Carol Fountain shares her 50-year journey with the National Ski Patrol at Bogus Basin, Idaho, providing a fascinating glimpse into the evolution of mountain rescue from the 1970s to today. Her perspective as both a nurse and longtime patroller reveals how emergency care, equipment, and ski culture have transformed over five decades.
The PNWD History Project: Shirley Cummings, the official history project coordinator, (& all around fabulous lady), has been on a mission: Collect and assemble an archive of stories and pictures from the different ski patrols within the Pacific Northwest Division. Hence, Patroller Chats was born!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Murphy (00:59):
Okay, so we're on today with Carol Fountain, so I'm
going to have you introduceyourself.
So, carol, tell me who you are,where you patrol, give me your
NSP number and if you have anational number, which I hear
you do, go ahead and give methat.
Carol Fountain (01:16):
Oh okay, my name is Carol Fountain and I have
patrolled mostly at Bogus Basin,idaho.
I did some interim registeringwith the Administrative Unit of
Pacific Northwest Division, butfor the most part with Bogus
(01:36):
Basin.
I do have a patroller number,easy to remember 1-4-5-4-3-2.
And yes, I do have a nationalnumber, 5-9-8-0.
Murphy (01:51):
Wow.
So when did you get thatnational number?
Carol Fountain (01:55):
19.
Oh, I had to go look at thechart.
Jodie (02:05):
Back in the old days, when it starts with a 19,.
Murphy (02:08):
You're forgiven for not knowing exactly 1982.
Carol Fountain (02:12):
I joined the patrol in 1972.
And the first year it was threeweeks before candidate training
and I came down with bronchitisand my doctor said you are not
going up to the mountains.
So I did candidate for a secondyear.
Murphy (02:30):
Oh, my goodness, did you start candidate year and then
have to go back and repeat anyof it?
Carol Fountain (02:37):
Yes, ouch, that's painful, painful, painful
.
Oh, painful, painful, painful.
Well, and you have to remember,back in those days we didn't
have OEC classes, it was RedCross.
So that was easy to you know,do and then do all the
refreshers.
Murphy (02:56):
So all right, so we're just going to, we're going to
dive right in on this.
Carol Fountain (03:12):
So when did, just as confirmation.
Jodie (03:16):
We go we being the Ski Patrol from Red Cross to WEC, to
OEC?
Carol Fountain (03:20):
That's yes and it's okay, it's okay, way back
when I mean that's a good time.
Jodie (03:27):
I like that time, that's way back when.
Carol Fountain (03:39):
A WBW or WEC to OEC, because I went to a meeting
of first aid people in thecentral area, yakima or wherever
it was that we always met, andJan Stanford and I did a funeral
(04:03):
service for OEC and I rememberthat because we were dressed in
black gowns, we had a box,good-sized box, in front and
that was the casket and we hadsomething in the box that was,
(04:25):
you know, oec, and we played amusic, you know a hymn, on the—.
Murphy (04:34):
You sang a little Amazing Grace and then buried
the box.
Carol Fountain (04:38):
It was Amazing Grace, good Lord, but that was
the start of OEC.
Murphy (04:44):
Oec from wec right, so you were burying weck and uh you
were uh birthing oec, is thatit?
Yeah okay because you said youwere burying oec.
I'm going.
Carol Fountain (04:56):
That may have been a little premature oec is
dead was our theme at thatmeeting.
Murphy (05:03):
You mean WEC?
Carol Fountain (05:06):
WEC sorry.
Murphy (05:07):
No, that's okay.
You got OEC just on the brainnow, because that's what we have
.
Carol Fountain (05:12):
Right.
Murphy (05:13):
Okay, so when did we go from Red Cross to Wilderness
Emergency Care?
Carol Fountain (05:20):
That's another good question.
I don't remember.
That's another good question, Idon't remember.
However, I do remember and alot of people don't realize we
still had a Division First AidAdvisor when we were still doing
Red Cross and I was theDivision First Aid Advisor and I
had to resign.
Oh, I was having some healthproblems at the time, so I
(05:44):
resigned, and that's about thetime they were going into WEC.
And again, I don't remember.
I've given away all of myhistorical papers and stuff to a
local patroller and I'm hopingthat he's kept it, but I'm not
sure.
Jodie (06:02):
And who is that local patroller so we can follow up,
because we don't want to losehistory.
Murphy (06:07):
Shirley actually wants to hunt him down, yeah.
Carol Fountain (06:09):
Because she's the historian.
Murphy (06:11):
She's always wanting that stuff.
Carol Fountain (06:13):
Yeah, yeah.
Murphy (06:15):
So feel free to name his name here so everybody can hear
and yeah, we'll look for him.
Carol Fountain (06:22):
Yeah, well, that's the Air Force light
colonel from here.
And I don't remember his nameat the moment.
Murphy (06:30):
Remember.
Carol Fountain (06:30):
I'm old.
Murphy (06:34):
Okay, well, let's go back to that.
So you joined in 1972.
Wound up having to go throughyour candidate class twice.
Yes, so why did you join theski patrol?
Well, first of all, I hate todo this as a man asking a woman
this question, but how old wereyou when you joined the patrol?
Carol Fountain (06:59):
I was 31.
And I had just come back fromgraduate school and I had only
been taking skiing, had startedskiing five years earlier, and
so I wanted and, by the way, onmy first ski lesson I broke my
leg, oh no and didn't let theski patrol haul me off.
(07:25):
I skied down.
I have a long history with skipatrol, but but not a first time
, all right.
And I.
At the time I was working againand it was like, okay, I need
(07:45):
to do something that keeps meactive and also I want to
contribute to the community anduse my healthcare background
that I have.
So I joined the ski patrol andstayed in it.
For what?
52, 53 years, wow patrollingfor 55 decades.
Murphy (08:11):
Yes, wow, are you still an active?
Carol Fountain (08:13):
patroller.
Oh no, no I, I have too manyartificial joints to do that.
