May 28, 2025 • 40 mins
Barbara Lierson shares her remarkable journey in the National Ski Patrol since 1988, from her early days at Marshall in Missoula to her current role at Summit Central at Snoqualmie Pass. Her unique perspective highlights the evolution of ski patrol protocols, training approaches, and the challenge of integrating new patrollers with longtime veterans. Note: Recorded at a previous convention, please disregard background noises. (2023)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Barbara (00:12):
Okay, I'm Barbara.
My last name is Lierson.
I happen to be the only Liersonin the country, according to
Google, so that's who I amInteresting.
Murphy (00:21):
Fantastic, I didn't know that.
See, I learned something newtoday.
All right, so what's your NSPnumber?
144-593.
Okay, drum roll All right.
So what's your national number?
8295.
Jodie (00:39):
Oh, Very nice, all right, excellent.
Murphy (00:41):
No beers off of that one .
What year did you join theNational Ski Patrol?
Barbara (00:46):
19, let's see See.
Murphy (00:50):
I'm not the only one that had a positive thing.
Barbara (00:52):
I took my OEC training in the fall of 88.
It was what I think, the secondyear or the first year of the
WEC book.
Oh, and then I guess I was partof the WEC book.
Oh, and then I guess I was partof the patrol by January.
Murphy (01:10):
And what patrol is that?
Barbara (01:12):
It no longer exists.
It was Marshall in Missoula.
Murphy (01:16):
Marshall in Missoula.
Barbara (01:17):
Yeah.
Murphy (01:18):
There's two things I learned.
I didn't know there was Okay,so Marshall in Missoula.
And then where do you patrolnow?
Barbara (01:27):
Now I patrol at Summit Central part of Snoqualmie Pass.
Murphy (01:32):
Part of Snoqualmie.
Barbara (01:33):
Pass.
Murphy (01:33):
Yes, well, and you know, truth is, we wound up
patrolling together for a whileand Barb helped me get my senior
through OEC.
Really, she was an integralpart of me being able to pass
that oh my gosh, yeah, wonderful.
Barbara (01:49):
Thank you Wonderful.
Murphy (01:51):
Always.
Many thanks to that.
Let's see here.
I don't know if I'm supposed toask this of ladies, but I'm
going to ask you anyway how oldwere you when you joined the Ski
Patrol?
Barbara (02:00):
You know, I don't know.
And one of the nice thingsabout being a trainer and
evaluator is you always get topick your age.
Oh so the other night at emttraining I told everybody it was
59.
Today I think I'll be maybe 58or 60 wow, 58 or 60.
You want to skip 59 becausewell, I was that the other night
(02:23):
.
Oh okay, yeah all right.
Murphy (02:27):
So um your status with the ski patrol, are you alpine
nordic aid room?
Do you do bike patrolling?
Barbara (02:34):
I have done bike patrolling in the past.
When I was at crystal, um, Ihave been alpine, uh.
But when I moved over towashington state, um, there was
only a position for aid room atcrystal, and so I ended up on
the aid room.
Yay for adrian and and I'vestayed in the aid room because
(02:58):
now I've had so many injuries Ican't do the other yeah, yeah,
we'll get going.
Murphy (03:03):
We're back.
We're back.
We took a little hiatus, abreak, dinner lounging around.
We're back with Mrs Liersonhere.
See what we're doing the onlyone right.
Barbara (03:16):
Correct Mrs.
Murphy (03:16):
Lierson in the Google in the United States Correct All
right, so hold on a second here.
Barbara (03:23):
Yeah.
Murphy (03:24):
Yeah, we're back with Barb.
Barbara (03:26):
Okay.
Murphy (03:26):
Absolutely.
So the question where do weleave off?
Why did you become a skipatroller?
Barbara (03:35):
Because it was a cheap way to continue doing what I had
fallen in love with during thebeginning of my midlife crisis.
Murphy (03:44):
I like that, I like that .
Jodie (03:45):
I like that, but you know , what we didn't figure out is
what age were you when youjoined the patrol.
Barbara (03:50):
Midlife, midlife.
Jodie (03:52):
Midlife.
There you go, okay.
Barbara (03:55):
I had been working in blind rehab out of Helena
Montana covering quite a largearea of Montana, and the
handicap program at Bridger Bowlcalled me up and said you know,
if you can get us some blindskiers or skiers with who are
visually impaired, we will giveyou free ski lessons, free lift
(04:17):
passes, free equipment.
All you have to do is come downto Bridger every Saturday for
like eight weeks in a row.
I did that for two years.
Then started the midlife crisis, quit my job, went over to
Missoula to go back to school,started the divorce and it was
like the first year of the OECclass.
(04:39):
It was called WEC.
Maybe the second year.
Murphy (04:42):
Is it WEC or WAC?
Barbara (04:44):
WEC W-E.
Jodie (04:45):
WEC W-E-C.
Barbara (04:47):
I knew some of the people that had helped to write
the book.
Murphy (04:50):
All right.
What is that an abbreviationfor?
Jodie (04:53):
Wasn't it Wilderness Emergency.
Barbara (04:56):
Care.
Murphy (04:56):
Okay, that's right yeah.
Barbara (04:58):
And so I signed up for the class did it did some of my
training at marshall ski hill,which is outside of missoula and
is no longer in existence.
But my home patrol was greatdivide, out of helena, and
that's where I learned how totoboggan on my own, because it
(05:20):
was like just go it, so we wouldgo out and practice.
And it took a couple years toget certified as a toboggan
rider or driver.
And then when I transferredhere to Washington, I was for
two years on a patrol wherewomen could only be in the aid
(05:44):
room.
They didn't know how to ski,even though we had somebody from
that was at the internationallevel of skiing.
She was a woman, she couldn'tski right.
Murphy (05:57):
What year was this?
1940, 30?
Barbara (05:59):
Oh, my goodness, and then eventually made it over to
the western side of the stateand started at Crystal because
they had openings for somebodyin the aid room, so I got on in
the aid room.
Murphy (06:13):
Oh, okay.
Barbara (06:14):
And worked with Mary Lou.
Murphy (06:16):
Oh, I know Mary Lou.
Yes, I patrolled with her.
Barbara (06:18):
Yes, who is just the most incredible patroller?
Murphy (06:22):
Oh yeah, and a stickler for details when you are in that
patrol room.
Barbara (06:26):
Yes.
Murphy (06:29):
Hi Mary.
Jodie (06:29):
Lou.
So when you were learning byyourself to pull the sled, did
you ever have to call for yourown rescue?
Barbara (06:39):
Not when I was learning , but there was an incident
where I went out and somebodycame along.
I went out to kind of quite aways out at great divide, kind
of in our back country, andanother patroller came along on
a snowmobile and said grab on,and then, uh, proceeded to take
(07:00):
the snowmobile at a fairly fastclip and I got caught in the
ropes and yeah.
Murphy (07:07):
Did you have a toboggan behind you when you crashed?
Barbara (07:10):
I had, yes.
Double, ouch, but luckily itwas on a flat line.
You know flat kind of forestroad.
Murphy (07:20):
That's gotta hurt.
Ouch yeah well, I hope you gavethat patroller driving the snow
machine a good tongue lashing.
Barbara (07:30):
Well, I refuse to buddy up with him anymore.
Yeah, I don't blame you at all.
Murphy (07:36):
I don't blame you at all .
So you're currently up atStokwami Central, I know that.
So I'm just going to answerthat question for you.
Okay, and you are in the aidroom.
Are you going out and doing anymore skiing on the hill?
I know you do a ton of training.
Barbara (07:51):
So injuries have stopped me from skiing Right,
and so I put my snowshoes on andI go out on the hill with my
snowshoes at the lower part ofthe hill.
Excellent, no issues.
Jodie (08:00):
Excellent.
Barbara (08:00):
At the lower part of the hill Excellent, and have
been first responders on thingson my way between aid room slots
.
You know we have several atCentral.
Murphy (08:12):
Right.
Barbara (08:12):
And also, if there's something near the building that
I happen to be in, I'll go outand be first responder.
Yeah.
Murphy (08:21):
You know that is one thing I miss about being at
Central is at Crystal Mountain.
There are very few accidentsand even you've got to know your
way to get there fast becauseyou've got like Jack Ramsey who
is an ambulance chasingpatroller.
He gets there first.
I don't know how he does itsometimes, and there are a few
other people like that, but youwould wind up getting because
(08:46):
Central is so close to Seattlethat you would have people
skiing and they would ski allthe time and they're skiing on
stuff they shouldn't, but mostof these entries are over on the
Bunny Hills and you'd get greatpractice in OEC.
I mean that was a huge deal forme.
