{"id":38940,"date":"2022-08-12T02:25:56","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T08:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/national-ski-patrol-in-turmoil-as-third-director-in-five-years-leaves-citing-conflict\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:47:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:47:15","slug":"national-ski-patrol-in-turmoil-as-third-director-in-five-years-leaves-citing-conflict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/national-ski-patrol-in-turmoil-as-third-director-in-five-years-leaves-citing-conflict\/","title":{"rendered":"National Ski Patrol in turmoil as third director in five years leaves, citing conflict"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Another
Another day at the office for Telluride ski patrollers Jason Rogers and Josh Sands as they conduct avy control on Palmyra Peak. (Brett Schreckengost\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Chris Castilian has resigned as executive director of the Lakewood-based National Ski Patrol after one year, citing \u201cvastly different visions for the future of this organization\u201d between himself and the group\u2019s board.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis week I came to the realization our respective views on NSP\u2019s path forward are so different that it is highly unlikely we will ever align, and so, it is time for me to move on,\u201d he wrote in a letter sent to the National Ski Patrol board this week.<\/p>\n

Castilian, the former deputy chief of staff for Gov. Bill Owens and one-time head of government relations for Anadarko Petroleum Corp., joined the 31,000-member National Ski Patrol last July after serving four years as executive director of Great Outdoors Colorado. At the time he said the then 83-year-old group that offers education and training for ski patrollers was \u201cin need of a little bit of a refresh.\u201d<\/p>\n

The venerable National Ski Patrol is a mess. Half the members are wondering why the group needs to think about diversity, equity and inclusion. Its outdated education programs are falling out of favor with major resorts that do not rely on volunteer patrollers. For the past 17 years staff at the National Ski Patrol have battled with the group\u2019s board of directors over how the association is governed. And churning through eight out of 10 of its employees in recent years is a symptom of the dysfunction that threatens the National Ski Patrol\u2019s relevance and role in a rapidly evolving resort industry.<\/p>\n

Castilian is the third boss to leave the National Ski Patrol in five years. Meegan Moszynski in November 2020 split with the National Ski Patrol after three years as executive director. The timing of the departure of the first female leader of the group overlapped with a backlash over a racist comment by the group\u2019s then-board chairman, Brian Rull, in his fall 2020 column in Ski Patrol Magazine<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Former
Former Great Outdoors Colorado Executive Director Chris Castilian during a tour of Crazy French Ranch near Trinidad in 2019. The 30 square-mile property became Fishers Peak State Park. (Nina Riggio\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Rull\u2019s column described an airline trip during which he was \u201cunfortunate enough to sit next to an Asian woman who coughed the entire flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

NSP said the departure of Moszynski had nothing to do with the furor over Rull\u2019s column, which he blamed on \u201can unfortunate editing error.\u201d While the National Ski Patrol and Moszynski publicly said that she simply left the organization, several sources told The Colorado Sun she was fired by the board, presumably for criticizing Rull\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone in the industry thought Meegan was great for the organization. Except for its board of directors,\u201d said a longtime ski industry insider who works closely with the National Ski Patrol. \u201cIt really is the board that is the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moszynski, who declined to comment, this month assumed the role of director at the Alterra Mountain Co. Community Foundation, which directs financial support into its resort communities. She has filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the National Ski Patrol that includes more than 150 pages of exhibits and evidence, according to three witnesses she listed in the complaint.<\/p>\n

National Ski Areas Association president Kelly Pawlak wrote a note to her members in December 2020 denouncing \u201cthe offensive and racist language\u201d in Rull\u2019s column.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have formally asked the NSP Board for corrective action to address this mistake, including committing to reflection and a path forward where NSP demonstrates leadership on inclusion,\u201d Pawlak wrote.<\/p>\n

An online petition in December 2020 signed by 626 people urged an overhaul of the National Ski Patrol and \u201cacknowledge that what they published in their magazine is harmful and a direct result of the toxic culture that has been cultivated in the highest levels of NSP.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2014, Ski Area Management Magazine<\/em> published two back-to-back articles entitled \u201cRescue Me: The National Ski Patrol has been through years of turmoil. Can it be saved?\u201d Ski industry veteran and ski patroller Skip King wrote the articles, which detailed a decadelong battle between the group\u2019s leadership and its elected members. Among the issues were \u201cirrational interpretations\u201d of the organization\u2019s bylaws by board members.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I had read those stories before I started,\u201d Castilian said. \u201cWhat is old is new again. I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s the same (expletive) nearly 20 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several board members in 2012 sued the group\u2019s leadership to get access to member contact information so the board could communicate directly with members. Board members also sued their own organization in 2005 over similar concerns with board member rights. Both of those lawsuits were settled after adjustments that ultimately delivered more power to the group\u2019s board.<\/p>\n

\u201cNSP\u2019s governance structure is \u2026 ridiculous,\u201d King said in an interview this week. \u201cFind any other organization with a mission even remotely comparable to NSP\u2019s that pulls its leadership out of democratic process. Take the Red Cross, for example. I guarantee you there is nobody on the Red Cross board who got their start handing out coffee from a truck at a major fire. The whole governance structure at NSP, in my view, sets them up to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emails sent to the 13-member board of directors at the National Ski Patrol and the directors of the group\u2019s divisions were not returned this week. A spokeswoman for the National Ski Patrol emailed a statement Wednesday saying a new online training program \u201chas allowed the organization to strategically modernize our approach to education.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNSP\u2019s national board of directors is steadfastly committed to supporting the talented and creative national office team and is actively working with them to develop a plan to identify, hire and support a new leader within the national office to continue to provide meaningful value to NSP\u2019s members and to all of our vital partners,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n

