room to treat injured athletes. It’s a great experience to work side by side with these “downstream” providers in providing care. If you have a chance please bring your gear and join in this great experience at Schuss. Events are scheduled Wednesday, Thursday 9:00 – 3:30 and Friday Morning. Awards: The deadline for submitting applications for National Appointments, Leadership Commendation Awards, Merit Stars, Patroller Crosses and other individual awards is just over two week away on February 21st. Please submit the application via email to Virginia Rodeman at [email protected] and mail a hard copy of the first page with appropriate original signatures to Virginia at 1817 Potomac Dr, Toledo, OH 43607-1562. Please email the applications in MS Word format so they can be adjusted by the awards committee as needed. The deadline for Outstanding Awards is March 1st. Please follow the above procedures for submitting your patrol or that outstanding patroller, instructor or OEC instructor for recognition. TOBOGGAN ENHANCMENT SEMINAR
This past week-end, NMR hosted the 2 day 2014 NMR Toboggan & Rescue Seminar at Boyne Highlands. Seminar workshops were open to all Michigan Patrollers and were represented by instructors and attendees from the entire State of Michigan including: • 21 Instructors from 3 regions (NMR 16, WMR 4 & EMR 1) & 12 different patrols • 41 Attendees from 3 regions (NMR 20, WMR 8, EMR 13) & 11 different patrols Attendees braved the wind, single digit temperatures and 12” of new snow to participate in this landmark event. The workshop included a variety of sessions available to all that attended including: • Toboggan training sessions for basic & senior candidates. • Toboggan refreshing sessions for Alpine Senior and Certified Patrollers. • Rescue workshops using off-piste toboggan, Avalanche and low angle rescue skills for rescue applications. For additional entertainment, the region proficiency team coordinated a NASTAR toboggan race on Saturday, open to all patrollers. The team of Andy Brown and Tim Ronda walked away with this year’s honors. The first annual Northern Michigan Region Patroller Challenge was also conducted on Saturday. Due to other patrol related responsibilities most teams had to withdraw. However, region proficiency advisor Bob Anderson talked a team of senior candidates from down state to complete the course. With a little help from their instructors a team of senior candidates from Alpine Valley, Mt. Brighton and Canonsburg are the 2014 Patroller Challenge Champions. Northern Michigan Region Instructors that supported the event included Bob Anderson, Annaka Norris, Jonathan Backos, Bryan Holcomb, Suzanne Jarose, Mike Leach, Mike Longellow-Jones, Don Smith, John Wiley, Carl Woodcock, Mike Moreen, Tom Murton, Doug Cary, Steve Schrumpf, Jeff Summers and Kirk Swarbrick. Special thanks to Carl Woodcock for spending all day Saturday hauling sleds with the snowmobile, Andy Brown, Craig Buschmann and Dave Gagnon for helping with toboggan logistics and Dawn Longfellow-Jones for managing registration and helping set the Patroller Challenge Course.. Additional thanks to Joe Breighner and the entire Boyne Highlands Resort team for their support for this workshop. NOTE: Most of the above was blatantly stolen from Carl Woodcock’s report to Boyne Highlands. Thanks Carl. I had the distinct honor of observing all the activities related to this seminar and talking with all the participants. Without fail, participants reported having fun learning and refining toboggan skills. Thanks to the toboggan and instructor to participant ratio candidates were able to get a season’s worth of toboggan training in one seminar. Every candidate made exponential progress during the day and went home with new skills and exercises to use to continue their toboggan skill development at their home area. Thank you to Bob Anderson, Annaka Norris and Carl Woodcock for the hard work and planning and that went into preparing this event. To Mike Longfellow Jones and Don Smith for planning and executing a great introduction to off-piste toboggan, avalanche and low angle rescue workshop. And a special thanks to all the instructors that made tobogganing so much fun that candidates didn’t want to stop running sleds. SENIOR OEC Region OEC Supervisor Rod Kivell will be requesting help for the upcoming Senior OEC Clinic February 9th at Otsego Ski Club. I know this is short notice. However, until three candidates contacted him in the past week it looked like we would not need an evaluation or clinic this year. SPECIAL OLYMPICS The annual Michigan Special Olympics Winter Games will be held at Grand Traverse Resort and Schuss Mountain. Alpine Ski and Snowboard and Nordic races will be held at Schuss Mountain February 5th, 6th and 7th. Events begin approximately 9:00 AM and run until late afternoon. Friday events will finish by noon. If you would like to help us patrol the events, please join us in the Schuss Mountain Patrol Room by 8:00 AM. Toboggan Enhancement Seminar
