PINEDALE – Winter is approaching, and White Pine Ski Resort has begun preparations for the upcoming ski season.

"We just had the whole hill mowed," White Pine's Alan Blackburn said. "It makes a huge difference."

To also help the mountain's terrain open sooner, the ski area welcomed volunteers with clippers to the hill on Saturday, Oct. 7. The mountain spun its lifts to carry volunteers to the top of the lift. The volunteers then chose a run to hike down, cutting down seedlings along the way.

Volunteers not only help the mountain open terrain with less snow, they also patrol the terrain once it opens.

White Pine is currently trying to find some additional volunteers to work on its ski patrol this winter.

"We're trying to grow the patrol a little bigger," Patroller Thach Winslow said. "It's a good organization and we have a good group, but would like to make it bigger if we can."

Ideally, the resort would have several patrollers stationed at the top shack so they can respond to calls right away, and not have to spend 12 minutes on the chairlift, first. Winslow said if one or two different people need help the patrol is in good shape. After that, however, more calls can overwhelm the small crew.

The patrollers not only help people injured on the mountain, but they also pack the snow, maintain the mountain's boundaries, mark hazards and do other patrol work. The patrollers also get to ski while patrolling, and sometimes they get to make first tracks down a freshly opened trail.

With the mountain's location and terrain, the patrol doesn't do any avalanche mitigation.

People interested in working for the ski patrol either need to take the National Ski Patrol's Outdoor Emergency Care class or have a medical certification equal or greater than the OEC. While White Pine offers reciprocity for those certifications, the hands-on part of the class is still required to become an on-hill patroller. The ski area, however, could accommodate patrollers who can't ski by having them work at the bottom aid station.

White Pine plans to offer the OEC class this month if enough people sign up to take it.

Interested people can also check out the job during one of the mountain's candidate days in November and December. On those days, people can ride with a patroller to see what the job entails.

Skiers, telemarkers and snowboarders can all volunteer.

"It's exciting and it's fun," Winslow said. "If you show up and you don't like it, there's nothing lost."

People interested in volunteering are encouraged to contact Thach at w307@outlook.com.