Patroller Chats
Join us as we sit down with past and present patrollers, hosts, and friends of the Pacific Northwest Division of the National Ski Patrol to preserve their stories and grow our History Project together. Patroller Chats was started in 2023.
Tune in for fun, informative, inspirational, and occasionally spirited conversations, where we explore traditions deeply rooted in history and full of heart.
Honoring the NSP Creed: Service and Safety since 1938, we’re preserving our legacy and building lasting connections for the future. Join us on Patroller Chats!
Patroller Chats
The Cummings have served skiers at Hyak since 1965, witnessing decades of mountain evolution!
Step back in time with Shirley and Gary Cummings, with this extraordinary couple whose experiences bridge skiing's wooden ski era to today's modern mountain operations of ski patrol service at Hyak (now Summit East). They offer a fascinating glimpse into skiing's transformation since the mid-1960s. Note: Recorded at a previous convention, please disregard background noises. (2023)
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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Welcome back to Patroller Chats- where we dive into the people & history of the PNW Division of the National Ski Patrol. We’re off to the slopes to ride the chairlift with volunteers working to keep the patrol running, the mountain safe, rescue guests & help operations run smoothly, often in difficult conditions. Learn what inspired them, unforgettable moments, & what keeps them coming back. Grab your gear, sit back, lower that bar if you have one, & let’s Chat.
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I'm Shirley Cummings.
Murphy:Shirley Cummings. So, shirley, what is your NSP number?
Shirley:4852.
Murphy:4852. Do you have a national number?
Shirley:That's my national number, 4852. Do you have a national number? That's my national number 4852.
Murphy:What's your NSP number?
Shirley:Oh, 146513.
Murphy:All right. Well, I have got a few beers off people already who didn't know their national number, so I'm happy about that. So we're going to go back, we're going in the Wayback Machine. What year did you join the Ski Patrol?
Shirley:1966. Thank you 1966.
Murphy:I'm going to do some quick math. I think that's about 57 years ago.
Jodie:Yes, Holy cow, you don't want to know what year I was born? I?
Murphy:was apparently just a gleam in my father's eye. Well, no, actually 19.
Shirley:You're making me feel good, you guys.
Murphy:So why did you want to become a patroller? What started that journey so long ago?
Shirley:Well, gary was managing the Hyak ski shop for REI and we had a little boy that was a year old at the time. There were no bathroom facilities, we were sleeping on a table and the floor was wet at night and they promised us that there would be sleeping arrangements and there were none. But the nice people at the ski patrol said we have beds, why don't you come over and sleep with us? So we went over and slept with them. Gary took the ski test, I think the next weekend, and I did it the next year and we were on and you guys were on, and that's HIAC.
Murphy:So HIAC has gone through a couple of names or name changes, hasn't it? So it's now East Summit East. I think it's been Hyak seven times, anyway it's gone through multiple name changes yeah, multiple iterations. I do like Hyak, though when you say Hyak, people know where you're talking about if you've skied for any number of years.
Shirley:And Hyak means fast running. Oh, in Native American talk. I remember when I took my senior exam we had to write the history and I learned that Hyak in the Native American meant fast running creek. And you know, we have all those little things that run down at the end of the season. Oh yeah.
Murphy:I fell into one of those. Yeah, I know all about them All too well. So what positions do you hold at the Ski Patrol? I know they're numerous, but let's just start off with the one you currently have.
Shirley:That's it. That's the one and that is Historian and Special Projects, but let's just start off with the one you currently have. That's it.
Murphy:That's the one, and that is, historian and Special Projects. Historian and Special Projects and I know you've done history for the last three or four years.
Jodie:Three to four, yeah, and we're going to times it by how many years?
Murphy:Yeah, with your history project. I know we've been gathering all kinds of documents and pictures and there's that table out there today which has just history from the ski patrol around here, which is fabulous. I took several pictures while.
Shirley:I proposed them.
Murphy:Good, and I'll have to walk through some of those with you so that you can point out what they are. We'll do that at a little separate time, but before the convention ends You've got tons of free time.
Jodie:But, shirley, you were history for Nationals. Weren't you a representative for the National?
Shirley:Well, when National had their 75th anniversary, mike Gooderham put us on a committee actually both Gary and I and we went back to Denver and we were the information booth. So when people came by and asked, they dressed up some mannequins to look like the 10th Mountain Division and other mannequins to look like the first Ski Patrol uniform, and they had tables and stuff and oodles of vendors and we had a fun time.