I was like, oh yeah, in fact Ikeep telling myself I've got to
(09:07):
go back and do a couple of daysat Central because I know I will
get more incidents at Centralin the couple days that I'm
there than I will all season atCrystal.
Barbara (09:13):
Come up Friday nights.
Murphy (09:15):
Oh yeah, that's actually a good idea, yeah.
Barbara (09:18):
Lots of injuries and a very small group of people
patrollers there to take care ofthem, all right.
Murphy (09:24):
You might see me there this season.
Jodie (09:27):
Do you ever do impromptu practices?
Murphy (09:29):
Oh yeah, crystal Mountain has this.
Barbara (09:33):
They have Andrew.
Yeah, they've got Andrew.
Who does?
Murphy (09:36):
training all the time and they wound up buying a
mannequin that when you do CPR,the doctor can actually go and
change the pulse on there to seeif it's actually working or not
working, and you can checkexternal pulse, you can check
carotid pulse and then, oh, theyjust turned off respiration
sounds.
Oh, what do you do now?
(09:57):
And you've got paramedics anddoctors standing over you and
they're looking to see howyou're going to respond.
It is the most nerve-wrackingthing.
One thing that I wound uphaving a great time with at
seniors is you guys threw somuch stuff at me that I've gone
to every scene, every real sceneafter that and it's like a
(10:17):
cakewalk.
I don't get panicked aboutanything, right?
The only time where I do getpanicked is when I've got the
doctor, paramedamedic, whateverelse standing over with that
iPad hooked up to that damndummy and they're going, oh, and
they're throwing out thesemedical terms and it's like, oh,
yeah, they just collapsed andwe don't know what's going on.
Go, oh, yeah, yeah, but I'vehad some fairly significant
(10:41):
incidents after that.
But, like I said, you know withyeah, but I've had some fairly
significant incidents after that.
But, like I said, you know,with all that senior training
and all the stuff that you hadjust a walk in the park.
Jodie (10:49):
Excellent, yeah, excellent.
So thanks again.
Murphy (10:50):
Barb.
Barbara (10:51):
Thank you.
Murphy (10:52):
All right, we are covered.
Have you patrolled in anotherlocation?
That was good, and we kind of Iwas going to ask you another
how old question, but I thinkI'm going'm gonna.
It was like middle age that youlearned to ski, right?
Okay, we'll just, we'll putthat there, um, but here is
something I'm interested to knowhave you received local, region
(11:12):
, division and national awards?
And I know you have.
Barbara (11:15):
so this is a time for you to actually toot your own
horn a little bit, to shine yes,I have received all of that and
name some of them so when I Ijust became a miller uh, which
is a regional, local kind ofthing, and I was like breathless
(11:37):
, uh, in awe that I wasnominated, for that's awesome
yeah, um, my national award wasout of the blue to me and then
when I got the plaque that I getto keep and I started reading
everybody that that is on there,it was like I'm at that level,
(11:57):
oh my God.
And now Mary Lou has gotten thatsame award and it's like oh my
God, oh my God, um, because sheis on such a high pedestal for
me, she's so incredible, um,yeah is mary lou here?
Jodie (12:12):
yes, awesome, you'll have to introduce her well, we'll
have to interview her I thinkyou will have to interview.
Yes, yes, yeah, we'll do thatno, that's good.
Murphy (12:21):
Yeah, and, by the way, all those awards were
well-deserved.
Well, I mean, you earned everysingle one of them.
They were not a gift, includingthat Miller Award, which, in
the Northwest region, is thehighest award that you can
receive.
That's awesome yeah that was agreat thing.
I was very happy when Petertold me that you won that.
Peter Schwartz, that is.
Barbara (12:40):
Yeah.
Okay, so let's see here whatdoes the phrase service and
safety since 1938 mean to you?
That's how long we've beendoing ski patrol, ski patrol
what does it mean to you?
Murphy (12:52):
I mean, when you hear that you know our two logo yeah,
our service and safety.
Barbara (12:58):
That's what we do.
We serve and we're therebecause we love to help other
people.
We don't need to have lots ofaccolades because we're doing it
, because that's who we are.
And to promote safety is, asfar as I'm concerned, getting
(13:19):
those little kids aware ofsafety so that as they grow they
become know people, then go outand an ambassador for us um
serving, trying to help newbiepatrollers realize that as a
patroller there are so many waysthat you can serve throughout
(13:41):
the year, not just during theski season, but you can be a ski
patroller in so many other ways.
One of the retired patrollersfrom Crystal Mountain he was
there before you were, so youwouldn't know him, okay, he and
Mary Lou and I served togetherat Crystal in the aid room
(14:04):
During COVID.
He's a motorcycle rider and heand his brother, who's a retired
sheriff's person, and someother people were out in their
trucks towing their bikesbecause they do wounded soldier
visits on their bike and takewounded soldiers out riding bike
and take wounded soldiers outriding and they come across this
(14:31):
accident some Harley driversright dab in front of them.
This one guy crashed.
He was the last guy in thegroup crashed.
His bike, went over the cliff.
He went sprawling across theroad with a broken neck.
Ouch With a broken neck.
Oh so my patroller friend andthe other people he was with
literally saved this guy's life.
One of the people that hadstopped their car was also a
(14:56):
flight nurse.
Murphy (14:58):
Right.
Barbara (14:58):
And she had her jump bag with her.
Oh wow, so she had oxygen withher.
This guy is still going.
His wife is a person that I doherding events with, so I know
her and it was just a miracle.
But that's what we do aspatrollers.
It doesn't matter that you'renot on the ski hill Once a
(15:20):
patroller and you're always apatroller.
You always are out there tosupport other people who need
help.
Murphy (15:28):
That's excellent I like that.
Yeah, that's very true.
And you said herding, which I'mgonna say herding, like tell us
about your dogs, because I knowyou love those babies so I have
old english sheep dogs and I dothe expected thing, like they
get their championships.
Notice how she says that youjust get their championships.
(15:51):
Okay, yeah.
Barbara (15:53):
And then I do the fun thing.
So my dogs herd sheep.
I take lessons.
I've been kicked out of thefield because of injuries and
because I've been trampled toomany times by the sheep.
Murphy (16:07):
I grew up on a sheep farm.
That's hard to do, Barb.
Barbara (16:09):
It is, but when they're charging towards you and
there's no place to go, it'slike, oh bad word.
Jodie (16:18):
Isn't the sheep dog supposed to herd them away from
you?
Barbara (16:22):
Well, if he's bringing them towards you?
Well, this is true, this istrue.
Look, mommy, I'm bringing youall these sheep at 80 miles an
hour.
Murphy (16:31):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Barbara (16:32):
But yeah, so we do that .
Murphy (16:36):
How many sheepdogs do you have?
Barbara (16:38):
Right now I have four of my own, and I am working to
do some training with one that Ibred.
She's now two, and so she camehome with me from a dog show
down in California and I have toput titles on her, and then
she'll go back to her owner tohave a litter of puppies.
Murphy (17:01):
When you say titles, that means she's entered an
event, yeah, and won and wonevent and yeah and won.
Jodie (17:07):
And won, and won.
It was Barbie, yeah, and won.
Murphy (17:11):
Thanks for the modesty.
I appreciate that.
Barbara (17:13):
I have to tell you there are three things that are
really easy to get on a dog andit's called canine good citizen
and you can get trick dog andthey don't have to do a lot to
get trick Dog.
And then there's Farm Dog,which is being a good citizen
out on a farm.
So I have a.
What is she?
She will be 13 in December.
Murphy (17:34):
Right.
Barbara (17:35):
And I took her out and she got her Farm Dog title, she
got her Trick Dog title and shegot her Canine Good Citizen
title.
She got her trick dog title andshe got her Canine Good Citizen
title.
So now she's champion.
So and so, with Canine GoodCitizen, with these three titles
behind her, Awesome, that'scool.
It was so much fun.
The judges were great with her.
(17:56):
It was great.
Murphy (17:58):
Barb has her dog turning tricks.
Barbara (18:00):
Hey.
Jodie (18:02):
You know you have to do what you have to do.
Barbara (18:04):
You guys are so quick Laughter.
Murphy (18:08):
Okay, I'm going to ask you a couple of things about
Central, because you've beenthere for ages, right?
Barbara (18:13):
Not as long as some people, not as long as some.
So what are some of the?
Murphy (18:17):
changes that you've seen .
I mean they've gone throughthree ownership deals.
I mean, have you seen a lot ofchanges?
I mean when I was there I woundup seeing a few and I was only
there for like six years.
Barbara (18:35):
So some of the positive changes that I've seen are we
have some better equipment.
Uh, some more lifts are goingin across the the past so that
we have people can access theback country a little bit easier
um rob our.
