History

Before 1932, alpine skiing was relatively unknown in the United States. Until then, the sport primarily had been the pastime of a few rural families and the descendants of Northern European immigrants. Most Americans got their first exposure to skiing through media coverage of the 1932 Olympics at Lake Placid, New York. Inevitably, the sport took off.

In the 1930's, skiing was a hardy activity that required a long drive on poorly maintained roads to an area that had snow-covered hills or mountains. The only mode of uphill transportation was climbing-which required a couple of hours of huffing and puffing-all for a few minutes of well-earned downhill thrill.

The skier's cry, "Track!" originated at that time, and when skiers climbing uphill heard the shout, they did the best they could to give the right-of-way to the approaching downhillers. Since ski lessons were virtually non-existent, few skiers had learned to turn well and some could not turn at all, thanks to primitive equipment on unpacked snow. Accidents were common, and most skiers accepted them as part of the price to pay for participating in the sport.

Charles Minot "Minnie" Dole, an insurance broker for Greenwich, Connecticut, realized the need for emergency care and rescue services for injured skiers back in 1936. Dole was skiing at Stowe, Vermont, with his wife and their friends Frank and Jean Edson, when he took a fall, heard a bone snap in his ankle and lay helpless in the snow. Frank Edson stayed with him while Jane Dole and Jean Edson skied down the mountain for help.

The first person they met was a local farmer who said anyone foolish enough to ski deserved whatever fate offered, and he went on his way. The women finally located two people who helped haul Dole off the mountain on a makeshift rescue toboggan improvised from a piece of corrugated tin roofing. X-rays showed a break so severe that Dole was told he might never walk again, let alone ski. But he was determined to recover, and he did.

The same determination compelled Dole to help improve emergency care for skiers when, two months after Dole's accident, Frank Edson was killed in a ski race. At the suggestion of Roland Palmedo, president of the Amateur Ski Club of New York, Dole was put in charge. In March 1938, Dole organized a volunteer patrol for the National Downhill Races at Stowe. Roger Langley, president of the National Ski Association, was so impressed with the patrol that he asked Dole to organize a similar patrol on a national basis. Then and there the National Ski Patrol came into being-originally as a subcommittee of the NSA.

For more history and information about today's National Ski Patrol, go to www.nsp.org

To learn more about the education programs offered by the National Ski Patrol go to the Education page

History of the National Ski Patrol