Murphy:How long ago was that 75? It's 85.
Gary:This is the 85th season, right yeah, so it was 2013.
Murphy:Okay, 2013. Oh, and see, now that we have Gary on here. So go ahead, gary, introduce yourself, because I'm getting to you next.
Gary:I'm Gary Cummings, the proud husband of Shirley. She possesses me.
Murphy:Wow, I saw those eyebrows raise over there. So what is your NSP number?
Gary:104. Wow, I saw those eyebrows raise over there. So what is your NSP number? 104 are the last three numbers 009104. Oh wow.
Murphy:What's your national number? 4585. Wow, I'm not getting any more beer. I don't like this.
Shirley:See, he's ahead of me by One year, isn't it?
Gary:No, I think it's more.
Shirley:I think it's two years.
Gary:It's about three, it's 300 numbers.
Murphy:Okay, yep, so you joined in 1960. 65. 1965. Wow, At Hyak there was Shirley Story Right. Have you patrolled anywhere else?
Gary:No, really no.
Murphy:Shirley, have you patrolled anywhere else? No, you are longtime Hyak patrollers.
Shirley:Well, I have been at other areas in patrol guard, but we've never signed on with anybody else. That's amazing.
Murphy:Is that a record? No, I don't think so.
Gary:We have one patroller, Bill Brockway. He's been on the Hyak Patrol one year longer than we have.
Shirley:No, he and Gary were in the same candidate class one year longer than me. Yeah, and he's still senior patroller, just like us.
Murphy:Wow, that is amazing. Yeah, the only guy that I know that's patrolled kind of that same length as steve verkovich yeah, because steve has been around. I hate to say it. You know it's now. I'm at crystal and steve uh at. He just had his 80th birthday, so he's gonna got, I think, 81. That guy outworks me. I think it's impossible. He's incredible.
Shirley:That's the difference between the Furkoviches and Charlene too, I mean. But that's the difference between us. We only ski safe and sane, almost flat now, and Charlene and Furt just they're really great. I mean, you don't know that there's any age decrease in their activity at all.
Murphy:Oh no, he starts at the top of the mountain and, yeah, blistering to get down there on his favorite runs that are named after him. Normally on a mountain you don't want anything named after you, no, because it's usually you died, you got injured or they're making fun of you. Steve winds up having the run top to bottom because that was his favorite run.
Shirley:I had a run named after me for a long time, but with the new map it's been erased. Who do we need to talk to? Some of that still call me.
Murphy:So what run is it? What do they call it now?
Shirley:They don't call it. It has no name. It's very sad. Wait a minute. It was called Shirley's Chute and I got that name because there was an accident in a particular location on our mountain and Eric Lindstrom took the first toboggan and he went down blowdown. Somebody else took the second toboggan and they went down Kendall and I went down Chickaman through this little chute and that's where the patient was. So for years we called it Shirley Chute and then we have now.
Murphy:And so they came up with a new map and Shirley's Chute is no more.
Jodie:It's just like eliminated. We're going to have to talk to management about that.
Shirley:But I mean it's only a stretch of space, like from here to the I don't know a little bit further than the front door, so it's not very long, and assigning somebody to sweep it was we were getting a little thin.
Murphy:Yeah, I guess you do have to. You know, you have to send patrollers down for final sweep when you're I hope you're going to cut oh yeah we'll have to edit some of that.
Gary:We're not really.
Jodie:But that's the same distance, like at Mount Hood, for Buzz Bowman, his section, the buzz cut was a very narrower one. Like you said distance, it wasn't that long.
Murphy:No, you're good. Okay, we have some more questions for you. Have you got any national? This is a very long question, so I'm going to start with. Shirley Received local, region, division national awards.
Jodie:Other than your national number, the rolling roll.
Shirley:Don't think I. Well, I've gotten the Distinguished Service Award, meritorious Service Award. I got two of those. Liz says it's impossible, but somebody must have made a mistake and I got two.
Murphy:It could be Liz that made a mistake.
Shirley:No, I don't think so. What else did I get?
Murphy:What's the region award the Miller? Yes, did you get that?
Shirley:I got the Miller, that's very prestigious award. The Miller, yes, did you get that? I got the Miller, that's very prestigious. Yes, 1980.
Murphy:Northwest region. Wow, gary, how about you? Awards?