Our resident will be retiringsoon.
That will be a big change, oh.
Murphy (18:53):
I didn't know that.
Barbara (18:54):
But the person who is going to be taking over will do
just awesome and has been intraining.
He's one of the paid staff atBraun and he will be awesome.
Murphy (19:07):
Wow.
Barbara (19:08):
So that will be a change.
I also do search and rescue andone of the things that I love
about the pass is that I've beenup on the pass on night
missions where we've had tohouse people and I've been able
to call up Rob or the managerand say I need to house these
(19:28):
people overnight and all of asudden buildings are open we've
got places to put people, andthat's not true on a lot of
hills and that relationship isnot true on a lot of places.
So I I think that's a positivebuilding that relationship.
Um, we now have aid stationsacross the hill right, and we
(19:53):
are trying to follow the KingCounty protocol, whereas instead
of taking everybody to everyinjured person to a certain spot
and having them sit on a bed inthe aid room they're off the
mountain we take them straightdown the hill, put them in their
family car, put them on the bus, put them in an ambulance and
(20:15):
get them to more definitive care.
Murphy (20:18):
So I think that's a good thing yeah, I appreciated that
when I was there, where thatstarted to be the policy, where
you just it was grab and go, andif you could get them down to
the ambulance or down to POV,that's personal vehicle, then
they're out of there.
Barbara (20:35):
They're out of there, yeah, which is really good,
because at golden hours.
Murphy (20:39):
They always tell you you want to get somebody to hire
care within that hour.
And they stand a much betterchance of coming out unscathed.
Jodie (20:47):
Now, do you do it for the minors?
And when I say minor, minorinjuries like the ankles and
wrists, Get them off the hill.
Yeah, get them off the hillwhere it's not as crucial for
that golden hour.
Barbara (21:00):
If it's a minor, they get more choices, but they can
go to the lodge.
If they're connected to one ofthe ski schools, they can go
there.
But we don't have peoplehanging out in the aid rooms
anymore.
That's good.
It is good yeah.
Murphy (21:15):
I think COVID did a lot of that work.
Yes, it did, because even atCrystal it's like yeah, unless
you're really hurt, you're goingto tell your story walking
Right.
Barbara (21:23):
At Crystal you get a lot more walk-ins.
Murphy (21:26):
Yeah.
Barbara (21:26):
And serious walk-ins, and we don't get the serious
walk-ins but we do get you know.
Okay, we've got this happeningover at the rental shop.
You know you've got a cardiacover there.
And so they didn't walk inwhere they might walk in at
Crystal.
But you still get those.
Murphy (21:47):
Yeah.
Barbara (21:48):
Now, do you have Nordic where you're at?
Thank you, yes, we do.
We have a really nice Nordicpatrol.
We have what 40, 20 to 40 milesof Nordic trails.
We have a backcountry patrollerand a lot of the people on
SPART, our ski patrol SAR unit.
I've heard that.
Yeah, spart Are part of thebackcountry patrol.
Murphy (22:13):
Yeah, it's pretty big and they show up every morning
and they wind up just being apart of the patrol, which is
something that's really nice,and there's been times where we
have really needed them, wherethey've got to go out in the
middle of nowhere and findsomebody, because I would not
want to skate, ski out, oh man,because it's all uphill Right,
it is uphill yeah, not fun.
Jodie (22:35):
Oh my goodness, but that's good no.
Murphy (22:38):
Well, let's see here.
What else Did you want to askanything?
Jodie (22:46):
Have you seen anything like over the changes of time
from a uniform standpoint frompeople that are involved, like
who might have only been up onthe hill, they're doing time in
the aid room back and forth, orany changes that way that you've
noticed?
Barbara (22:59):
So up at the pass, people who are aid room
patrollers or just patrollersare out on the hill with jacket
with a cross on it and you knowdoing those things.
I know some hills don't allowthere are people that aren't
skiing for whatever reason atthat season to be out on the
(23:21):
hill with a red jacket.
But at the pass you can.
Um, what I have seen is and Idon't know how to solve it is
we've got a lot of new people,but how to integrate them with
the people that have been thereforever?
Things have changed.
New people embrace the changes.
(23:42):
Some of the older people aregoing.
That's not how we do things.
And how do you?
You know, how do you make thosetwo groups come together?
Murphy (23:54):
Yeah, mesh that older folks and the newer recruits.
Barbara (23:58):
Right.
Murphy (23:58):
And there are new things that happen that you know.
King County Protocol changes.
Barbara (24:03):
Yes.
Murphy (24:04):
Yeah, and that's tough trying to integrate those things
with you know somebody who'sbeen there for a while, because
they are just stuck in theirways.
They are and it's tough.
Barbara (24:12):
It is tough and then you lose a good patroller with a
lot of knowledge and a lot ofhistory and a lot of depth that
could be working with some ofthe newbies.
Jodie (24:25):
Right.
Barbara (24:25):
You know, if you could figure out a way to entice them
back into that.
Jodie (24:30):
Right, absolutely.
Murphy (24:31):
Yeah.
So average age of patrollers atCrystal or, excuse me, at
Central, has it gone down, goneup?
I mean, is it kind of I'm?
Barbara (24:42):
still thinking it's somewhere between, say, 35 to 60
.
Murphy (24:47):
Okay.
Barbara (24:48):
In that range because we've gotten a lot of newbies.
It seems every class there areseveral people that are younger,
but we also have people 55, 60who have wanted to be a
patroller all their life, andnow they have time in their life
to do it, you know, and so theyhave gone through the OEC class
and become patrollers andthat's awesome.
Murphy (25:11):
Yeah, that first year of becoming a ski patroller.
No life man it is tough.
My brother is thinking aboutpatrolling down at Mount Hood
where he lives, and so I've beenchatting with him.
I go.
You know that first year, thatfirst year, is a killer.
After that it's easy, right,well, easier.
But that first year you aregoing to spend some serious time
(25:35):
doing OEC and gettingproficient at that, so just be
aware.
And then you're going to spendall that time on the mountain
learning how to run a tobogganand don't worry, I know you're
improving and you're just areally fast slalom skier now,
but we will get that out of you.
We'll make you a utility skieragain, yes, but we will get that
out of you.
Jodie (25:52):
Yeah, we'll make you a utility skier again.
Yes, curiosity how many were inyour WEC class?
Because you started with theWEC.
Barbara (25:58):
Oh my goodness, there was probably 30 people 30?
Murphy (26:01):
Oh wow.
Barbara (26:01):
Yeah, it was a big class.
Murphy (26:05):
How many was in yours?
Oh man, because I took OEC whenI was.
What was that?
2013?
Ballpark number.
Probably about 30, 35.
And I know we didn't graduate.
30, 35.
And now I look back at how manypeople are still patrolling out
(26:28):
of that 30, 35 in 10 years, andit's a small number.
Barbara (26:32):
Very small number, very small number.
Murphy (26:34):
Yeah 71.
Barbara (26:37):
In your class 71?
Jodie (26:40):
71 was enrolled.
Murphy (26:43):
Now, needless to say, Is that OEC?
Jodie (26:45):
Needless to say, after that class and how many people
that were lost during that classnever again.
And how many people that werelost during that class.
Murphy (26:54):
Never again.
Can you imagine running an OECclass with 70 people?
You have like those stations.
You're trying to bandage people.
Jodie (27:08):
Now granted, it was one of those things that within, I
think, the first week or twoweeks it went down to 50 and
then down to 40.
But to be fair, I mean that'snot being fair when people are
trying to learn.
I don't care if you have 20instructors, you still need to
have.
Murphy (27:19):
That's hard.
Jodie (27:21):
But I'm also not used to teaching really small classes
until recently, and I'm likethis just seems weird 30 to 40
or so was the average size, andthen down to 3 to 7.
I'm like wow, it is sodifferent.
Murphy (27:39):
You know, and I'm always amazed at the quality of
training that you get in OECwhen you think about it.
It's somebody who'svolunteering, dedicating as much
time as all of the newbies whenthey're coming through and they
arrange for all of the woundcare and all of the moulage, you
know, so you can actually thinkabout what's going to happen on
(28:00):
the mountain.
And then you've got to get allyour victims, you know, because
it's not just you know thepeople that are in the class.
You get other folks, and thenyou know, midterms come, and
then you have to recruit a wholebunch of your patrollers to get
out there so that they can, youknow, be assessed.
I mean, it is really an amazingthing that we do every single
(28:21):
year to try and get people.
Yes, which is why, you know, Ithink we should really try and
hold on to as many people as wecan, because that's a massive
investment in time that it takesto bring these people on board.
And then that first year.
I remember my first year as apatroller.
My head was just swimming.
