Here’s a write up by our fantastic Utah Ambassador, Courtney Kizer, about our Jr. Ski Patrol event on February 25th! We have more Jr. Ski Patrol events happening this winter in Big Sky (April 14), Sun Valley (March 31), and Crystal Mountain (March 31). If you haven’t seen it yet, also check out this sweet video by Max Chesnut about our inaugural event at Crystal in December!
SheJumps Wild Skills joined forces with the Park City Mountain Resort Ski Patrol team to host a day camp for girls ages 8-18 on Sunday, February 25th. Patrollers taught the 28 participants about the mountain safety, outdoor skills and first aid that they use on a daily basis. 20 SheJumps volunteers were on hand to help with learning stations including first aid, avalanche control, snow science, weather stations, toboggans, avalanche rescue techniques, avalanche dogs and more! Snacks, a pizza lunch and hot cocoa delivered via unicorns and giraffes along with 5 inches of fresh powder made for one incredible blue bird day on the slopes. (Fox 13 News Covered the event: check out the video)
The day began at 930AM at the Liberty Lodge at the base of PCMR with registration, bagels (curtesy of Park City Bread and Bagel) and a team meeting hosted by head of ski patrol, Tessa Dawson. Participants were divided into 4 groups by skiing ability: each group had 7 participants, 2 pro patrollers and 3 SheJumps volunteers. Teams Orange, Green, Blue and Purple decked themselves out in colored tape, pennies and face paint to show their team spirit!’
At 10AM, Tessa led the charge up on the mountain for a quick group ski down Payday before groups took off in different directions to check out the morning stations. The weather station was at the ski patrol hut at the top of the Bonanza Lift, the first aid and toboggan stations mid way down Home Run on the slopes and the avalanche station off the Georgeanna run via the McConkey’s Lift. Stations had tents for shelter from the elements provided by Big Agnes.
Patrollers led demonstrations in prevention and care of injuries – role playing situations which included making splints and stopping bleeding. A big thank you to our program partner, Adventure Medical Kits for providing all the gear needed in order to create this part of the event. Also, for giving each participant a first aid kit & emergency blanket!
There were snacks and hot chocolate along the way thanks to ClifBar who made sure no girl went hungry before our late lunch.
At 1PM all groups gathered together once again to have Pizza lunch provided by the EpicPromise Foundation in the lounge room at the Patrol Summit House. We had the place to ourselves and got to hang out with the lady patrollers in their own space!
After lunch and a group picture, half of the teams took off to find donut holes at Lauren Larsen Park with beacons, shovels and probes will the other half got to see first hand how avalanche dogs find people buried after a snow incident.
Patrollers, participants and volunteers alike were having SO MUCH FUN that we were 30 minutes late to parent pick up.
But there was one last surprise, gift bags for all of our participants including stickers, goodies and magazines PLUS a raffle ticket for giveaways. Our awesome sponsors gave us: 3 tops from Kuhl Clothing, 2 pairs of flower headphones from SkullCandy and a Pink Helmet from POC!
Our goal with SheJumps Wild Skills is to see girls learning, having fun and connecting in an encouraging environment with amazing instruction and support from female mentors. We want Wild Skills to be an experience they will remember, one that will spark a lifetime of passion for the outdoors and will remind them that they are capable of anything. Giving participants, young and old, the opportunity to learn skills in a fun yet challenging setting develops perseverance and fosters confidence. Thanks to all that helped make this program come to life!