Gary:I just am very proud to be an Alpine skier, senior Senior.
Shirley:He also got the Outstanding National Patroller in the Nation Alpine Patroller, alpine Patroller.
Murphy:Oh, do tell, how long ago was that 2003.
Gary:Oh, that's not that long ago, no.
Murphy:Wow.
Gary:Well, what happened was I broke my heel and couldn't ski, but we still came up every weekend so I would do patrol room duty. I also made myself busy around our kitchen and day room and I did a few things like getting the kids patrol brats involved in cleaning, and for some reason I was able to talk them into having a star next to their name put up their name and put a star if they did their duty Awesome. And throughout the season different kids would take responsibility until we got all the kids. The other thing I did I made a board on the height of all the kids and that is still there now and they come back to look at themselves. And of course, they started out at three feet tall and now they're six foot eight a few of them.
Gary:And now, they're six foot eight, a few of them and those little things that I got involved with in 2003, actually, surely because she is such a good writer.
Shirley:I didn't do that, didn't you?
Gary:Gary Rayburn did it. No, Okay. Well, Gary Rayberg, a great writer, also wrote up, and so I became the Outstanding National, which is a great honor for me.
Murphy:Oh yeah.
Gary:And the beauty of it is that really, shirley works three times as hard as I do. Really, shirley works three times as hard as I do. But when we went back for the 75th and they had the awards up on the walls, my name is there, but Shirley's isn't.
Jodie:Would you mind with me?
Gary:So we got to get Shirley up there.
Jodie:Oh no, no, no, no, no, Anyway, and it was perfect for me because I'm very proud to just be an Alpine patroller. I think it's great because it also brings in to the whole factor. As I told Murph earlier, I'm a lousy skier. I always have I did progress. It got a little bit better. But, with that being said, I know that I would never be an expert skier and I think there's merit in saying, hey, ski patrol is not just for those that are on expert skiers, et cetera.
Gary:It's a family and a team.
Shirley:Besides, it's not your fault. Your mother should have started you at age three.
Murphy:So, shirley, how old were you when you started skiing?
Shirley:I was 14 and I got a. I had a friend who worked up at snoqualmie and her father and her two brothers and she said why don't you try and get a job? They're hiring. So I went up with them on the weekend and I went in and talked in that big Quonset hut thing that they had that long army hut. And I went in and talked to Webb and he said how old are you? And I said I'm 14, but I'd like a job. And he said what can you do? And I said what do you need done? You're hired.
Shirley:So, he put me cashiering at the top of the Thunderbird and we the restaurant that's now closed at the top on East oh it was the place to go.
Murphy:Oh, I'm sure.
Shirley:And it was quite expensive. We all had to sign a statement that we would not say what any of the recipes were made. And the Moffats had just returned from Switzerland where she learned how to make bouffant doux. What was that Bouffant doux? You know the fondue pot where you well, she had learned how to make that and nobody in Seattle I mean no restaurants had it. So it was very secret and that's what we served to these, and it was not cheap.
Shirley:Oh, I'm sure and that's what we served to these. And it was not cheap, oh, I'm sure.
Murphy:So I would get a ride down the mountain a lot of the time with the ski patrol in the toboggans oh how convenient, it was dinner and a show I'm getting in the toboggan and taking down. Wow, I'm still can't. I can't get past the fact you were 14 and they gave you a job. Now you know you gotta be like 18. You gotta do whatever, but see, it just proves 14-year-olds.
Shirley:Well, there were the laws, weren't there?
Murphy:Yeah, that's true.
Shirley:And I don't know if Webb would have cared.
Murphy:How funny. So when did you start skiing, Gary?
Gary:I went up to the same area uh summit, uh snow qualmy uh on a bus from my high school, seattle Prep, and there was one person who couldn't go skiing one weekend. So I went up with them and we had a. I remember very well skiing the Bunny Hill or whatever the first hill was, and when I fell I fell face forward downhill, swearing a streak in my under under uh tones, and this cute girl comes up and says can I help you? Now? She didn't have a ski patrol uniform on, but she should have, but anyway, that was it. And then I uh, when I was 17, I skied a lot up at the mountaineers in uh stevens pass and that's where I learned to ski on my own. I never had a lesson in my life which shows in my skiing, unfortunately, unfortunately.
Murphy:Oh, I did that same thing. I learned on myself and then I joined the ski patrol and I had to break all those bad habits. And that is worse than you know when you first start out.