That first incident, you'relike oh, help me.
Barbara (28:40):
Yeah, your brain kind of leaves.
Jodie (28:42):
That was the standard statement, the first one that
you're going to have.
Just take a second, check yourpulse, take a breath and then
proceed Right.
Barbara (28:51):
Check your pulse, take a breath.
Jodie (28:52):
And then proceed Right, and every single class that
either I was in charge of orparticipated, it was a matter of
hey, we happen to have thegreat Peter outside our window.
Murphy (29:06):
Oh no, he's giving us a wave.
Yeah, we're going to have tointerview him here, sir.
Yes, definitely, but but um,yeah, so go ahead um, it was
reference to.
Jodie (29:16):
I just had a, so I'm gonna jump in here.
Barbara (29:19):
A senior moment, yeah, I don't know what your questions
are, but one of my concerns isthat I look around at the
conference, at the convention,and I don't see a lot of those
newbies.
And I look around at who'steaching classes and who's
stepping up to do the volunteerwork and I don't see any of
those newer patrollers doingthat.
And I think that, yeah, theycome up and a lot of the
(29:45):
patrollers that we have had thelast couple of years have
migrated to the paid staff.
Jodie (29:50):
Yes.
Barbara (29:50):
Because they only have to do three days whatever, and
they're done for the month andwe're losing people.
They don't understand thehistory, they don't understand
the heritage, they don'tunderstand how ski patrol even
began.
Jodie (30:10):
So, with that being said, what do you guys do, as when
someone comes in new, to givethem a little bit of that
background?
Barbara (30:19):
So when I teach an instructor?
Jodie (30:21):
development class.
Barbara (30:24):
I have wonderful Liz who has all of that just off the
.
Yes, just flows off her tongue.
And so she does that a lot andthat's something we used to do a
lot of in the patrol manualthat I don't think people even
know exists, Right, oh well sohere's a personal story, uh-oh.
Murphy (30:44):
So I was a patroller, I think going on my fourth year in
ski patrol, before I learnedthat there was a book that was
called the ski patrol manual.
Oh my goodness, I said where doI get one of these things?
And Liz says it's available onthe website for $5.
So I downloaded the PDF for $5and I can't believe how many
(31:06):
questions that book answered.
Some of it's not relevantanymore, but I I gotta say at
least 60 to 70 percent of thatthing had awards history.
Barbara (31:16):
I mean all the stuff that you kind of miss yeah, like
I didn't know what all thestars meant.
Jodie (31:22):
It's all in that book, people yeah, and, and the thing
is, is that that's what made animpact for me is that we had on
our I think it was the first orwithin the two weeks.
First two weeks we had someonecame in and it was the president
at the time and had a nicelittle canned presentation, but
it was just like, oh my gosh, Inever knew.
(31:43):
Oh my gosh, I never knew.
And then it was oh, there'speople outside of this patrol,
there's other things that thatyou know.
You hear the words national skipatrol, you hear this or that,
and it just goes flying bybecause you're just trying to
swim right your head up abovewater and then it's like there's
divisions, there's a national,there's this.
(32:04):
Yeah, we need to end the history.
Gotta have we you know what weneed to have do a recording with
shirley you do, and just arecording that this is going to
be a 15 minute presentationabout everything to get you,
(32:25):
your, your fingers wet and youwant to learn more yeah, doing
her and her and Liz, her and Liz.
Murphy (32:32):
Yeah, I can't wait to interview Liz Dodge and.
Barbara (32:35):
Mary Lou because.
Murphy (32:35):
Mary Lou also worked in the international European
division.
Oh, I didn't know that, yeah.
Jodie (32:42):
So now we have two times that we've got Shirley on the
Zoom thing, that we did so thepast two years with the
Psychological First Aid, theworkshops, and then she did her
piece on history and each timewe're all just sort of like
putting our hands in our chinsand just listening you want to
have the popcorn and she's just.
(33:02):
I mean her wealth of knowledge.
Barbara (33:05):
Yes, it's amazing.
Jodie (33:05):
Yeah, yeah.
Murphy (33:07):
Yeah, well, we'll keep going.
Barbara (33:08):
Yeah, we'll get those.
Murphy (33:09):
So Well, we'll keep going yeah, we'll get those.
So anything else you want toadd?
Barbara (33:13):
Wrapping this up.
Murphy (33:14):
Yeah.
Barbara (33:15):
Senior program opens all of those doors.
Murphy (33:18):
Yeah, it does.
I will say it was huge.
Barbara (33:21):
Yeah it's.
You hone your skills but, moreimportantly, you start
connecting and expanding yourfamily of patrollers and patrol
families all over, and then whenyou go to places, it's like I
am so proud to be a skipatroller.
Murphy (33:43):
Yeah.
Barbara (33:43):
So proud to be a ski patroller.
Murphy (33:45):
Yeah, and I don't think I've paid for a ski ticket in.
I don't know how long I call upmy buddies at every mountain.
Well, let's see.
Jodie (33:51):
How much have you paid in jackets?
Barbara (33:55):
Oh, those are incidentals.
Jodie (33:57):
Yes incidentals, that's true, yeah, that's true.
Murphy (34:00):
Not nearly as much, as I've gotten back in skiing
Absolutely and skiing at othermountains, plus skiing and
skiing at other mountains.
Plus, you know, you come tothese events and you wind up
seeing people that you, you know, get to see maybe once or twice
a year.
Barbara (34:11):
Right.
Murphy (34:12):
And so it's really fun.
I actually like the conventions.
Jodie (34:16):
Yes.
Murphy (34:17):
That's a little secret thing, Secret.
Jodie (34:19):
It's out World.
Murphy (34:22):
We have it here.
I get to run into people thatare at different mountains, and
you know my brother-in-lawpatrols at Mount Spokane.
I'm Mike Burns, and you know,so I get to meet people that he
patrols with and they tell mefunny stories about Mike, and so
it is.
It's like you said, it's likeone big, extended family.
Barbara (34:39):
Yes.
Murphy (34:40):
And so it is.
It's really fun and I take alot out of it.
Jodie (34:43):
And then you go, powder fall oh yeah, oh, now that's a
whole another and you know otherand you start yeah, and then
the mountain starts our, ourfamily starts becoming even
bigger and you learn even morehistory well, what about more of
like a, a buddy system?
um, I mean, you hear it as amentorship, a buddy system,
(35:04):
whatever, but it's someone thatyou really.
You have like two or threepeople, I mean, I don't know,
you know your class size, etcetera, but you get people that
want to share this informationand it's just.
It's not like it's going to bea huge amount of time, but part
of your goals throughout theseason is hey, how many
divisions are there in theNational Ski Patrol?
(35:25):
What year did the National SkiPatrol start?
When did Central start?
Barbara (35:31):
Or even why did you become a patroller?
Murphy (35:35):
Yeah, that's a big question.
I always, when I'm seeing newguys up on the left and we're
going up, I've never ridden withthem or patrolled with them.
That's one of the firstquestions I ask why did you join
?
What is it?
Jodie (35:51):
Because that will tell you a lot about.
You know their motivation andwill they be there in a couple
of years, right, right, and it'srare.
Every once in a while you getthat person that was just there
to get the lift ticket, yeah,and do that, and then they get
the absorption of this is apretty cool group, and look at
what I'm learning, huh, but Ican't say that's the higher
number.
(36:11):
It's like oh, I have to do allthis for a ticket, yeah, it's
worth it.
Murphy (36:17):
That's very true.
There is a lot of work.
I will not discount that.
I mean, like I say, the amountof time that you spent, barb,
doing that senior stuff I stilllaugh at when you purposely fell
into a tree, well, feetsticking up, head down buried,
and it's like okay, go.
Jodie (36:39):
And you're hearing this.
Go, hurry up, go get me out ofhere, hurry, hurry.
Murphy (36:44):
And it's muffled because you're half buried and freezing
.
Oh, how many times we had tostop training and take Barb into
the building and warm her up,get her some hot cocoa or some
tea, because she was frozen.
Okay, while I'm sitting here, Ihave a whatever wound on my
bicep.
Oh, I've dislocated my shoulder, so she's drinking tea with her
(37:07):
right hand and you're gettingyour left hand, you know stuck
to your head so, okay, those aregood, they all come in handy.
Jodie (37:16):
Thank you so much.
Barbara (37:17):
We really appreciate this this was so much fun.
Murphy (37:20):
I look forward to hearing everybody's thing oh
yeah, well, thanks for takingthe time to come and talk with
us.
Jodie (37:26):
We appreciate it and if you have any suggestions or
encourage others to say hey,because it can be real brief, it
can be, you get going and, man,we're hearing more things about
people.
It's just like you did what.
