The Mad River Glen Ski Patrol is comprised of dedicated professional and volunteer patrollers. They are committed to keeping the Mad River Glen community as safe as possible. We thank them for their commitment and everything they collectively bring to our community.
Over the past few years, the Mad River Glen Ski Patrol has seen steady, capable leadership from Jon Cohen, and now Christian Jaquith, who currently serves as our Patrol Director. Under their guidance, we’ve successfully navigated a host of challenges—from the disruptions of COVID-19, power outages during training events and a complete rebuild of the Ski Patrol building. Through it all, our team has responded with professionalism, resilience, and camaraderie—never missing a beat.
Being on patrol at Mad River Glen means wearing many hats. Our day-to-day responsibilities include:
Trail checks and maintenance
Hazard identification, mitigation, and marking
Providing medical assistance—from a simple bandage to off-piste rescues
Training and development
Supporting mountain races, events, and when necessary, lift evacuations
Recently, we’ve celebrated some exciting upgrades, including the construction of a new Mid-Station on the Sunnyside Double Chair, making Birdland more accessible and enjoyable. We’ve also improved our lift evacuation gear and training protocols, while continuing to welcome and train the next generation of patrollers through our Candidate Program.
We receive inquiries all year round about how to become a part of the Mad River Glen Ski Patrol. Here’s how to get started:
Complete an Application
Visit the Employment page on our website and fill out the job application (for either paid or volunteer positions).
Submit your completed form to [email protected].
Connect with Us in Person
We hold mid-season tryouts, but making a personal introduction goes a long way. Talk to a patroller or join us for sweep at Stark’s Nest after the last chair of the day.
Our Candidate Program is open to committed individuals—some of whom are Young Adults still in high school—who are passionate about skiing and community service.
Candidates spend a year learning:
Mountain operations
Rescue toboggan handling
Lift evacuation procedures
Once that foundation is built, we’ll guide you through any first aid requirements, including participation in the Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC) class certified by the National Ski Patrol. This course runs from August through late November in Northern Vermont, with weekly evening sessions and a few Saturday trainings. National Ski Patrol Outdoor Emergency Care/OEC first aid class registration closes August 1st of each year.
Whether we’re responding to an injury in deep powder or coordinating during high-stress events, the Mad River Glen Ski Patrol is proud to serve as a strong, unified team—caring for the Stark Mountain community with skill, heart, and grit.
Former Ski Patrol Director John Ayers echoed the words of the nine directors who preceded him when in April 2008 he declared, “This is the greatest group of people I have ever worked with. These special individuals, by building on a tradition of outstanding camaraderie, together create an incredible organization, an immense love of the mountain.”
“No other mountains can compare. This is a ski hill; every place else is a ski resort – big difference. Mad River continues to embrace the ski hill.”
“We are always open to anybody who wants to get involved. Our patrollers are self-motivated and self-educating.
You have to want to be learning. We help one another.”
“At Mad River Glen, egos are left at the door, patrollers may wield enormous sway in their professional lives but on duty they are just one of the team.”
As in the past the MRG unit continues to receive accolades. In 2005 the National Ski Patrol awarded a Unit Citation to MRG’s men and women in “recognition and acknowledgment of being the 2004-2005 Outstanding Large Ski Patrol for the Eastern Division. They were beaten out for the national award by Park City who had hosted the Olympics that year.
Nine members have received National Appointments. These NSP appointments are awarded to individuals who demonstrate leadership, good character, diplomacy, a positive attitude, good judgment, unusual qualities of patrolling ability, a genuine desire to serve the skiing public and extraordinary service. Another NSP member nominates the recipient.
“Not much has changed,” according to John. “Our focus, however, has extended our training to off-piste rescues to incorporate situations involving skiing in the woods.”
No longer are patrollers tied down or dependent on specific telephone stations.
The use of two-way radios by all on-duty patrol has reduced accident response time from twenty to thirty MRG Ski Patrol Continues Founder’s Tradition minutes to single digits. Except for the personnel stationed one at the top of each lift, the other twenty-three are free to ski the entire mountain on and off piste, where they are more accessible to the skiing public.
The average age of the forty-seven volunteers and ten professionals is forty-seven years, most of whom have served for many seasons. Volunteers must serve at least twenty days each season to qualify as staff.
“As our awards prove, our knowledge is deeper than it used to be. Our training has increased three fold in first aid and emergency response.”
“Within three years of joining the staff, members must achieve senior level patrol status through rigorous exams in sled/toboggan handling, skiing and first aid skills plus a successful run of a complicated trauma accident.”
John credits the low incidence of accidents at MRG to the difficult terrain and limited uphill capacity. “These factors” he notes, “slow skiers down, thus preventing collisions which are the number one source of accidents throughout the industry. Other areas reporting 1,000 or more accidents seasonally marvel at our low accident rate.”
The Mad River Glen Ski Patrol was organized late in 1948 under the watchful eye of Howard Moody, the area Assistant Manager and a dedicated patrolman of many years experience. He set up the mainstay of the Patrol system that included a separate Patrol Room that provided privacy for those who were hurt and a place where the resident doctors could care for accident victims. It was even equipped with bunks and X-ray machine—almost unheard of in those days.
A telephone network and a series of toboggan caches were installed over the entire mountain. It was mandatory that each patrolman be a strong, steady skier who could handle any trail on the mountain under any and all conditions. But even more important than being a competent skier was an ability to bring down a toboggan from any spot on the mountain.
Moody’s dedication caught on, and even though it was a volunteer patrol, each man was determined to make it the best patrol in the East. At first it was a local group made up of people from the Mad River Valley, Montpelier, and Burlington. In 1951 the first contingent of out-of-staters took their place on the roster including Truxton Pratt, who later purchased MRG in 1972, and others who organized the Ski Clubs who would build lodges at the base.
The boys from Montclair, New Jersey were to be seen everywhere. Shortly another group from Hartford became regulars. By 1955 there were probably more out-of-staters than Vermonters. Once on the mountain,however, it made little difference where one was from. To a man there were two thoughts in mind – lots of skiing and, more important, a strictly business attitude toward accidents.
Hawley Slayton was patrol leader for our first two seasons. In 1950 Allen Clark assumed the responsibility and served until 1957. It was during this period that the MRG Patrol received the USEASA Safety Trophy.
The award was announced at the 1955-1956 Patrol Banquet. The citation is presented annually to the patrol that has made an outstanding contribution to patrol work. Since 1957 Howard Carr has ably carried on with a volunteer patrol. During this period the number of trails has more than doubled, yet full coverage has been maintained.
The protocol for managing an accident has been worked out so that each is handled with tender dispatch. The “Toboggan side” manner developed by some patrolmen rivals the bedside manner of the best doctors. The professional approach is akin to a hospital.
Supporting the patrol is a group of weekend resident doctors from the Green Mountain 
Clinic in Northfield. Two of these, Dr. Edgar R. Hyde and Dr. Scott Pedley, were the first to wear the emblem “Honorary Ski Patrol.” Aside from being on hand to take over the responsibility in the Patrol Room, these doctors have been available for individual or group discussion how to do the best possible job of getting a victim of an accident safely and comfortably off the mountain.
The patrol at MRG is a fraternity dedicated to skiing as a safe sport. May it ever be so.
Did you know that Mad River Glen ski patrol had an x-ray machine on the mountain in 1950?
Check out this story of one of MRG’s earliest patrollers