Gary:That's true. And then a friend of Shirley's had gotten married and started working and managing the ski shop up at Hyak. We were juniors in college and at that time we had a one-year-old and so he couldn't stay up there for some reason, and we went up on New Year's in 1983. 63. What? 60. 63. And so he said I can't do this, gary, you want to do it? And so I said maybe. And so Jim Whitaker, who was with REI and that was one of his projects, the ski area at HIAC Because you're probably most people are aware that HIAC was one of the first was the first ski area on the mountain in the form of the Milwaukee Railroad. In the form of the Milwaukee Railroad, they would haul people up there and that's where American ski jumpers practiced at Hyak.
Jodie:Really.
Gary:Long ago, long ago in the 1930s and 1920s and 1930s.
Shirley:And the ski jump hill is still there if you were to go out on the cross country trail. So theoretically, hyak could advertise themselves as an Olympic venue because that ski jump was used as a qualifying for the Olympics. Now I have talked to them about that, but they don't think it's a particularly good marketing ploy.
Gary:So that was. We managed the ski shop During the day. I rented out skis and of course at that time ski patrollers were all on wooden skis but the majority a few of them could afford the heads and the hearts that were metal skis out. But invariably I'd have at least two or three patrollers come in during the weekend and say I broke my ski and Jim Whitaker's policy, which is an REI said if ski patrol needs skis we can give them the skis free for the day, and so I'd get them into skis. So therefore, two years later, when we had the circumstance where a new manager came, they decided to hire a full-time manager and we had a conflict with them as far as sleeping accommodations because we had a child and they didn't want they were newlyweds. So that ended up being a conflict. But then we joined the ski patrol and of course maybe they were I think maybe that's how I got on the patrol they were just indebted to us for all those ski frees.
Murphy:Well, yeah, what is it Rental?
Jodie:Equipment Inc. Definitely.
Murphy:Yeah that's why they had to return or change their return policy.
Shirley:When he gave them the metal skis, they were all breaking skis.
Murphy:Yeah, oh.
Shirley:I can see where that happened. I got a question.
Murphy:that happened All right, so I got a question for you. So this is Jody's question, and I love this thing. What does the phrase service or safety and service since 1938 mean to you?
Jodie:Service and safety.
Murphy:Yeah. What does the phrase safety and service since 1938 mean to you?
Shirley:Well, that is the mission that the Ski Patrol was founded on at the very beginning. Safety and service was the mission, and it's been our mission ever since.
Jodie:So if you were to go current time. What does it mean to you? Has it changed at all your thoughts about what you think it is or how it's approached?
Shirley:Well, I think most recently there's been a bigger emphasis on safety, which we haven't paid much attention to for years and years, which is good both physical and mental safety. So that's good.
Jodie:Just your thoughts. I mean seeing that when they started it off and, like I said here, you have how national became and whether it's the West Coast, east Coast, et cetera. You have the whole part of why did we even come into play because they needed help getting people that were injured down and the fact of also trying to help explain how you might be a little bit more safer by doing X, y, z. So it's just sort of interesting to see. You know, we look at here. You talked about skis, the long wooden skis, right, and how that's changed, and so just sort of curious for people that have seen that progression throughout National how it's changed at all throughout National and how it's changed at all.
Shirley:I think at the very beginning it must have been at least a little bit frightening to realize that when you were up there on the mountain there was no way to get down and then a few ski patrol people or a few people interested in service were there to maybe help you. But you didn't know when you climbed up a mountain in 1938 or 1940 that they were going to be there that day. Now the standard across the world for the most part is that if you buy a lift ticket you're going to get safety and service. A lift ticket you're going to get safety and service, and in Europe they build it into your ski lift ticket, so you have to pay for it, but you still have a way of getting down off the mountain Right, the choice of last resort in the toboggan.
Murphy:Yeah, yeah, so you know, in the 50 years that you have been patrolling, you two, what do you think, gary? I'll start with you what do you think has been the biggest change overall?
Gary:What have you seen over at HIAC? Well, first of all, I don't think the people have changed a lot. The people are still there. Those that go out on patrol very quickly, considering the amount of time they have to put in to get certified properly to meet the standard that we now have created, are there giving of their time to other people. So that is the same. The thing that's different is if you look out on the table, the manuals were 40 pages long.
