Grand Valley Magazine Spring 2017 - 26

O F F T H E PAT H

'When it snows, I smile'

National Ski Patrol combines fun, responsibility for faculty member
STORY BY NATE HOEKSTRA / PHOTO BY AMANDA PITTS

As a child, Kevin Barrons would drive his
mom crazy whenever he looked out the
window and saw snow falling.
"I'd see it snowing and all I'd want to do
was get outside and go sledding on the hill,"
Barrons said.
His love of snow never went away, and
now Barrons, a visiting faculty member
in the Seidman College of Business, spends
several days each week throughout the
winter making sure people are safe on ski
slopes and trails in Michigan
and Minnesota.
He's a volunteer with the National
Ski Patrol, a group of expert skiers and
snowboarders who volunteer their time
helping people on the slopes and trails.
Sometimes the assistance is as little as
answering a question about which chairlift
a run leads to. In other cases, it might mean
transporting a seriously injured skier or
rider down a run via a specialized toboggan
for emergency medical attention.
Barrons is unique in that he's not only a
ski patroller for alpine, or downhill skiing,
he's also a patroller for nordic, or crosscountry skiing, including being part of an
elite group of nordic patrollers called the
Viking Patrol.
That group works in Minnesota
patrolling nordic races with elite athletes
who are often attempting to qualify for
World Cup races or other selective events,
which means the patrollers must have
special skills. Barrons is adept at both
traditional cross-country and "skate"
style skiing, which involves a different
motion. He said patrolling those races is
second only to being selected to patrol
the Olympics.
Barrons said his biggest reasoning
for spending two days each week and
most weekends in January and February
patrolling is the sense of pride and public
service he gets.
"Sure, it's great that I get to go ski, that's
the perk," Barrons said, "but if we see
something happen, we help out. There's a

G R A ND VA LLE Y M AG AZ INE

26

genuinely good feeling about
helping people. There's some
mental reward that comes from
that. It's the return you get for
spending time out here."
Barrons has been skiing
since he was a kid, starting
downhill at 12 years old. He
skied through high school and
college, and taught his wife and
family to ski. The only time
in his career when he did not
spend significant time on the
slopes was during the few years
he worked as an IT director in
Singapore - with a climate too
hot for snow.
"I've always enjoyed winter
sports. I like all the seasons, but
when it snows, I smile," he said.
"Most people get upset when
they see it's snowing; it's my
favorite time to be outside."
His passion for snowy
hillsides is evident as Barrons
glides off the quad chairlift
at Cannonsburg Ski Area,
northeast of Grand Rapids.
While kids and their parents
buzz past him down the slopes,
Barrons frequently perches
in what he calls a "patroller's
pose" - skis perpendicular to
the slope, with a slight forward
lean at the top of the tallest
lift - and surveys the ski area
below, looking for anyone who
has fallen, hurt themselves,
or who just might need some
help. Once he sees a clear run,
he easily links together a dozen
or so graceful and quick arcing
turns from top to bottom, then
hops on the lift to repeat
the process.
That ability to survey the ski
area and make judgments about
who may need help comes with
a lot of training, Barrons said.
Patrollers must be proficient in
emergency first-aid skills, must

SPR ING 201 7

be excellent skiers, and also
be able to master a variety of
specialized rescue techniques.
Barrons said, luckily, most
of the time at Cannonsburg the
injuries are not serious, and
are usually wrist injuries for
snowboarders (who tend to
fall forward) and leg injuries
for skiers.
"The hardest part is taking
on more obligation on the hill,
but we love the chance to do
it. Even though it's a lot of
training for rescue and first
aid to stay really state-of-theart, we do it because we love
it," Barrons said.

KEVIN BARRONS
Barrons is a member of the Viking Patrol.
This group of nordic patrollers
works in Minnesota patrolling races
with elite athletes.

Barrons started skiing at age 12.

Watch a video of Barrons in action
at gvsu.edu/gvmagazine
http://www.gvsu.edu/gvmagazine/off-the-path-spring-2017-461.htm
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Grand Valley Magazine Spring 2017