Um, I have been alumni forseveral years okay, are you an
you an active alumni?
Murphy (08:23):
let me ask.
Carol Fountain (08:24):
Yes, as far as I know.
Well, that's good.
Murphy (08:27):
Okay, you pay your dues, you do your happiness and you
go to events here and there.
Carol Fountain (08:41):
Oh yeah, I went to division meeting last year in
Eugene and I will go this year,this next year, next year in
Boise.
But you know, again, I'm old,it takes a while to to uh drive
some of those distances and so Ikind of limit, and besides I
don't know anybody at themeetings anymore well, you can't
say that now.
Murphy (08:57):
Now that you are being interviewed on patroller chats,
you know us and you can come upand say hi, so feel free, you've
got some friends at theconvention, you know, and you
can sit there through.
Uh, you know those longseminars at the very end, or is
that the, the general meeting?
it's okay when they nag aboutmoney and all kinds of other
(09:19):
stuff.
But, um, yeah, I know it'sgreat when we get, uh, alumni
patrollers that are therebecause you get some history.
You know we interview people.
It's fun.
I actually like going to thoseconventions.
Okay, so, 1972, you joined, youwanted to stay, or you wanted
to join because you wanted touse some of your you know
(09:40):
medical background?
What did you get your master'sin?
Carol Fountain (09:43):
if I can ask, I have a master's in nursing.
Murphy (09:46):
Oh, you do so you are a full-on medical person.
Jodie (09:51):
You're getting a thumbs up from Jodi yes, but she became
a nurse long before I know Idid and I thought I was old.
I keep telling you I'm old.
No, I'm teasing you.
When did you get out of nursing?
I'm a nursing teacher.
Carol Fountain (10:08):
Uh, 1964 was when I got my license.
Jodie (10:14):
Awesome.
Murph was just a little weelittle infant when he got her
license in 64.
Murphy (10:23):
Uh yeah, depending on what month, I may have not even
been here.
Jodie (10:31):
That's all right.
You got a few years on me asnursing.
I didn't become a nurse until1990.
Oh whoa, okay, that's awesome.
Thank you for all your years ofdoing that.
Murphy (10:41):
Yeah.
So think back.
You know, this time where younow have your nursing degree,
you join the patrol and everypatroller you know has their
first day on the mountain.
You've been through OEC, You'renow going up to the mountain,
so tell me what your first dayon the mountain was like.
Carol Fountain (10:58):
After 53 years, you expect me to remember that.
Murphy (11:01):
Well, okay, well, how about this?
What was your most memorableday, early on?
Carol Fountain (11:10):
Oh, let's see.
Murphy (11:13):
Besides breaking her leg , no, actually when you were on
the patrol Right.
So you're now a patroller.
So were you aid room or did youactually go alpine patrol?
Carol Fountain (11:25):
I was an alpine patroller for years until the
arthritis made me leave and Ihad to start getting the
artificial joints, and then Iwent to the aid room.
Murphy (11:37):
You're an Alpine patroller.
I want to know you have yourred coat and you're actually out
now.
Oh, no, no, no, oh, wait aminute.
Carol Fountain (11:47):
This was the blue coat or the gold.
Oh, that's right.
The rusty, the rust colored.
Jodie (11:51):
yes, the rust colored coat with the yellow coat or the
gold.
Carol Fountain (11:53):
Oh, that's right , the rusty, the rust colored
yes, the rust colored coat withthe yellow cross on the back.
It was long before red coats,that's right.
But anyway, one of thememorable things I can remember
is an accident that I cameacross and I carried a radio
because we finally had gottenradios.
(12:13):
The patrol had gotten radios onthe mountain, and I came across
an accident and it was okay.
Do you have a broken hip?
Do you have a dislocated hip?
um, and, and actually thepatient was a ski school
instructor and he ended up witha dislocated hip and we had to
(12:41):
get him, of course, into thetoboggan and I was skiing by
myself at the time, so I had tocall for help and all of that
kind of thing, and that was very, very interesting.
And another one was a time thatI held of course I don't know
how many of you remember EddieOrbea, but Eddie was a good
(13:02):
friend of mine Of course.
He was at Bogus Basin and hewas one of my mentors in a lot
of stuff and we had a patientthat came in and his leg was
broken and it was just the skinholding the bones together.
I mean, if we moved it he wouldthe bones, would have pierced
(13:24):
the skin and we had to.
And Eddie rode with me as theobserver and at that time I was
driving a station wagon.
We loaded the toboggan into thestation wagon because the guy
was in so much pain we could notget him out of the toboggan and
of course in those days wereally didn't have much in the
way of helicopter or we didn'teven have an ambulance.
(13:46):
So I drove the guy to thehospital in the toboggan, with
Eddie there to help monitor.
Murphy (13:54):
Ouch.
Jodie (13:55):
Yes, Wow.
And thankfully back then ourstation wagons were large to be
able to fit a full-size sled.
Yes, Nowadays you'd have halfof it have to be all roped and
secured.
Murphy (14:09):
Yeah, They'd fold down that seat, though, that all the
kids used to sit in in the backand would look out the back
secured.
Yeah, they had a full down thatseat, though.
That all the kids used to sitin in the back and would look
out the back window.
Yeah, I'm sorry, that was justa memory from my youth.
So you drove this guy to thehospital.
How far was the hospital away?
Carol Fountain (14:24):
Well, bogus Basin is 16 miles up the hill or
up from Boise, and the hospitalis probably another five, five
miles.
And of course, the bogus basinroad if you've not been here is
curvy.
There's something like ahundred curves in the road.
That's what I've heard.
(14:44):
I've never counted them, I just.
(15:18):
But anyway, he had to havesurgery and turned out okay, but
he was in a lot of pain welland of course, at the time we
didn't have, we had no drugswhatsoever because we were not
authorized to give drugs well,wait a minute.
Murphy (15:32):
Wait a minute, this is the 60s.
Oh, you couldn't give yourpatient any drugs we could not
give any pain relieving drugs.