Gary:The bandaging involved in the class that I took in 1965 was the standard first aid and the, and then I came back after eight weeks of the instructor sitting at each of the class reading to me out of the book and went to the advanced. The bandaging, for instance, was roller bandages. That was it and we actually learned, you know, with certain kind of boards for splinting a break, but that was the extent of it. There was, I do not recall, one item regarding back injuries. I don't regard or recall taking all the various methods of testing and checking on circulation and all the other aspects. It was either visible or it didn't exist, and that isn't to say that we weren't aware that other things can happen, but the amount of training involved was minimal. Today, of course, instead of a 40-page book, we have a 1,600-page book.
Gary:Everybody chuckles at that one I guess I'll have to jump in here and say it and it's a sign of my age. I feel very sad for new people coming in and also I wonder if we've lost the opportunity to get some very good people that maybe just aren't that academically proficient to excel or appreciate that that could still do a great job. Anyway, but talk about the changes in skiing. We used to deal with ankle breaks almost exclusively and now we then we migrated the thing about it. There are very few injuries on the hill in comparison when you consider the amount of skiing and the speed of skiing that goes on today and the acrobatics that people young people especially are doing. They didn't do that back 50 years ago. Jumping was the big thing but it was a straight line jump. They didn't do 23 somersaults in the air.
Jodie:Do you think that the ankles were more to the type of boots that were being worn at that time?
Gary:Absolutely. Type of boots, type of skis.
Shirley:Speed.
Murphy:Yeah, speed probably had a little to do with that.
Gary:Yeah and so, yes, definitely. So there's a lot of differences.
Murphy:Shirley, what do you, you know in the 50 years of looking at what's been going on in the ski patrol. What do you think's changed?
Shirley:Well at HIAC I know for us the benefits were a big draw. We had a place to sleep, we got season lift passes for our one and four-year-old kids, but all through high school we got season passes for our kids. But all through high school we got season passes for our kids and the area even gave us dinner on Saturday night. So it was a very family area and benefits were big. That changed when larger corporations bought it. As far as the main organization, I think one of the big things that happened that our division does not get maybe credit for the ski patrol used to run the mountain. We would decide when we were going to open, when we were going to close, what time if it was, the light would dictate when we called. When the mountain would close. We would say when an area wasn't safe to ski, we would slide, slip the hill to pack it, but our patrol leaders would tell us where we went next to do it. The area management did not. They would say thank you at the end of the year but for the most part the ski patrol ran the mountain and after the Ski Area Operators Association became more communicative with each other in probably the 80s, they said you know we're the ones holding the risk here. We want to make the rules. So henceforth we will be in charge and you will follow those things.
Shirley:Well, in certain areas ski resorts that message did not go across at all well and I give most of the credit to Gary Burke who was our division director and had George Whitman who was also a division director, but George was the police chief of Bellevue Police and George got a task force together and said if we do not patrol ourselves and put a damper on this, we're in charge, not the people that own us. They're going to kick us out. And it was, and I was secretary at the time. So I would hear all of these closed-door meetings that the rest of the patrol has no idea how close we came to probably losing patrols, and not just in our division. But I mean Ski Area Operators is a national organization and so that was one of the first critical times that came through and I think the reason that the new first aid with its huge Gary calls it 1,600 pages. But they had to compete with EMT.
Shirley:And they had to compete way back when, not just because of the standard or first aid or what they thought was happening on the hill, but who was going to be in charge, and that having A good educational program that was almost comparable to the EMT was their selling point. And I really respect the leaders that were in position at the time to recognize what a threat it was to tamp it down and to put something in its place. I wasn't fond of the new WEC either when it came through, but knowing the background it's a lot easier for me to accept. But they didn't want to tell the membership you know you came this close.
Jodie:What did they think would happen if they had told the membership?
Shirley:Well, they did tell. I mean, like at a convention like this, they would tell the patrol directors in a small. They did small closed sessions so that people would get the idea that it wasn't to blast out. But this is what's happening and when you go to speak with your area manager, make sure you're respectful, make sure you know you're like an employee that's about to get the boot.
Jodie:Absolutely. And what time frame are we talking about? What year? I think it's in the 80s.
Shirley:But in that stack of stuff it's right when Gary Burke leaves and George Whitman takes over as an assistant and George wrote it up and of course there was no mimeograph, I mean there's not multiple copies. So I remember typing it and then they hand-carried it, because everything had to be hand-carried back to National. Oh really yeah.
Murphy:Oh, interesting. And why is that?