Wow, oh, you saw what.
It's fascinating, absolutelyfascinating.
Murphy (37:44):
It's good.
Well, thanks again, thank youAll right.
Barbara (37:46):
See you, barbara, bye, bye.
Okay, I'm Barbara.
My last name is Lierson.
I happen to be the only Liersonin the country, according to
Google, so that's who I amInteresting.
Murphy (00:21):
Fantastic, I didn't know that.
See, I learned something newtoday.
All right, so what's your NSPnumber?
144-593.
Okay, drum roll All right.
So what's your national number?
8295.
Jodie (00:39):
Oh, Very nice, all right, excellent.
Murphy (00:41):
No beers off of that one .
What year did you join theNational Ski Patrol?
Barbara (00:46):
19, let's see See.
Murphy (00:50):
I'm not the only one that had a positive thing.
Barbara (00:52):
I took my OEC training in the fall of 88.
It was what I think, the secondyear or the first year of the
WEC book.
Oh, and then I guess I was partof the WEC book.
Oh, and then I guess I was partof the patrol by January.
Murphy (01:10):
And what patrol is that?
Barbara (01:12):
It no longer exists.
It was Marshall in Missoula.
Murphy (01:16):
Marshall in Missoula.
Barbara (01:17):
Yeah.
Murphy (01:18):
There's two things I learned.
I didn't know there was Okay,so Marshall in Missoula.
And then where do you patrolnow?
Barbara (01:27):
Now I patrol at Summit Central part of Snoqualmie Pass.
Murphy (01:32):
Part of Snoqualmie.
Barbara (01:33):
Pass.
Murphy (01:33):
Yes, well, and you know, truth is, we wound up
patrolling together for a whileand Barb helped me get my senior
through OEC.
Really, she was an integralpart of me being able to pass
that oh my gosh, yeah, wonderful.
Barbara (01:49):
Thank you Wonderful.
Murphy (01:51):
Always.
Many thanks to that.
Let's see here.
I don't know if I'm supposed toask this of ladies, but I'm
going to ask you anyway how oldwere you when you joined the Ski
Patrol?
Barbara (02:00):
You know, I don't know.
And one of the nice thingsabout being a trainer and
evaluator is you always get topick your age.
Oh so the other night at emttraining I told everybody it was
59.
Today I think I'll be maybe 58or 60 wow, 58 or 60.
You want to skip 59 becausewell, I was that the other night
(02:23):
.
Oh okay, yeah all right.
Murphy (02:27):
So um your status with the ski patrol, are you alpine
nordic aid room?
Do you do bike patrolling?
Barbara (02:34):
I have done bike patrolling in the past.
When I was at crystal, um, Ihave been alpine, uh.
But when I moved over towashington state, um, there was
only a position for aid room atcrystal, and so I ended up on
the aid room.
Yay for adrian and and I'vestayed in the aid room because
(02:58):
now I've had so many injuries Ican't do the other yeah, yeah,
we'll get going.
Murphy (03:03):
We're back.
We're back.
We took a little hiatus, abreak, dinner lounging around.
We're back with Mrs Liersonhere.
See what we're doing the onlyone right.
Barbara (03:16):
Correct Mrs.
Murphy (03:16):
Lierson in the Google in the United States Correct All
right, so hold on a second here.
Barbara (03:23):
Yeah.
Murphy (03:24):
Yeah, we're back with Barb.
Barbara (03:26):
Okay.
Murphy (03:26):
Absolutely.
So the question where do weleave off?
Why did you become a skipatroller?
Barbara (03:35):
Because it was a cheap way to continue doing what I had
fallen in love with during thebeginning of my midlife crisis.
Murphy (03:44):
I like that, I like that .
Jodie (03:45):
I like that, but you know , what we didn't figure out is
what age were you when youjoined the patrol.
Barbara (03:50):
Midlife, midlife.
Jodie (03:52):
Midlife.
There you go, okay.
Barbara (03:55):
I had been working in blind rehab out of Helena
Montana covering quite a largearea of Montana, and the
handicap program at Bridger Bowlcalled me up and said you know,
if you can get us some blindskiers or skiers with who are
visually impaired, we will giveyou free ski lessons, free lift
(04:17):
passes, free equipment.
All you have to do is come downto Bridger every Saturday for
like eight weeks in a row.
I did that for two years.
Then started the midlife crisis, quit my job, went over to
Missoula to go back to school,started the divorce and it was
like the first year of the OECclass.
(04:39):
It was called WEC.
Maybe the second year.
Murphy (04:42):
Is it WEC or WAC?
Barbara (04:44):
WEC W-E.
Jodie (04:45):
WEC W-E-C.
Barbara (04:47):
I knew some of the people that had helped to write
the book.
Murphy (04:50):
All right.
What is that an abbreviationfor?
Jodie (04:53):
Wasn't it Wilderness Emergency.
Barbara (04:56):
Care.
Murphy (04:56):
Okay, that's right yeah.
Barbara (04:58):
And so I signed up for the class did it did some of my
training at marshall ski hill,which is outside of missoula and
is no longer in existence.
But my home patrol was greatdivide, out of helena, and
that's where I learned how totoboggan on my own, because it
(05:20):
was like just go it, so we wouldgo out and practice.
And it took a couple years toget certified as a toboggan
rider or driver.
And then when I transferredhere to Washington, I was for
two years on a patrol wherewomen could only be in the aid
(05:44):
room.
They didn't know how to ski,even though we had somebody from
that was at the internationallevel of skiing.
She was a woman, she couldn'tski right.
Murphy (05:57):
What year was this?
1940, 30?
Barbara (05:59):
Oh, my goodness, and then eventually made it over to
the western side of the stateand started at Crystal because
they had openings for somebodyin the aid room, so I got on in
the aid room.
Murphy (06:13):
Oh, okay.
Barbara (06:14):
And worked with Mary Lou.
Murphy (06:16):
Oh, I know Mary Lou.
Yes, I patrolled with her.
Barbara (06:18):
Yes, who is just the most incredible patroller?
Murphy (06:22):
Oh yeah, and a stickler for details when you are in that
patrol room.
Barbara (06:26):
Yes.
Murphy (06:29):
Hi Mary.
Jodie (06:29):
Lou.
So when you were learning byyourself to pull the sled, did
you ever have to call for yourown rescue?
Barbara (06:39):
Not when I was learning , but there was an incident
where I went out and somebodycame along.
I went out to kind of quite aways out at great divide, kind
of in our back country, andanother patroller came along on
a snowmobile and said grab on,and then, uh, proceeded to take
(07:00):
the snowmobile at a fairly fastclip and I got caught in the
ropes and yeah.
Murphy (07:07):
Did you have a toboggan behind you when you crashed?
Barbara (07:10):
I had, yes.
Double, ouch, but luckily itwas on a flat line.
You know flat kind of forestroad.
Murphy (07:20):
That's gotta hurt.
Ouch yeah well, I hope you gavethat patroller driving the snow
machine a good tongue lashing.
Barbara (07:30):
Well, I refuse to buddy up with him anymore.
Yeah, I don't blame you at all.
Murphy (07:36):
I don't blame you at all .
So you're currently up atStokwami Central, I know that.
So I'm just going to answerthat question for you.
Okay, and you are in the aidroom.
Are you going out and doing anymore skiing on the hill?
I know you do a ton of training.
Barbara (07:51):
So injuries have stopped me from skiing Right,
and so I put my snowshoes on andI go out on the hill with my
snowshoes at the lower part ofthe hill.
Excellent, no issues.
Jodie (08:00):
Excellent.
Barbara (08:00):
At the lower part of the hill Excellent, and have
been first responders on thingson my way between aid room slots
.
You know we have several atCentral.
Murphy (08:12):
Right.
Barbara (08:12):
And also, if there's something near the building that
I happen to be in, I'll go outand be first responder.
Yeah.
Murphy (08:21):
You know that is one thing I miss about being at
Central is at Crystal Mountain.
There are very few accidentsand even you've got to know your
way to get there fast becauseyou've got like Jack Ramsey who
is an ambulance chasingpatroller.
He gets there first.
I don't know how he does itsometimes, and there are a few
other people like that, but youwould wind up getting because
(08:46):
Central is so close to Seattlethat you would have people
skiing and they would ski allthe time and they're skiing on
stuff they shouldn't, but mostof these entries are over on the
Bunny Hills and you'd get greatpractice in OEC.
I mean that was a huge deal forme.
I was like, oh yeah, in fact Ikeep telling myself I've got to
(09:07):
go back and do a couple of daysat Central because I know I will
get more incidents at Centralin the couple days that I'm
there than I will all season atCrystal.
Barbara (09:13):
Come up Friday nights.