Carol Fountain (15:40):
Sorry, I should have clarified that yeah.
Murphy (15:42):
Yeah, let's just be, let's be honest.
Okay, so, um, that was the uh,that sounds like a very
traumatic call, or a fairlytraumatic call.
What?
What's the funniest call you'veever been on?
Carol Fountain (15:57):
Oh, uh, you know , I don't know that.
I can remember one.
Murphy (16:05):
I'm sure there were some all right, well, let's, we'll
skip for the call, but what'sthe most humorous thing that's
happened to you?
Carol Fountain (16:12):
on the mountain um, that's another good question
.
I really have to stop and think.
You know, my theory is that ifI have to remember something new
, something old has to leave mybrain.
A lot of these things have beenpushed out because there are
(16:36):
new things coming in.
Murphy (16:40):
So it's like it's the Marie Kondo of memory, right?
You're trying to minimizing.
If it doesn't make you feelgood, you get rid of it.
Carol Fountain (16:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah that could be.
Murphy (16:52):
Yeah, my mom used to have that thing.
Well, if we're going to takeone thing in, we got to get rid
of something.
That's true.
Yeah, that's it, so go ahead.
Jodie (17:01):
Oh, you mentioned that you hadn't had radios for a long
time, so how was thecommunication delivered prior to
the radios?
If someone did get injured,what was that process like?
Carol Fountain (17:13):
Somebody had to ski down to the bottom of the
that particular lift area anduse the telephone to call the
top of the hill where all thesleds were.
So it was, and if there was asecond person with that accident
injury, then we sent them downand said you have to call for,
(17:34):
tell them to call for the sled,otherwise we would wait for
somebody to come by and sendjust a bystander down.
It was slow getting care forthe patients and the area was
getting frustrated with theslowness and that's why then we
(17:56):
had a big fundraiser kind ofthing and bought radios.
Jodie (18:02):
When was that About?
What year-ish range?
Carol Fountain (18:05):
I'm thinking that was late 70s, maybe early
80s, but I'm thinking late 70s.
Jodie (18:16):
Wow, that must have been hard.
I mean because, like you said,that's a long wait time with
your patient, especially if theywere really injured.
A little long cold, yeah, yes.
Murphy (18:27):
Yeah, not to mention you're playing essentially, a
game of telephone.
Carol Fountain (18:31):
Tell somebody to go down and this is what I want
you to say when you get to thebase area, and then they get
down, tell somebody else whotells somebody else who relays
it up to the top of the mountainby phone you know Well, and a
lot of times the skiers if theywere skiing together, the second
person that we were sendingdown didn't know the name of the
(18:52):
run, and so we would say youknow, okay, go tell and call and
we're on this run.
And of course they sometimeswould forget by the time they
got to the bottom.
So the guys at the top of thehill might send out two or three
people down the runs to seeokay, what do we have when?
(19:16):
Oh Lord, so radios were a greatimprovement.
Murphy (19:21):
Yeah, in efficiency and in getting—yeah.
Oh my gosh, I can only imagine.
I can't imagine being on patrolwithout a radio.
That would be something else,especially if you had a critical
patient that you had to dealwith.
Yes, so what was the difference?
You know you're patrolling inthe 70s and the 80s.
Can you give us like a littledecade by decade, what kind of
(19:45):
changed in your view in theworld of patrolling from those
early years until you know youwent to alumni?
Carol Fountain (19:55):
from those early years until you went to alumni.
In the early years we hadaccidents, mostly legs, ankles.
It was the typical ski bootinjury.
We had some upper extremityinjuries, but not a lot.
Well, then the ski industry andthe ski population changed and
(20:19):
so then snowboards came in.
Well, snowboards usually didn'tbreak their ankle, they broke
their arms or shoulders or etcetera, et cetera.
So that's one of the things.
Oh, and then we started gettingmajor injuries because
everybody was going faster andso we had people running into
trees or, you know, running intoother people.
(20:41):
So that was another thing ofyou know, a mass casualty kind
of issue.
Murphy (20:51):
Mass casualty.
Carol Fountain (20:52):
Did you have mass casualties at bogus?
oh well, I'm saying, like youknow, two or three people
injured
Murphy (20:58):
okay okay, not,
not really mass casualties
multiple collisions and that kind of happiness right all
right, that's understandable.
So, um, can you think back, youknow, over your year?
Oh, wait a minute, let's this.
So that's the 70s, anythinglike I don't know 80s, 90s,
2000s.
(21:18):
Was there much that changedafter that?
I mean, you got all thosechanges in the gear right, so
you went from wood skis to metalskis and then, you know, to
boots.
So you're going to startgetting boot top fractures.
Carol Fountain (21:36):
Ski schools changed also because they didn't
start kids on skis.
Kids were on snowboards them.
You know the kamikazesnowboarders would not be paying
(21:58):
attention and did not know.
You know the quote rules of thearea, unquote, and it was.
You know, always watch out forpeople and look back before you
start out, et cetera, et cetera.
And the safety issue was one ofa big um promotion that came in
(22:18):
in the 90s and continuing eventoday because safety was a major
issue with all of increasedpopulation, increased number of
skiers.
You know, bogus Basin started atrend way back when it was in
the 70s or maybe even 80s of alike $200 season pass.
(22:43):
So everybody could afford aseason pass to ski at Bogus
Basin because it was $200.
And that was a trend in theindustry that other areas looked
at seriously because it didincrease precipitously the
number of peoples on the Hilland the number of injuries.
Murphy (23:09):
Wow.
Jodie (23:10):
Carol, I just have to interrupt.
Sorry, murphy, but you're justmaking my heart swell when I
hear about more of safety.
Yes, thank you.
I'll do my little segment there.
Okay, and now I'm backing out.
Murphy (23:23):
So over all your years of patrolling what was I don't
know what was one of thetoughest calls that you did that
you I don't know, you don'thave to be first responder on,
but you were involved with.
Carol Fountain (23:36):
One of the toughest wasn't on the hill, it
was on the road, on the way down, and it was, let's see, 72.
