Sierra Samaritans - National Ski Patrol

June Mountain
Patrol A Quality Crew
By Ingrid Tistaert
in the Sierras
There’s nothing unusual about the gravitational pull at
June Mountain, a 550-acre snowsports area that sits high
in California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada. And the gold that
once drew prospectors to these hills is largely tapped out. So
there must be some other explanation for why many of June’s
patrollers gladly commute upwards of seven hours—one-way—
from the Los Angeles Basin to ply their skills here each weekend.
Well, it could be the snow (more than 20 feet per year) or the
diversity of terrain (chutes, steeps, and what is considered one of
the biggest and best terrain parks in the region). But ask any of
the area’s 34 patrollers, and they’ll tell you a major draw is the
caliber of their colleagues.
Garry Larson, a 20-year patrolling veteran from Southern
California, joined the June Mountain gang five years ago, and
he’s happy he made that choice. Larson commits to a 320-mile
drive from San Dimas because he appreciates “the professional
environment in the June patrol room.” Of course, he can’t help
but add, “The benefits of working at a challenging mountain
with lots of snow far outweigh the long drives.”
“June is one of those patrols where you don’t want to let anybody
down, so everybody just works harder and harder,” explains
June Mountain patroller (and NSP board member) Larry Acord.
“This is an unusual group of people; I’ve only seen one or two
other groups with such amazing synergy.”
You’ll get no argument on that point from Patrol
Representative Steve Francisco. “This tight-knit group works
together as a team with seamless integration between the paid
and volunteer patrollers,” he says proudly. “The volunteers willingly
travel over 600 miles on weekends, and the paid patrollers
have all become active NSP members in the past two years,
demonstrating a high level of dedication.”
With this kind of camaraderie and devotion to purpose, it
should come as no surprise that the June Mountain Patrol won the
NSP’s National Outstanding Small Alpine Patrol Award for the
2003–04 season. What is somewhat unusual is the speed with
which the patrol put together such a remarkable crew. Up until
four years ago, the June Mountain Patrol was a much smaller paid
team that filled all of its shifts by rotating patrollers from June’s sister
area, Mammoth Mountain. Then in 2001, Patrol Director Eric
Diem and Carl Williams—who’d recently come on board as
mountain manager—reached the conclusion that it might be a
good idea to have a consistent cadre of patrollers every weekend.
Enter Stan Kelley.
Kelley, a longtime NSP member from Southern California,
was on his way to Tahoe a few years back when he decided to stop
for the day and ski at June Mountain. While he was on the hill,
he struck up a conversation with Diem, who mentioned that
June was interested in taking on some volunteer patrollers to
share on-hill duties on the weekends. Kelley called up long-time
friend (and Southern California Region Director) Mark Giebel.
To make a long story short, the three men met with mountain
manager Williams, and in 2001 June Mountain welcomed NSP
patrollers, one of whom was Kelley—destined to become the
area’s first patrol representative. (He’s still one of the patrol’s goto
guys, handling everything from collecting patrol dues to lining
up lodging for those commuting patrollers.)
Thus began a beautiful relationship between the volunteers
and paid staff at June. The numbers now stand at 23 volunteer
and 11 paid patrollers. And, as Francisco points out, every one
of them is now a member of the NSP, making June Mountain
the only patrol in the region in which all of the paid and volunteer
patrollers are affiliated with the NSP.
Says June Mountain patroller Cirina Catania,“It’s a continuing
source of pride for all of us to see the NSP logo on each and every
patrol jacket and proudly visible on the signage at the resort.”
The success of the June patrol is bolstered by its healthy relationship
with the mountain manager. Francisco and Williams
CONTINUED
8 Ski Patrol Magazine | Winter 2005