29 members of 10 patrols from all three Lower Michigan Regions are enrolled in this coming weekend’s “Northern Michigan Region Toboggan and Rescue Workshop”. This includes 7 members from 4 NMR Patrols. Bob Anderson, Annaka Norris and Carl Woodcock have put together a fantastic program for the weekend, Thank you for all the work you three have put into planning this event, I’m looking forward to observing all the activities. Sad News form Wendy Sinkus Treetops Ski Patrol Director... It is with much regret, to inform you that Michael DiPonio passed away after a recent illness. Mike joined the patrol in 1989. He was very active in Ski and Toboggan Training for our patrol and for the Region. He earned his national number by all the hard work he did for both Treetops and the Region. Mike continued to work in the region at Refresher time in Registration even after he had quit active patrolling with our Patrol. He will be missed and our hearts go out to Carolyn, his wife, family and friends. Sorenson-Lockwood Funeral home – web site. http://www.sorensonlockwood.com/home.html Visitation: January 24th, 2014 St Mary’ Catholic Church, Grayling MI 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Service: January 24th, 2014 St Mary’s Catholic Church, Grayling, MI 11:00 AM RD Ramblings 1/15/2014
Toboggan Enhancement Seminar APD John Wiley advised me that registration for our TES is going well. As of Monday, we have 16 registered for Saturdays Basic and Senior seminars and 10 for Sunday. The bad news is that only two of these are from our region. If you have candidates for senior or basic evaluations this year, please encourage them to register for this valuable clinic. Awards Awards Advisor Virginia Rodeman reminds us that the deadlines for awards submissions are just over a month away. Remember that anyone can write awards. The hardest part is finding out all the information about your candidate! The dates for the National Appointments, Merit Stars, and Patroller Crosses is February 20th and the Outstanding Award Applications are due by March 1. When submitting awards, please email the application to on or before the due date and mail a hard copy of the signature page with original signatures for the sponsor, patrol director, and section chief. All award applications should be submitted to: Rodeman, Virginia 1817 Potomac Toledo, OH 43607 H: 419-536-1179 W: [email protected] Senior OEC Please advise Rod Kivell if you have any candidates for Senior OEC. The Senior OEC Clinic is scheduled for 2/09/2014 at the Otsego Ski Club however, as of this date no one has registered for the event by submitting skill sheet signoffs. OEC Administrator Rod Kivell says it’s not too late, we can handle signoffs as part of the clinic but we need to know how many to plan for by Sunday the 9th. Hanson Hills I’m happy to report that Hanson Hills has decided to rejoin NSP. ARD Don Desautels, Section 2 Chief Pete Toundaian, OEC Administrator Rod Kivell and I met with Hanson Hills Patrol Supervisor Dianne Kanpp to discuss returning to the NSP. The patrol currently has 7 EMS trained members, who will transition to OEC, and two “Hosts”. On a personal note, I have a special attachment to Hanson and am happy to have them come back to NSP. 60 years ago I learned to ski at the Grayling Winter Sports Park, the original name of this resort, and haven’t been able to stop since. January Ski & Toboggan Clinic Check this link for pictures. http://www.nspnmr.com/2014-toboggan-clinic-at-schuss-mountain.html RD’s Ramblings will become a regular update of Region, Division and National information that just