So it was about 780, somewherein there, 1980, that's what I'm
(23:57):
saying and we were headed downthe hill.
Sweep had been done, everybodyis going down the hill
Patrollers, people, skiers,everybody.
And we were having a patrolparty that night at one of the
patrollers party.
I don't remember now why, butwe were having a party that
night.
(24:17):
So everybody is patrollers areokay, yeah, let's get down the
hill.
We need to, you know, get outof ski gear and and head for the
party.
Well, we were close to, we wereprobably within four miles of
town and all of a sudden wecould see on one of the curves.
The car had not made the curveand so I stopped my truck and
(24:41):
stood outside and about.
I wasn't the first one there,but there was a patroller down
there and he's yelling I needhelp, I can't find a pulse,
yelling I need help, I can'tfind a pulse.
And so of course I go tearingdown and I did CPR on this one
gal for several minutes untilthe ambulance got there and they
(25:04):
declared her deceased at thetime.
But we were doing CPR.
I had somebody come help and Iwas doing that was when we were
doing rescue breathing and sosomebody was doing compression.
I did both for a while, untilsomebody else for a while it was
just probably less than fiveminutes.
But then somebody was doingcompressions and I was doing the
(25:27):
rescue breathing, but the galdid not make it and in fact
there were four people in thevehicle and two of them survived
.
Oh, and then we went to the skipatrol party, oh wow, and the
people in the car that wreckedhad been drinking and I was
doing rescue breathing on a galwho'd been drinking wine and so
(25:53):
I had a and she regurgitated, soI had.
I couldn't drink wine forseveral weeks after that.
Murphy (26:02):
Yeah, I wouldn't blame you for several years after that
.
Jodie (26:06):
That is so hard to switch from.
Here's a tragedy trying to dealwith all that, the people that
did make it, and then you justswitch and trying to put stuff
behind you.
Yeah.
Carol Fountain (26:23):
And of course it took us an hour or more to
clear the scene.
By the time the police gotthere, the ambulance got there,
we relayed what we had beendoing, et cetera.
They loaded the survivors upand the non-survivors, and you
know, we had to process all thatwith those individuals before
(26:45):
we could go.
And then at the patrol party,we were all processing it there
too, that's hard.
Murphy (26:58):
Yeah, anyway.
Yeah, I was just gonna ask youknow what's the long-term effect
of that?
Have you, you know, ever hadflashbacks, or how long did it
take you to deal with that, toprocess that?
And then you know, for lack ofa better way to say it kind of
put it behind you in your memory.
Carol Fountain (27:18):
Probably not as long as it did some of the other
individuals because of myhealthcare background Right,
because I had taken care ofpeople who died before.
So that was not an issue, butit was that I couldn't help this
person.
She was dead before we started,I'm pretty sure, and it
(27:42):
probably just for me a few weeksor months, but I'm sure for the
other patrollers it took longerbecause they didn't have that
kind of experience that I did.
Jodie (27:56):
And Carol, even though I mean both of us have been in
health care for decades, etcetera, and even though we deal
with it, there's alwayssometimes one or multiples that
seem to creep back orsurprisingly hit you.
So it's a hard one to try toever predict that, et cetera.
Carol Fountain (28:17):
Yeah, that's correct and I remember every
time I've taken care of apatient that either died or
almost died.
So you know, that is somethingthat is a big thing in your
memory.
It's a big balloon in yourmemory.
Yes, you know, you're a saverat times, or a non-saver when
(28:39):
you can't save them.
Murphy (28:41):
Yeah.
It is a tough thing to gothrough.
I've talked to some peoplewhere that's happened and it is
a rough gig.
So you know, what has SkiPatrol taught you about yourself
life?
You know that you didn't reallyexpect.
I mean you kind of come intothis thing having some you know
(29:04):
views about what it's going todo, but you know you have a lot
of experience in the patrol.
I mean, what has it taught you?
What has it taught you to do?
But you know you've have a lotof experience in the patrol.
What I mean, what has it taughtyou?
What has it taught you aboutyourself too?
Carol Fountain (29:15):
One of the things that I really appreciate
from the ski patrol from thetime I joined was uh, I call it
the community or the family.
I have friends lifelonglifelong, you know, 50-year
(29:35):
friends of the ski patrol and Istill do a lot of things with
some of the ski patrollers.
We have an old-timers lunchonce a month and I get to, you
know, visit with otherold-timers, although I'm usually
the one with the most yearsthere.
But, you know, talk aboutthings and it's a family and I
(29:57):
have appreciated that because Idon't have a family here in
Boise anymore.
So that's one of the nicethings that I appreciate about.
So that's one of the nicethings that I appreciate about
it.
One of the other things wasjust the value of ski patrol to
(30:18):
the communities, the fact thatwe go up on the hill and we're
taking care of, you know,preventing accidents or treating
accidents or whatever.
And I've always been pleased tosay, yes, I'm a member of the
National Ski Patrol, how's that?
Murphy (30:39):
That's fantastic.
That puts a little something inyour heart.
Jodie (30:43):
Definitely.
Murphy (30:44):
Yeah.
So I mean, did the Ski patrolkind of mold you in any way?
It's kind of different, becauseyou work in healthcare during
the week and then on theweekends you wind up.
You know you just take thoseskills up to the mountain.
But did it teach you anythingabout yourself?
Carol Fountain (31:05):
you know, up on the mountain you know, up on the
mountain I can't remember orthink of anything that stands
out on my mind about it.
I just appreciated the skipatrol for everything, all right
, for all that I was able toaccomplish in it and the things
(31:30):
that the ski patrol does.
Murphy (31:33):
Well, that's.
You know.
One of the things of talking toa lot of alumni and people
who've got decades into thepatrol is that you keep seeing
this common thread that skipatrol is a community where you
get lifelong friends, peoplethat you can associate with, you
know, not to mention built-inskiing partners but you know it
is.