Murphy (09:15):
Oh yeah, that's actually a good idea, yeah.
Barbara (09:18):
Lots of injuries and a very small group of people
patrollers there to take care ofthem, all right.
Murphy (09:24):
You might see me there this season.
Jodie (09:27):
Do you ever do impromptu practices?
Murphy (09:29):
Oh yeah, crystal Mountain has this.
Barbara (09:33):
They have Andrew.
Yeah, they've got Andrew.
Who does?
Murphy (09:36):
training all the time and they wound up buying a
mannequin that when you do CPR,the doctor can actually go and
change the pulse on there to seeif it's actually working or not
working, and you can checkexternal pulse, you can check
carotid pulse and then, oh, theyjust turned off respiration
sounds.
Oh, what do you do now?
(09:57):
And you've got paramedics anddoctors standing over you and
they're looking to see howyou're going to respond.
It is the most nerve-wrackingthing.
One thing that I wound uphaving a great time with at
seniors is you guys threw somuch stuff at me that I've gone
to every scene, every real sceneafter that and it's like a
(10:17):
cakewalk.
I don't get panicked aboutanything, right?
The only time where I do getpanicked is when I've got the
doctor, paramedamedic, whateverelse standing over with that
iPad hooked up to that damndummy and they're going, oh, and
they're throwing out thesemedical terms and it's like, oh,
yeah, they just collapsed andwe don't know what's going on.
Go, oh, yeah, yeah, but I'vehad some fairly significant
(10:41):
incidents after that.
But, like I said, you know withyeah, but I've had some fairly
significant incidents after that.
But, like I said, you know,with all that senior training
and all the stuff that you hadjust a walk in the park.
Jodie (10:49):
Excellent, yeah, excellent.
So thanks again.
Murphy (10:50):
Barb.
Barbara (10:51):
Thank you.
Murphy (10:52):
All right, we are covered.
Have you patrolled in anotherlocation?
That was good, and we kind of Iwas going to ask you another
how old question, but I thinkI'm going'm gonna.
It was like middle age that youlearned to ski, right?
Okay, we'll just, we'll putthat there, um, but here is
something I'm interested to knowhave you received local, region
(11:12):
, division and national awards?
And I know you have.
Barbara (11:15):
so this is a time for you to actually toot your own
horn a little bit, to shine yes,I have received all of that and
name some of them so when I Ijust became a miller uh, which
is a regional, local kind ofthing, and I was like breathless
(11:37):
, uh, in awe that I wasnominated, for that's awesome
yeah, um, my national award wasout of the blue to me and then
when I got the plaque that I getto keep and I started reading
everybody that that is on there,it was like I'm at that level,
(11:57):
oh my God.
And now Mary Lou has gotten thatsame award and it's like oh my
God, oh my God, um, because sheis on such a high pedestal for
me, she's so incredible, um,yeah is mary lou here?
Jodie (12:12):
yes, awesome, you'll have to introduce her well, we'll
have to interview her I thinkyou will have to interview.
Yes, yes, yeah, we'll do thatno, that's good.
Murphy (12:21):
Yeah, and, by the way, all those awards were
well-deserved.
Well, I mean, you earned everysingle one of them.
They were not a gift, includingthat Miller Award, which, in
the Northwest region, is thehighest award that you can
receive.
That's awesome yeah that was agreat thing.
I was very happy when Petertold me that you won that.
Peter Schwartz, that is.
Barbara (12:40):
Yeah.
Okay, so let's see here whatdoes the phrase service and
safety since 1938 mean to you?
That's how long we've beendoing ski patrol, ski patrol
what does it mean to you?
Murphy (12:52):
I mean, when you hear that you know our two logo yeah,
our service and safety.
Barbara (12:58):
That's what we do.
We serve and we're therebecause we love to help other
people.
We don't need to have lots ofaccolades because we're doing it
, because that's who we are.
And to promote safety is, asfar as I'm concerned, getting
(13:19):
those little kids aware ofsafety so that as they grow they
become know people, then go outand an ambassador for us um
serving, trying to help newbiepatrollers realize that as a
patroller there are so many waysthat you can serve throughout
(13:41):
the year, not just during theski season, but you can be a ski
patroller in so many other ways.
One of the retired patrollersfrom Crystal Mountain he was
there before you were, so youwouldn't know him, okay, he and
Mary Lou and I served togetherat Crystal in the aid room
(14:04):
During COVID.
He's a motorcycle rider and heand his brother, who's a retired
sheriff's person, and someother people were out in their
trucks towing their bikesbecause they do wounded soldier
visits on their bike and takewounded soldiers out riding bike
and take wounded soldiers outriding and they come across this
(14:31):
accident some Harley driversright dab in front of them.
This one guy crashed.
He was the last guy in thegroup crashed.
His bike, went over the cliff.
He went sprawling across theroad with a broken neck.
Ouch With a broken neck.
Oh so my patroller friend andthe other people he was with
literally saved this guy's life.
One of the people that hadstopped their car was also a
(14:56):
flight nurse.
Murphy (14:58):
Right.
Barbara (14:58):
And she had her jump bag with her.
Oh wow, so she had oxygen withher.
This guy is still going.
His wife is a person that I doherding events with, so I know
her and it was just a miracle.
But that's what we do aspatrollers.
It doesn't matter that you'renot on the ski hill Once a
(15:20):
patroller and you're always apatroller.
You always are out there tosupport other people who need
help.
Murphy (15:28):
That's excellent I like that.
Yeah, that's very true.
And you said herding, which I'mgonna say herding, like tell us
about your dogs, because I knowyou love those babies so I have
old english sheep dogs and I dothe expected thing, like they
get their championships.
Notice how she says that youjust get their championships.
(15:51):
Okay, yeah.
Barbara (15:53):
And then I do the fun thing.
So my dogs herd sheep.
I take lessons.
I've been kicked out of thefield because of injuries and
because I've been trampled toomany times by the sheep.
Murphy (16:07):
I grew up on a sheep farm.
That's hard to do, Barb.
Barbara (16:09):
It is, but when they're charging towards you and
there's no place to go, it'slike, oh bad word.
Jodie (16:18):
Isn't the sheep dog supposed to herd them away from
you?
Barbara (16:22):
Well, if he's bringing them towards you?
Well, this is true, this istrue.
Look, mommy, I'm bringing youall these sheep at 80 miles an
hour.
Murphy (16:31):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Barbara (16:32):
But yeah, so we do that .
Murphy (16:36):
How many sheepdogs do you have?
Barbara (16:38):
Right now I have four of my own, and I am working to
do some training with one that Ibred.
She's now two, and so she camehome with me from a dog show
down in California and I have toput titles on her, and then
she'll go back to her owner tohave a litter of puppies.
Murphy (17:01):
When you say titles, that means she's entered an
event, yeah, and won and wonevent and yeah and won.
Jodie (17:07):
And won, and won.
It was Barbie, yeah, and won.
Murphy (17:11):
Thanks for the modesty.
I appreciate that.
Barbara (17:13):
I have to tell you there are three things that are
really easy to get on a dog andit's called canine good citizen
and you can get trick dog andthey don't have to do a lot to
get trick Dog.
And then there's Farm Dog,which is being a good citizen
out on a farm.
So I have a.
What is she?
She will be 13 in December.
Murphy (17:34):
Right.
Barbara (17:35):
And I took her out and she got her Farm Dog title, she
got her Trick Dog title and shegot her Canine Good Citizen
title.
She got her trick dog title andshe got her Canine Good Citizen
title.
So now she's champion.
So and so, with Canine GoodCitizen, with these three titles
behind her, Awesome, that'scool.
It was so much fun.
The judges were great with her.
(17:56):
It was great.
Murphy (17:58):
Barb has her dog turning tricks.
Barbara (18:00):
Hey.
Jodie (18:02):
You know you have to do what you have to do.
Barbara (18:04):
You guys are so quick Laughter.
Murphy (18:08):
Okay, I'm going to ask you a couple of things about
Central, because you've beenthere for ages, right?
Barbara (18:13):
Not as long as some people, not as long as some.
So what are some of the?
Murphy (18:17):
changes that you've seen .
I mean they've gone throughthree ownership deals.
I mean, have you seen a lot ofchanges?
I mean when I was there I woundup seeing a few and I was only
there for like six years.
Barbara (18:35):
So some of the positive changes that I've seen are we
have some better equipment.
Uh, some more lifts are goingin across the the past so that
we have people can access theback country a little bit easier
um rob our.
Our resident will be retiringsoon.
That will be a big change, oh.
Murphy (18:53):
I didn't know that.
Barbara (18:54):
But the person who is going to be taking over will do
just awesome and has been intraining.