Jodie:I mean hand versus I mean we did have good mail.
Shirley:I have a copy of the HIAC, I have a copy of the Hyak. They were trying to be the outstanding patrol in the nation, so you put together a folder. And then that had to because you only had one of a kind you didn't have. You couldn't make multiple copies. Mimeo, I think, did come in in the late 80s, right 70s, it must have been.
Murphy:It was yeah, 70s.
Shirley:Whenever I was teaching, I remember.
Murphy:That's right, because I remember sitting in class and sniffing the test when they came out.
Shirley:I remember looking in the mirror at recess.
Jodie:Little streaks across your face.
Murphy:What was that blue? Yeah, it was like purple-blue.
Shirley:When did you join?
Murphy:Let's see here I joined. It's going to be my 10-year anniversary this season.
Gary:Really so 10 years ago.
Murphy:All right.
Gary:Big one for you.
Murphy:Yeah, it is actually Cause I uh went and uh I did my ski test early um at Snoqualmie and I had just gotten back from New Zealand and I was on skinny skis, no shape skis, it wasn't like Nordic but yeah, they had no shape to them and I skied so badly. And I remember going up and talking to Michael James after my test and I said, hey, I know I sucked. If you will want to cut me, I completely understand, I'll go practice and come back. And he said, well, that shows a lot of maturity that you would actually say that. So, uh, you are going to work very hard this year improving those skills.
Shirley:See, there you go, you do not have to be an expert skier to start. How did you get connected to the ski patrol then?
Jodie:So my background with being in EMS and as an ER nurse when I worked EMS back in Michigan it was a definite family sort of everybody was close, close to each other. I had started nursing. Nursing has its ups and downs and sometimes in some places it's sort of eat your young attitude, and so I missed that. And when I moved out I was born and raised in Michigan moved out to the northwest and I missed that whole environment and so I thought, well, I can barely get down. Probably I mean my Michigan they built that hill of a couple hundred feet right and I didn't ski that often. But I thought, well, maybe I can do something else. And that's how I got started.
Jodie:I had heard that people back in Montana that's when I was working in Montana I had done some of the OEC classes and helped instruct that and I thought, oh, look at how close everybody is, this is awesome. And so I looked for it. And that's when I started at Mount Hood back in 2002. You know your math Murph is a little off. And so I looked for it and that's when I started at Mount Hood back in 2002. You know, your math Murph is a little off. You guys said you joined in 65? Okay, let's do the math here.
Murphy:Oh, that's 60, 59 years, okay.
Shirley:Well, gary's at 58. You know the other thing back when we did it national, they didn't always take your money when you joined. I mean they might get it by june 1st, that might be, but so blaine would have had a heart attack every year, so you're right I mean so national only credits when you know, the money comes in. And now, they take it up front. So right, I tried to explain that to some of the people on our patrol. Well, some of you, yeah, but other people get an extra year.
Murphy:That's funny. Well, thanks you two for spending some time with us. Like I said, I do want to go over. You know through that display that you guys provided. That was fantastic and you know, I'd hopefully like to be able to follow up with you on some of these other questions that we have about HIAC and get some of those old stories, because the train service was there and you guys know and have a lot of history of Snoqualmie Pass and El Patel.
Jodie:This is true, yeah, so it's good To wrap it up, though, what would you if you had anything to say for anybody coming in new? Do you have any words of wisdom or anything you would want to pass on? Of course I hit you this Boom. You haven't had any time to think about it while we're here at the hotel.
Gary:Boom, you haven't had any time to think about it. While we're here at the hotel, I'd say do you like being part of a team? Okay, good. Do you like helping people?
Jodie:Mm-hmm.
Gary:Do you like a change of climate? Oh, like the change of climate. Ah and do you like being athletic? And if you like all those things, then Ski Patrol can give all of those things to you, as well as the ability to take care medically to some extent of yourself, your family and your friends and community.
Jodie:Very well put and I think, get involved.
Shirley:I mean, Hyak is known as a family area. I always encourage new people to bring their family members and our roster will show the name of your significant other or your spouse. Bring your kids, they're welcome. Come to our potlucks. If your family is happy here, you will stay here. Chances are if you're going to be up here two days every weekend, there's a lot of things that aren't getting done at home that are going to pile up Absolutely.
Murphy:Truer words were never spoken. That's true. All right, true, alrighty. Thanks you two.
Jodie:Thank you so much, god, you guys.