It's that sense of communitythat really gets people after
(31:58):
they've joined.
They don't really think of itthat much in the process, but
it's something that they reallytake away from it really take
away from it.
Carol Fountain (32:12):
Yes, and I think that is again, one of the
values of the ski patrol is thatthey foster that kind of
environment and interaction.
Okay, so we're on today with Carol Fountain, so I'm
going to have you introduceyourself.
So, carol, tell me who you are,where you patrol, give me your
NSP number and if you have anational number, which I hear
you do, go ahead and give methat.
Carol Fountain (01:16):
Oh okay, my name is Carol Fountain and I have
patrolled mostly at Bogus Basin,idaho.
I did some interim registeringwith the Administrative Unit of
Pacific Northwest Division, butfor the most part with Bogus
(01:36):
Basin.
I do have a patroller number,easy to remember 1-4-5-4-3-2.
And yes, I do have a nationalnumber, 5-9-8-0.
Murphy (01:51):
Wow.
So when did you get thatnational number?
Carol Fountain (01:55):
19.
Oh, I had to go look at thechart.
Jodie (02:05):
Back in the old days, when it starts with a 19,.
Murphy (02:08):
You're forgiven for not knowing exactly 1982.
Carol Fountain (02:12):
I joined the patrol in 1972.
And the first year it was threeweeks before candidate training
and I came down with bronchitisand my doctor said you are not
going up to the mountains.
So I did candidate for a secondyear.
Murphy (02:30):
Oh, my goodness, did you start candidate year and then
have to go back and repeat anyof it?
Carol Fountain (02:37):
Yes, ouch, that's painful, painful, painful
.
Oh, painful, painful, painful.
Well, and you have to remember,back in those days we didn't
have OEC classes, it was RedCross.
So that was easy to you know,do and then do all the
refreshers.
Murphy (02:56):
So all right, so we're just going to, we're going to
dive right in on this.
Carol Fountain (03:12):
So when did, just as confirmation.
Jodie (03:16):
We go we being the Ski Patrol from Red Cross to WEC, to
OEC?
Carol Fountain (03:20):
That's yes and it's okay, it's okay, way back
when I mean that's a good time.
Jodie (03:27):
I like that time, that's way back when.
Carol Fountain (03:39):
A WBW or WEC to OEC, because I went to a meeting
of first aid people in thecentral area, yakima or wherever
it was that we always met, andJan Stanford and I did a funeral
(04:03):
service for OEC and I rememberthat because we were dressed in
black gowns, we had a box,good-sized box, in front and
that was the casket and we hadsomething in the box that was,
(04:25):
you know, oec, and we played amusic, you know a hymn, on the—.
Murphy (04:34):
You sang a little Amazing Grace and then buried
the box.
Carol Fountain (04:38):
It was Amazing Grace, good Lord, but that was
the start of OEC.
Murphy (04:44):
Oec from wec right, so you were burying weck and uh you
were uh birthing oec, is thatit?
Yeah okay because you said youwere burying oec.
I'm going.
Carol Fountain (04:56):
That may have been a little premature oec is
dead was our theme at thatmeeting.
Murphy (05:03):
You mean WEC?
Carol Fountain (05:06):
WEC sorry.
Murphy (05:07):
No, that's okay.
You got OEC just on the brainnow, because that's what we have
.
Carol Fountain (05:12):
Right.
Murphy (05:13):
Okay, so when did we go from Red Cross to Wilderness
Emergency Care?
Carol Fountain (05:20):
That's another good question.
I don't remember.
That's another good question, Idon't remember.
However, I do remember and alot of people don't realize we
still had a Division First AidAdvisor when we were still doing
Red Cross and I was theDivision First Aid Advisor and I
had to resign.
Oh, I was having some healthproblems at the time, so I
(05:44):
resigned, and that's about thetime they were going into WEC.
And again, I don't remember.
I've given away all of myhistorical papers and stuff to a
local patroller and I'm hopingthat he's kept it, but I'm not
sure.
Jodie (06:02):
And who is that local patroller so we can follow up,
because we don't want to losehistory.
Murphy (06:07):
Shirley actually wants to hunt him down, yeah.
Carol Fountain (06:09):
Because she's the historian.
Murphy (06:11):
She's always wanting that stuff.
Carol Fountain (06:13):
Yeah, yeah.
Murphy (06:15):
So feel free to name his name here so everybody can hear
and yeah, we'll look for him.
Carol Fountain (06:22):
Yeah, well, that's the Air Force light
colonel from here.
And I don't remember his nameat the moment.
Murphy (06:30):
Remember.
Carol Fountain (06:30):
I'm old.
Murphy (06:34):
Okay, well, let's go back to that.
So you joined in 1972.
Wound up having to go throughyour candidate class twice.
Yes, so why did you join theski patrol?
Well, first of all, I hate todo this as a man asking a woman
this question, but how old wereyou when you joined the patrol?
Carol Fountain (06:59):
I was 31.
And I had just come back fromgraduate school and I had only
been taking skiing, had startedskiing five years earlier, and
so I wanted and, by the way, onmy first ski lesson I broke my
leg, oh no and didn't let theski patrol haul me off.
(07:25):
I skied down.
I have a long history with skipatrol, but but not a first time
, all right.
And I.
At the time I was working againand it was like, okay, I need
(07:45):
to do something that keeps meactive and also I want to
contribute to the community anduse my healthcare background
that I have.
So I joined the ski patrol andstayed in it.
For what?
52, 53 years, wow patrollingfor 55 decades.
Murphy (08:11):
Yes, wow, are you still an active?
Carol Fountain (08:13):
patroller.
Oh no, no I, I have too manyartificial joints to do that.
Um, I have been alumni forseveral years okay, are you an
you an active alumni?
Murphy (08:23):
let me ask.
Carol Fountain (08:24):
Yes, as far as I know.
Well, that's good.
Murphy (08:27):
Okay, you pay your dues, you do your happiness and you
go to events here and there.