He's one of the paid staff atBraun and he will be awesome.
Murphy (19:07):
Wow.
Barbara (19:08):
So that will be a change.
I also do search and rescue andone of the things that I love
about the pass is that I've beenup on the pass on night
missions where we've had tohouse people and I've been able
to call up Rob or the managerand say I need to house these
(19:28):
people overnight and all of asudden buildings are open we've
got places to put people, andthat's not true on a lot of
hills and that relationship isnot true on a lot of places.
So I I think that's a positivebuilding that relationship.
Um, we now have aid stationsacross the hill right, and we
(19:53):
are trying to follow the KingCounty protocol, whereas instead
of taking everybody to everyinjured person to a certain spot
and having them sit on a bed inthe aid room they're off the
mountain we take them straightdown the hill, put them in their
family car, put them on the bus, put them in an ambulance and
(20:15):
get them to more definitive care.
Murphy (20:18):
So I think that's a good thing yeah, I appreciated that
when I was there, where thatstarted to be the policy, where
you just it was grab and go, andif you could get them down to
the ambulance or down to POV,that's personal vehicle, then
they're out of there.
Barbara (20:35):
They're out of there, yeah, which is really good,
because at golden hours.
Murphy (20:39):
They always tell you you want to get somebody to hire
care within that hour.
And they stand a much betterchance of coming out unscathed.
Jodie (20:47):
Now, do you do it for the minors?
And when I say minor, minorinjuries like the ankles and
wrists, Get them off the hill.
Yeah, get them off the hillwhere it's not as crucial for
that golden hour.
Barbara (21:00):
If it's a minor, they get more choices, but they can
go to the lodge.
If they're connected to one ofthe ski schools, they can go
there.
But we don't have peoplehanging out in the aid rooms
anymore.
That's good.
It is good yeah.
Murphy (21:15):
I think COVID did a lot of that work.
Yes, it did, because even atCrystal it's like yeah, unless
you're really hurt, you're goingto tell your story walking
Right.
Barbara (21:23):
At Crystal you get a lot more walk-ins.
Murphy (21:26):
Yeah.
Barbara (21:26):
And serious walk-ins, and we don't get the serious
walk-ins but we do get you know.
Okay, we've got this happeningover at the rental shop.
You know you've got a cardiacover there.
And so they didn't walk inwhere they might walk in at
Crystal.
But you still get those.
Murphy (21:47):
Yeah.
Barbara (21:48):
Now, do you have Nordic where you're at?
Thank you, yes, we do.
We have a really nice Nordicpatrol.
We have what 40, 20 to 40 milesof Nordic trails.
We have a backcountry patrollerand a lot of the people on
SPART, our ski patrol SAR unit.
I've heard that.
Yeah, spart Are part of thebackcountry patrol.
Murphy (22:13):
Yeah, it's pretty big and they show up every morning
and they wind up just being apart of the patrol, which is
something that's really nice,and there's been times where we
have really needed them, wherethey've got to go out in the
middle of nowhere and findsomebody, because I would not
want to skate, ski out, oh man,because it's all uphill Right,
it is uphill yeah, not fun.
Jodie (22:35):
Oh my goodness, but that's good no.
Murphy (22:38):
Well, let's see here.
What else Did you want to askanything?
Jodie (22:46):
Have you seen anything like over the changes of time
from a uniform standpoint frompeople that are involved, like
who might have only been up onthe hill, they're doing time in
the aid room back and forth, orany changes that way that you've
noticed?
Barbara (22:59):
So up at the pass, people who are aid room
patrollers or just patrollersare out on the hill with jacket
with a cross on it and you knowdoing those things.
I know some hills don't allowthere are people that aren't
skiing for whatever reason atthat season to be out on the
(23:21):
hill with a red jacket.
But at the pass you can.
Um, what I have seen is and Idon't know how to solve it is
we've got a lot of new people,but how to integrate them with
the people that have been thereforever?
Things have changed.
New people embrace the changes.
(23:42):
Some of the older people aregoing.
That's not how we do things.
And how do you?
You know, how do you make thosetwo groups come together?
Murphy (23:54):
Yeah, mesh that older folks and the newer recruits.
Barbara (23:58):
Right.
Murphy (23:58):
And there are new things that happen that you know.
King County Protocol changes.
Barbara (24:03):
Yes.
Murphy (24:04):
Yeah, and that's tough trying to integrate those things
with you know somebody who'sbeen there for a while, because
they are just stuck in theirways.
They are and it's tough.
Barbara (24:12):
It is tough and then you lose a good patroller with a
lot of knowledge and a lot ofhistory and a lot of depth that
could be working with some ofthe newbies.
Jodie (24:25):
Right.
Barbara (24:25):
You know, if you could figure out a way to entice them
back into that.
Jodie (24:30):
Right, absolutely.
Murphy (24:31):
Yeah.
So average age of patrollers atCrystal or, excuse me, at
Central, has it gone down, goneup?
I mean, is it kind of I'm?
Barbara (24:42):
still thinking it's somewhere between, say, 35 to 60
.
Murphy (24:47):
Okay.
Barbara (24:48):
In that range because we've gotten a lot of newbies.
It seems every class there areseveral people that are younger,
but we also have people 55, 60who have wanted to be a
patroller all their life, andnow they have time in their life
to do it, you know, and so theyhave gone through the OEC class
and become patrollers andthat's awesome.
Murphy (25:11):
Yeah, that first year of becoming a ski patroller.
No life man it is tough.
My brother is thinking aboutpatrolling down at Mount Hood
where he lives, and so I've beenchatting with him.
I go.
You know that first year, thatfirst year, is a killer.
After that it's easy, right,well, easier.
But that first year you aregoing to spend some serious time
(25:35):
doing OEC and gettingproficient at that, so just be
aware.
And then you're going to spendall that time on the mountain
learning how to run a tobogganand don't worry, I know you're
improving and you're just areally fast slalom skier now,
but we will get that out of you.
We'll make you a utility skieragain, yes, but we will get that
out of you.
Jodie (25:52):
Yeah, we'll make you a utility skier again.
Yes, curiosity how many were inyour WEC class?
Because you started with theWEC.
Barbara (25:58):
Oh my goodness, there was probably 30 people 30?
Murphy (26:01):
Oh wow.
Barbara (26:01):
Yeah, it was a big class.
Murphy (26:05):
How many was in yours?
Oh man, because I took OEC whenI was.
What was that?
2013?
Ballpark number.
Probably about 30, 35.
And I know we didn't graduate.
30, 35.
And now I look back at how manypeople are still patrolling out
(26:28):
of that 30, 35 in 10 years, andit's a small number.
Barbara (26:32):
Very small number, very small number.
Murphy (26:34):
Yeah 71.
Barbara (26:37):
In your class 71?
Jodie (26:40):
71 was enrolled.
Murphy (26:43):
Now, needless to say, Is that OEC?
Jodie (26:45):
Needless to say, after that class and how many people
that were lost during that classnever again.
And how many people that werelost during that class.
Murphy (26:54):
Never again.
Can you imagine running an OECclass with 70 people?
You have like those stations.
You're trying to bandage people.
Jodie (27:08):
Now granted, it was one of those things that within, I
think, the first week or twoweeks it went down to 50 and
then down to 40.
But to be fair, I mean that'snot being fair when people are
trying to learn.
I don't care if you have 20instructors, you still need to
have.
Murphy (27:19):
That's hard.
Jodie (27:21):
But I'm also not used to teaching really small classes
until recently, and I'm likethis just seems weird 30 to 40
or so was the average size, andthen down to 3 to 7.
I'm like wow, it is sodifferent.
Murphy (27:39):
You know, and I'm always amazed at the quality of
training that you get in OECwhen you think about it.
It's somebody who'svolunteering, dedicating as much
time as all of the newbies whenthey're coming through and they
arrange for all of the woundcare and all of the moulage, you
know, so you can actually thinkabout what's going to happen on
(28:00):
the mountain.
And then you've got to get allyour victims, you know, because
it's not just you know thepeople that are in the class.
You get other folks, and thenyou know, midterms come, and
then you have to recruit a wholebunch of your patrollers to get
out there so that they can, youknow, be assessed.
I mean, it is really an amazingthing that we do every single
(28:21):
year to try and get people.
Yes, which is why, you know, Ithink we should really try and
hold on to as many people as wecan, because that's a massive
investment in time that it takesto bring these people on board.
And then that first year.
I remember my first year as apatroller.
My head was just swimming.
That first incident, you'relike oh, help me.
Barbara (28:40):
Yeah, your brain kind of leaves.
Jodie (28:42):
That was the standard statement, the first one that
you're going to have.
Just take a second, check yourpulse, take a breath and then
proceed Right.