can’t wait for our next meeting. If skiing doesn’t get in the way, I’ll try and send at least a short note each Tuesday. I ask everyone’s help. I need your input on news from your patrol, section or program each Monday and I’ll include it with my Ramblings. This week I’ll start with a couple things from National: Patroller 101 WHAT is it? It’s an umbrella for new patroller and continuing education within your patrol. Basic Teaching Modules can include: Risk Management · Adapting to the Outdoor Environment · Toboggan Handling · Scene Management / Incident Command System · Rope and Belay Skills · The National Ski Patrol · Ski Area Management · Role of the Volunteer Patroller · Guest Services This course should be supplemented by area-specific training in policy, procedure, practice, and equipment. WHY should you register a Patroller 101 Course? A registered Introduction to Ski Patrolling course ensures that your patrol's trainers are covered under the NSP's general liability policy while they instruct your candidates. · A simple spreadsheet can help you better track your candidates' progress through training. · Your candidates will receive the same messages about important topics as other candidates throughout the country. · Your candidates will get a well-rounded patroller education. · The training curriculum provides instruction in the fundamental skills needed to perform entry level patrolling duties WHO should register this course? The NSP instructor of any discipline who is responsible for overseeing and keeping records for the course within your patrol. WHEN should you register your course? As soon as you have new candidates. WHAT else do you need to do? Make sure your candidates sign a waiver (available in the Into to Patrolling Manual) Teach the modules noted above Close the course when completed Hand out Certificates of Completion (sent when you register) Questions? Contact Vicki Zierden at [email protected] or 952-884-8126 (Portions of the above blandly stolen form Vicki Zierden Central Division Patroller 101 Supervisor) email to RD’s. Toboggan Refreshers We all know that all Alpine Patrollers and above must complete an annual Toboggan Refresher. Did you know that there in a NSP class for this annual refresher and do you use it? OK that was a loaded question. A recent Central Division Review shows that only two Region Patrols have registered Toboggan Refreshers with National. WHY should we register our refresher? · A registered Toboggan Refresher course ensures that your patrol's toboggan trainers are covered under the NSP's general liability policy while they instruct your refresher. (Sound familiar?) Will create a record of completion on the patroller’s National Record WHO should register this course? Whoever is responsible for conducting and documenting your annual Toboggan Refresher WHEN should you register your course? · Before the start of each season WHAT else do you need to do? Teach the refresher · Close the course when completed or at the end of the season, whichever comes first. Training Programs Our Region OEC and Proficiency teams are putting the finishing touches on this season’s Ski, Toboggan and OEC training programs. First up will be the Region On-Hill instructor Calibration Clinic on January 4th and the Candidates Clinic January 5th both at Schuss Mountain. Bob Anderson and his team are planning many changes to these programs to make them more rewarding and fun. The annual Region Ski and Toboggan Enhancement Seminars are scheduled for January 26 and 27th at Boyne Highlands. The proficiency team is continuing their efforts to make these fun and educational events. This year’s plan includes hands on instruction learning to: Drive a 4 handled sled Rig ropes for low angle rescue Perform an avalanche beacon search and rescue Handle a sled off trail in backcountry terrain Compete in the 2nd annual toboggan race and patroller skills competition All this plus some pointers from the best Ski Patrol and PSIA instructors in the Region and a weekend of skiing at Boyne Highlands for just $25.00. We will send full schedule and registration information in the next of couple weeks. This weekend is open to all patrollers, not just Alpine Patroller and Senior Candidates. Senior Program We need your help to identify On-hill and OEC Senior Candidates for this year. I sent an email to all Alpine Patrollers in the region inviting them to join, or continue, in the Senior Program but we need a little push from our Patrol Directors to get candidates to complete the Senior Candidate Registration Form on the Region WEB Site so we know how to plan. OK I’ve said enough for one week. I don’t want to use all my material before the season starts. Dick Jacques Northern Michigan Region Director |
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