Carol Fountain (08:41):
Oh yeah, I went to division meeting last year in
Eugene and I will go this year,this next year, next year in
Boise.
But you know, again, I'm old,it takes a while to to uh drive
some of those distances and so Ikind of limit, and besides I
don't know anybody at themeetings anymore well, you can't
say that now.
Murphy (08:57):
Now that you are being interviewed on patroller chats,
you know us and you can come upand say hi, so feel free, you've
got some friends at theconvention, you know, and you
can sit there through.
Uh, you know those longseminars at the very end, or is
that the, the general meeting?
it's okay when they nag aboutmoney and all kinds of other
(09:19):
stuff.
But, um, yeah, I know it'sgreat when we get, uh, alumni
patrollers that are therebecause you get some history.
You know we interview people.
It's fun.
I actually like going to thoseconventions.
Okay, so, 1972, you joined, youwanted to stay, or you wanted
to join because you wanted touse some of your you know
(09:40):
medical background?
What did you get your master'sin?
Carol Fountain (09:43):
if I can ask, I have a master's in nursing.
Murphy (09:46):
Oh, you do so you are a full-on medical person.
Jodie (09:51):
You're getting a thumbs up from Jodi yes, but she became
a nurse long before I know Idid and I thought I was old.
I keep telling you I'm old.
No, I'm teasing you.
When did you get out of nursing?
I'm a nursing teacher.
Carol Fountain (10:08):
Uh, 1964 was when I got my license.
Jodie (10:14):
Awesome.
Murph was just a little weelittle infant when he got her
license in 64.
Murphy (10:23):
Uh yeah, depending on what month, I may have not even
been here.
Jodie (10:31):
That's all right.
You got a few years on me asnursing.
I didn't become a nurse until1990.
Oh whoa, okay, that's awesome.
Thank you for all your years ofdoing that.
Murphy (10:41):
Yeah.
So think back.
You know, this time where younow have your nursing degree,
you join the patrol and everypatroller you know has their
first day on the mountain.
You've been through OEC, You'renow going up to the mountain,
so tell me what your first dayon the mountain was like.
Carol Fountain (10:58):
After 53 years, you expect me to remember that.
Murphy (11:01):
Well, okay, well, how about this?
What was your most memorableday, early on?
Carol Fountain (11:10):
Oh, let's see.
Murphy (11:13):
Besides breaking her leg , no, actually when you were on
the patrol Right.
So you're now a patroller.
So were you aid room or did youactually go alpine patrol?
Carol Fountain (11:25):
I was an alpine patroller for years until the
arthritis made me leave and Ihad to start getting the
artificial joints, and then Iwent to the aid room.
Murphy (11:37):
You're an Alpine patroller.
I want to know you have yourred coat and you're actually out
now.
Oh, no, no, no, oh, wait aminute.
Carol Fountain (11:47):
This was the blue coat or the gold.
Oh, that's right.
The rusty, the rust colored.
Jodie (11:51):
yes, the rust colored coat with the yellow coat or the
gold.
Carol Fountain (11:53):
Oh, that's right , the rusty, the rust colored
yes, the rust colored coat withthe yellow cross on the back.
It was long before red coats,that's right.
But anyway, one of thememorable things I can remember
is an accident that I cameacross and I carried a radio
because we finally had gottenradios.
(12:13):
The patrol had gotten radios onthe mountain, and I came across
an accident and it was okay.
Do you have a broken hip?
Do you have a dislocated hip?
um, and, and actually thepatient was a ski school
instructor and he ended up witha dislocated hip and we had to
(12:41):
get him, of course, into thetoboggan and I was skiing by
myself at the time, so I had tocall for help and all of that
kind of thing, and that was very, very interesting.
And another one was a time thatI held of course I don't know
how many of you remember EddieOrbea, but Eddie was a good
(13:02):
friend of mine Of course.
He was at Bogus Basin and hewas one of my mentors in a lot
of stuff and we had a patientthat came in and his leg was
broken and it was just the skinholding the bones together.
I mean, if we moved it he wouldthe bones, would have pierced
(13:24):
the skin and we had to.
And Eddie rode with me as theobserver and at that time I was
driving a station wagon.
We loaded the toboggan into thestation wagon because the guy
was in so much pain we could notget him out of the toboggan and
of course in those days wereally didn't have much in the
way of helicopter or we didn'teven have an ambulance.
(13:46):
So I drove the guy to thehospital in the toboggan, with
Eddie there to help monitor.
Murphy (13:54):
Ouch.
Jodie (13:55):
Yes, Wow.
And thankfully back then ourstation wagons were large to be
able to fit a full-size sled.
Yes, Nowadays you'd have halfof it have to be all roped and
secured.
Murphy (14:09):
Yeah, They'd fold down that seat, though, that all the
kids used to sit in in the backand would look out the back
secured.
Yeah, they had a full down thatseat, though.
That all the kids used to sitin in the back and would look
out the back window.
Yeah, I'm sorry, that was justa memory from my youth.
So you drove this guy to thehospital.
How far was the hospital away?
Carol Fountain (14:24):
Well, bogus Basin is 16 miles up the hill or
up from Boise, and the hospitalis probably another five, five
miles.
And of course, the bogus basinroad if you've not been here is
curvy.
There's something like ahundred curves in the road.
That's what I've heard.
(14:44):
I've never counted them, I just.
(15:18):
But anyway, he had to havesurgery and turned out okay, but
he was in a lot of pain welland of course, at the time we
didn't have, we had no drugswhatsoever because we were not
authorized to give drugs well,wait a minute.
Murphy (15:32):
Wait a minute, this is the 60s.
Oh, you couldn't give yourpatient any drugs we could not
give any pain relieving drugs.
Carol Fountain (15:40):
Sorry, I should have clarified that yeah.
Murphy (15:42):
Yeah, let's just be, let's be honest.
Okay, so, um, that was the uh,that sounds like a very
traumatic call, or a fairlytraumatic call.
What?
What's the funniest call you'veever been on?