Barbara (28:51):
Check your pulse, take a breath.
Jodie (28:52):
And then proceed Right, and every single class that
either I was in charge of orparticipated, it was a matter of
hey, we happen to have thegreat Peter outside our window.
Murphy (29:06):
Oh no, he's giving us a wave.
Yeah, we're going to have tointerview him here, sir.
Yes, definitely, but but um,yeah, so go ahead um, it was
reference to.
Jodie (29:16):
I just had a, so I'm gonna jump in here.
Barbara (29:19):
A senior moment, yeah, I don't know what your questions
are, but one of my concerns isthat I look around at the
conference, at the convention,and I don't see a lot of those
newbies.
And I look around at who'steaching classes and who's
stepping up to do the volunteerwork and I don't see any of
those newer patrollers doingthat.
And I think that, yeah, theycome up and a lot of the
(29:45):
patrollers that we have had thelast couple of years have
migrated to the paid staff.
Jodie (29:50):
Yes.
Barbara (29:50):
Because they only have to do three days whatever, and
they're done for the month andwe're losing people.
They don't understand thehistory, they don't understand
the heritage, they don'tunderstand how ski patrol even
began.
Jodie (30:10):
So, with that being said, what do you guys do, as when
someone comes in new, to givethem a little bit of that
background?
Barbara (30:19):
So when I teach an instructor?
Jodie (30:21):
development class.
Barbara (30:24):
I have wonderful Liz who has all of that just off the
.
Yes, just flows off her tongue.
And so she does that a lot andthat's something we used to do a
lot of in the patrol manualthat I don't think people even
know exists, Right, oh well sohere's a personal story, uh-oh.
Murphy (30:44):
So I was a patroller, I think going on my fourth year in
ski patrol, before I learnedthat there was a book that was
called the ski patrol manual.
Oh my goodness, I said where doI get one of these things?
And Liz says it's available onthe website for $5.
So I downloaded the PDF for $5and I can't believe how many
(31:06):
questions that book answered.
Some of it's not relevantanymore, but I I gotta say at
least 60 to 70 percent of thatthing had awards history.
Barbara (31:16):
I mean all the stuff that you kind of miss yeah, like
I didn't know what all thestars meant.
Jodie (31:22):
It's all in that book, people yeah, and, and the thing
is, is that that's what made animpact for me is that we had on
our I think it was the first orwithin the two weeks.
First two weeks we had someonecame in and it was the president
at the time and had a nicelittle canned presentation, but
it was just like, oh my gosh, Inever knew.
(31:43):
Oh my gosh, I never knew.
And then it was oh, there'speople outside of this patrol,
there's other things that thatyou know.
You hear the words national skipatrol, you hear this or that,
and it just goes flying bybecause you're just trying to
swim right your head up abovewater and then it's like there's
divisions, there's a national,there's this.
(32:04):
Yeah, we need to end the history.
Gotta have we you know what weneed to have do a recording with
shirley you do, and just arecording that this is going to
be a 15 minute presentationabout everything to get you,
(32:25):
your, your fingers wet and youwant to learn more yeah, doing
her and her and Liz, her and Liz.
Murphy (32:32):
Yeah, I can't wait to interview Liz Dodge and.
Barbara (32:35):
Mary Lou because.
Murphy (32:35):
Mary Lou also worked in the international European
division.
Oh, I didn't know that, yeah.
Jodie (32:42):
So now we have two times that we've got Shirley on the
Zoom thing, that we did so thepast two years with the
Psychological First Aid, theworkshops, and then she did her
piece on history and each timewe're all just sort of like
putting our hands in our chinsand just listening you want to
have the popcorn and she's just.
(33:02):
I mean her wealth of knowledge.
Barbara (33:05):
Yes, it's amazing.
Jodie (33:05):
Yeah, yeah.
Murphy (33:07):
Yeah, well, we'll keep going.
Barbara (33:08):
Yeah, we'll get those.
Murphy (33:09):
So Well, we'll keep going yeah, we'll get those.
So anything else you want toadd?
Barbara (33:13):
Wrapping this up.
Murphy (33:14):
Yeah.
Barbara (33:15):
Senior program opens all of those doors.
Murphy (33:18):
Yeah, it does.
I will say it was huge.
Barbara (33:21):
Yeah it's.
You hone your skills but, moreimportantly, you start
connecting and expanding yourfamily of patrollers and patrol
families all over, and then whenyou go to places, it's like I
am so proud to be a skipatroller.
Murphy (33:43):
Yeah.
Barbara (33:43):
So proud to be a ski patroller.
Murphy (33:45):
Yeah, and I don't think I've paid for a ski ticket in.
I don't know how long I call upmy buddies at every mountain.
Well, let's see.
Jodie (33:51):
How much have you paid in jackets?
Barbara (33:55):
Oh, those are incidentals.
Jodie (33:57):
Yes incidentals, that's true, yeah, that's true.
Murphy (34:00):
Not nearly as much, as I've gotten back in skiing
Absolutely and skiing at othermountains, plus skiing and
skiing at other mountains.
Plus, you know, you come tothese events and you wind up
seeing people that you, you know, get to see maybe once or twice
a year.
Barbara (34:11):
Right.
Murphy (34:12):
And so it's really fun.
I actually like the conventions.
Jodie (34:16):
Yes.
Murphy (34:17):
That's a little secret thing, Secret.
Jodie (34:19):
It's out World.
Murphy (34:22):
We have it here.
I get to run into people thatare at different mountains, and
you know my brother-in-lawpatrols at Mount Spokane.
I'm Mike Burns, and you know,so I get to meet people that he
patrols with and they tell mefunny stories about Mike, and so
it is.
It's like you said, it's likeone big, extended family.
Barbara (34:39):
Yes.
Murphy (34:40):
And so it is.
It's really fun and I take alot out of it.
Jodie (34:43):
And then you go, powder fall oh yeah, oh, now that's a
whole another and you know otherand you start yeah, and then
the mountain starts our, ourfamily starts becoming even
bigger and you learn even morehistory well, what about more of
like a, a buddy system?
um, I mean, you hear it as amentorship, a buddy system,
(35:04):
whatever, but it's someone thatyou really.
You have like two or threepeople, I mean, I don't know,
you know your class size, etcetera, but you get people that
want to share this informationand it's just.
It's not like it's going to bea huge amount of time, but part
of your goals throughout theseason is hey, how many
divisions are there in theNational Ski Patrol?
(35:25):
What year did the National SkiPatrol start?
When did Central start?
Barbara (35:31):
Or even why did you become a patroller?
Murphy (35:35):
Yeah, that's a big question.
I always, when I'm seeing newguys up on the left and we're
going up, I've never ridden withthem or patrolled with them.
That's one of the firstquestions I ask why did you join
?
What is it?
Jodie (35:51):
Because that will tell you a lot about.
You know their motivation andwill they be there in a couple
of years, right, right, and it'srare.
Every once in a while you getthat person that was just there
to get the lift ticket, yeah,and do that, and then they get
the absorption of this is apretty cool group, and look at
what I'm learning, huh, but Ican't say that's the higher
number.
(36:11):
It's like oh, I have to do allthis for a ticket, yeah, it's
worth it.
Murphy (36:17):
That's very true.
There is a lot of work.
I will not discount that.
I mean, like I say, the amountof time that you spent, barb,
doing that senior stuff I stilllaugh at when you purposely fell
into a tree, well, feetsticking up, head down buried,
and it's like okay, go.
Jodie (36:39):
And you're hearing this.
Go, hurry up, go get me out ofhere, hurry, hurry.
Murphy (36:44):
And it's muffled because you're half buried and freezing
.
Oh, how many times we had tostop training and take Barb into
the building and warm her up,get her some hot cocoa or some
tea, because she was frozen.
Okay, while I'm sitting here, Ihave a whatever wound on my
bicep.
Oh, I've dislocated my shoulder, so she's drinking tea with her
(37:07):
right hand and you're gettingyour left hand, you know stuck
to your head so, okay, those aregood, they all come in handy.
Jodie (37:16):
Thank you so much.
Barbara (37:17):
We really appreciate this this was so much fun.
Murphy (37:20):
I look forward to hearing everybody's thing oh
yeah, well, thanks for takingthe time to come and talk with
us.
Jodie (37:26):
We appreciate it and if you have any suggestions or
encourage others to say hey,because it can be real brief, it
can be, you get going and, man,we're hearing more things about
people.
It's just like you did what.
Wow, oh, you saw what.
It's fascinating, absolutelyfascinating.
Murphy (37:44):
It's good.
Well, thanks again, thank youAll right.
Barbara (37:46):
See you, barbara, bye, bye.
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