Carol Fountain (15:57):
Oh, uh, you know , I don't know that.
I can remember one.
Murphy (16:05):
I'm sure there were some all right, well, let's, we'll
skip for the call, but what'sthe most humorous thing that's
happened to you?
Carol Fountain (16:12):
on the mountain um, that's another good question
.
I really have to stop and think.
You know, my theory is that ifI have to remember something new
, something old has to leave mybrain.
A lot of these things have beenpushed out because there are
(16:36):
new things coming in.
Murphy (16:40):
So it's like it's the Marie Kondo of memory, right?
You're trying to minimizing.
If it doesn't make you feelgood, you get rid of it.
Carol Fountain (16:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah that could be.
Murphy (16:52):
Yeah, my mom used to have that thing.
Well, if we're going to takeone thing in, we got to get rid
of something.
That's true.
Yeah, that's it, so go ahead.
Jodie (17:01):
Oh, you mentioned that you hadn't had radios for a long
time, so how was thecommunication delivered prior to
the radios?
If someone did get injured,what was that process like?
Carol Fountain (17:13):
Somebody had to ski down to the bottom of the
that particular lift area anduse the telephone to call the
top of the hill where all thesleds were.
So it was, and if there was asecond person with that accident
injury, then we sent them downand said you have to call for,
(17:34):
tell them to call for the sled,otherwise we would wait for
somebody to come by and sendjust a bystander down.
It was slow getting care forthe patients and the area was
getting frustrated with theslowness and that's why then we
(17:56):
had a big fundraiser kind ofthing and bought radios.
Jodie (18:02):
When was that About?
What year-ish range?
Carol Fountain (18:05):
I'm thinking that was late 70s, maybe early
80s, but I'm thinking late 70s.
Jodie (18:16):
Wow, that must have been hard.
I mean because, like you said,that's a long wait time with
your patient, especially if theywere really injured.
A little long cold, yeah, yes.
Murphy (18:27):
Yeah, not to mention you're playing essentially, a
game of telephone.
Carol Fountain (18:31):
Tell somebody to go down and this is what I want
you to say when you get to thebase area, and then they get
down, tell somebody else whotells somebody else who relays
it up to the top of the mountainby phone you know Well, and a
lot of times the skiers if theywere skiing together, the second
person that we were sendingdown didn't know the name of the
(18:52):
run, and so we would say youknow, okay, go tell and call and
we're on this run.
And of course they sometimeswould forget by the time they
got to the bottom.
So the guys at the top of thehill might send out two or three
people down the runs to seeokay, what do we have when?
(19:16):
Oh Lord, so radios were a greatimprovement.
Murphy (19:21):
Yeah, in efficiency and in getting—yeah.
Oh my gosh, I can only imagine.
I can't imagine being on patrolwithout a radio.
That would be something else,especially if you had a critical
patient that you had to dealwith.
Yes, so what was the difference?
You know you're patrolling inthe 70s and the 80s.
Can you give us like a littledecade by decade, what kind of
(19:45):
changed in your view in theworld of patrolling from those
early years until you know youwent to alumni?
Carol Fountain (19:55):
from those early years until you went to alumni.
In the early years we hadaccidents, mostly legs, ankles.
It was the typical ski bootinjury.
We had some upper extremityinjuries, but not a lot.
Well, then the ski industry andthe ski population changed and
(20:19):
so then snowboards came in.
Well, snowboards usually didn'tbreak their ankle, they broke
their arms or shoulders or etcetera, et cetera.
So that's one of the things.
Oh, and then we started gettingmajor injuries because
everybody was going faster andso we had people running into
trees or, you know, running intoother people.
(20:41):
So that was another thing ofyou know, a mass casualty kind
of issue.
Murphy (20:51):
Mass casualty.
Carol Fountain (20:52):
Did you have mass casualties at bogus?
oh well, I'm saying, like youknow, two or three people
injured
Murphy (20:58):
okay okay, not,
not really mass casualties
multiple collisions and that kind of happiness right all
right, that's understandable.
So, um, can you think back, youknow, over your year?
Oh, wait a minute, let's this.
So that's the 70s, anythinglike I don't know 80s, 90s,
2000s.
(21:18):
Was there much that changedafter that?
I mean, you got all thosechanges in the gear right, so
you went from wood skis to metalskis and then, you know, to
boots.
So you're going to startgetting boot top fractures.
Carol Fountain (21:36):
Ski schools changed also because they didn't
start kids on skis.
Kids were on snowboards them.
You know the kamikazesnowboarders would not be paying
(21:58):
attention and did not know.
You know the quote rules of thearea, unquote, and it was.
You know, always watch out forpeople and look back before you
start out, et cetera, et cetera.
And the safety issue was one ofa big um promotion that came in
(22:18):
in the 90s and continuing eventoday because safety was a major
issue with all of increasedpopulation, increased number of
skiers.
You know, bogus Basin started atrend way back when it was in
the 70s or maybe even 80s of alike $200 season pass.
(22:43):
So everybody could afford aseason pass to ski at Bogus
Basin because it was $200.
And that was a trend in theindustry that other areas looked
at seriously because it didincrease precipitously the
number of peoples on the Hilland the number of injuries.
Murphy (23:09):
Wow.
Jodie (23:10):
Carol, I just have to interrupt.
Sorry, murphy, but you're justmaking my heart swell when I
hear about more of safety.
Yes, thank you.
I'll do my little segment there.
Okay, and now I'm backing out.
Murphy (23:23):
So over all your years of patrolling what was I don't
know what was one of thetoughest calls that you did that
you I don't know, you don'thave to be first responder on,
but you were involved with.
Carol Fountain (23:36):
One of the toughest wasn't on the hill, it
was on the road, on the way down, and it was, let's see, 72.
So it was about 780, somewherein there, 1980, that's what I'm
(23:57):
saying and we were headed downthe hill.
Sweep had been done, everybodyis going down the hill
Patrollers, people, skiers,everybody.
And we were having a patrolparty that night at one of the
patrollers party.
I don't remember now why, butwe were having a party that
night.
(24:17):
So everybody is patrollers areokay, yeah, let's get down the
hill.
We need to, you know, get outof ski gear and and head for the
party.
Well, we were close to, we wereprobably within four miles of
town and all of a sudden wecould see on one of the curves.
The car had not made the curveand so I stopped my truck and
(24:41):
stood outside and about.
I wasn't the first one there,but there was a patroller down
there and he's yelling I needhelp, I can't find a pulse,
yelling I need help, I can'tfind a pulse.
And so of course I go tearingdown and I did CPR on this one
gal for several minutes untilthe ambulance got there and they
(25:04):
declared her deceased at thetime.
But we were doing CPR.
I had somebody come help and Iwas doing that was when we were
doing rescue breathing and sosomebody was doing compression.
I did both for a while, untilsomebody else for a while it was
just probably less than fiveminutes.
But then somebody was doingcompressions and I was doing the
(25:27):
rescue breathing, but the galdid not make it and in fact
there were four people in thevehicle and two of them survived
.
Oh, and then we went to the skipatrol party, oh wow, and the
people in the car that wreckedhad been drinking and I was
doing rescue breathing on a galwho'd been drinking wine and so
(25:53):
I had a and she regurgitated, soI had.
I couldn't drink wine forseveral weeks after that.
Murphy (26:02):
Yeah, I wouldn't blame you for several years after that
.
Jodie (26:06):
That is so hard to switch from.
Here's a tragedy trying to dealwith all that, the people that
did make it, and then you justswitch and trying to put stuff
behind you.
Yeah.
Carol Fountain (26:23):
And of course it took us an hour or more to
clear the scene.
By the time the police gotthere, the ambulance got there,
we relayed what we had beendoing, et cetera.
They loaded the survivors upand the non-survivors, and you
know, we had to process all thatwith those individuals before
(26:45):
we could go.
And then at the patrol party,we were all processing it there
too, that's hard.
Murphy (26:58):
Yeah, anyway.
Yeah, I was just gonna ask youknow what's the long-term effect
of that?
Have you, you know, ever hadflashbacks, or how long did it
take you to deal with that, toprocess that?
And then you know, for lack ofa better way to say it kind of
put it behind you in your memory.
Carol Fountain (27:18):
Probably not as long as it did some of the other
individuals because of myhealthcare background Right,
because I had taken care ofpeople who died before.
So that was not an issue, butit was that I couldn't help this
person.
She was dead before we started,I'm pretty sure, and it
(27:42):
probably just for me a few weeksor months, but I'm sure for the
other patrollers it took longerbecause they didn't have that
kind of experience that I did.
Jodie (27:56):
And Carol, even though I mean both of us have been in
health care for decades, etcetera, and even though we deal
with it, there's alwayssometimes one or multiples that
seem to creep back orsurprisingly hit you.
So it's a hard one to try toever predict that, et cetera.
Carol Fountain (28:17):
Yeah, that's correct and I remember every
time I've taken care of apatient that either died or
almost died.
So you know, that is somethingthat is a big thing in your
memory.
It's a big balloon in yourmemory.
Yes, you know, you're a saverat times, or a non-saver when
(28:39):
you can't save them.
Murphy (28:41):
Yeah.
It is a tough thing to gothrough.
I've talked to some peoplewhere that's happened and it is
a rough gig.
So you know, what has SkiPatrol taught you about yourself
life?
You know that you didn't reallyexpect.
I mean you kind of come intothis thing having some you know
(29:04):
views about what it's going todo, but you know you have a lot
of experience in the patrol.
I mean, what has it taught you?
What has it taught you to do?
But you know you've have a lotof experience in the patrol.
What I mean, what has it taughtyou?
What has it taught you aboutyourself too?
Carol Fountain (29:15):
One of the things that I really appreciate
from the ski patrol from thetime I joined was uh, I call it
the community or the family.
I have friends lifelonglifelong, you know, 50-year
(29:35):
friends of the ski patrol and Istill do a lot of things with
some of the ski patrollers.
We have an old-timers lunchonce a month and I get to, you
know, visit with otherold-timers, although I'm usually
the one with the most yearsthere.
But, you know, talk aboutthings and it's a family and I
(29:57):
have appreciated that because Idon't have a family here in
Boise anymore.
So that's one of the nicethings that I appreciate about.
So that's one of the nicethings that I appreciate about
it.
One of the other things wasjust the value of ski patrol to
(30:18):
the communities, the fact thatwe go up on the hill and we're
taking care of, you know,preventing accidents or treating
accidents or whatever.
And I've always been pleased tosay, yes, I'm a member of the
National Ski Patrol, how's that?
Murphy (30:39):
That's fantastic.
That puts a little something inyour heart.
Jodie (30:43):
Definitely.
Murphy (30:44):
Yeah.
So I mean, did the Ski patrolkind of mold you in any way?
It's kind of different, becauseyou work in healthcare during
the week and then on theweekends you wind up.
You know you just take thoseskills up to the mountain.
But did it teach you anythingabout yourself?
Carol Fountain (31:05):
you know, up on the mountain you know, up on the
mountain I can't remember orthink of anything that stands
out on my mind about it.
I just appreciated the skipatrol for everything, all right
, for all that I was able toaccomplish in it and the things
(31:30):
that the ski patrol does.
Murphy (31:33):
Well, that's.
You know.
One of the things of talking toa lot of alumni and people
who've got decades into thepatrol is that you keep seeing
this common thread that skipatrol is a community where you
get lifelong friends, peoplethat you can associate with, you
know, not to mention built-inskiing partners but you know it
is.
It's that sense of communitythat really gets people after
(31:58):
they've joined.
They don't really think of itthat much in the process, but
it's something that they reallytake away from it really take
away from it.
Carol Fountain (32:12):
Yes, and I think that is again, one of the
values of the ski patrol is thatthey foster that kind of
environment and interaction.
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Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.