\"Ski
Ski patrollers prepare to load an injured skier onto the Game Creek Express chair at Vail ski area on Dec. 11, 2020. (Jason Blevins\/The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

John McMahon served as executive director for the National Ski Patrol for three years before he quit in 2017. Like Moszynski and Castilian, he pushed hard to change how the National Ski Patrol was governed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came in there was concern about the relevancy of the NSP and the board\u2019s involvement in day-to-day operations. There was a considerable amount of the board overstepping its boundaries \u2026 and acting like staff, not directors,\u201d said McMahon, who now works as the chief executive officer for the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado. \u201cI went through the exact same thing Chris went through. So did Meegan. So the board had had three executive directors in a row calling for a change to NSP governance and three times now they have failed to act.\u201d<\/p>\n

McMahon thinks it\u2019s time for all the former directors of the NSP to stand up and fight for a shift in how the NSP is operated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this board continues this behavior they will probably become obsolete. More obsolete,\u201d McMahon said. \u201cI think it\u2019s time for anyone who cares for this organization to stand up and say enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Disconnect and denial\u2019<\/div>\n

In June 2021, as the National Ski Patrol addressed the fallout from the Rull column, the organization deployed The Equity Project to survey members and hold focus groups. The hope was to find a way to better address equity, diversity and inclusion in the organization and industry ski patrols.<\/p>\n

National Ski Patrol\u2019s 31,000 members at about 650 resorts are 64% male, 76% white and largely from resorts out East and in the Midwest. The group represents mostly volunteer ski patrollers. Volunteer ski patrollers play an essential role in the U.S. ski industry, making up more than 90% of the patrollers at ski areas in the 10 Midwest states with ski lifts and more than 80% of the patrollers at resorts in New England.<\/p>\n

The National Ski Patrol offers its own emergency medical responder course and certification \u2013 the Outdoor Emergency Care training program first developed in the 1980s. Few Western resorts accept a certification by that program to meet patroller qualification requirements, but smaller resorts in the Midwest and New England do.<\/p>\n

The Equity Project delivered a 26-page report in December 2021 that included 3,794 responses from the group\u2019s members. Only 52% of the respondents agreed there is a need to incorporate principles of equity, diversity and inclusion in the National Ski Patrol.<\/p>\n

In focus groups with National Ski Patrol members, The Equity Project consultants identified what they called \u201cdisconnect and denial.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMany NSP members disagree that the organization should be focused on equity, diversity and inclusion goals,\u201d reads the report, which urged NSP leadership to align with a comprehensive strategy that includes outreach to expand equity, diversity and inclusion in the ski patrol profession. \u201cThese members\u2019 inability to understand and \/ or their rejection of some of their fellow members\u2019 experiences pose a barrier to NSP\u2019s efforts to become a more inclusive and welcoming organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Injured
Injured after a fall at Crested Butte ski resort, Laine Walter of Charlotte, North Carolina, gets taken to the base area by ski patrollers Dec. 18, 2020. (Dean Krakel\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The report called for training for National Ski Patrol leadership, division directors and lead patrollers with the group. It called for the National Ski Patrol to make a public statement outlining its plans \u201cto make NSP more inclusive for everyone\u201d and require equity, diversity and inclusion training in all the group\u2019s certification programs and refresher course requirements.<\/p>\n

The National Ski Patrol group has organized \u201cDEI thought leaders\u201d who will create the inaugural National Ski Patrol Diversity Council this fall, according to a new diversity, equity and inclusion page on the group\u2019s website, which promises to \u201cconsistently deliver its training and services in a culturally competent manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t enough for Castilian.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was hired last July with the full confidence of the board to transform this organization into what it could be, and rather than joining me in that journey, the leadership remains firmly rooted in keeping the organization as it has always been,\u201d Castilian wrote in his resignation letter to the National Ski Patrol board this week \u2013 subject line: \u201cOnward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the outset, I built a dedicated team focused on member services, and we all worked hard to earn your trust so that we could clearly delineate staff roles and responsibilities to support the strategic direction of our board,\u201d he wrote. \u201cInstead, the board has chosen to ignore the work of our strategic consultant and dedicated members on the Initiative for Change Task Force, ignore the advice of our peer organizations, has met in secrecy and isolation for the last eight months, and continues to treat their professional staff as an impediment to progress instead of a partner.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Ski Patrol formed in 1938. By 1950, it had 4,000 members working at 300 ski areas. It has evolved from a service group to offering education and training in outdoor medical care and mountain rescue. The group even has a federal charter \u2013 an act of Congress approved in 1980 \u2013 that affirms the National Ski Patrol mission \u201cto promote, in every way, patriotic, scientific, educational, and civic improvement activities and public safety in skiing.\u201d<\/p>\n

As resorts seek professional ski patrollers with more specialized training \u2013 emergency medical technicians and wilderness first responders, for example \u2013 many patrols at major Western resorts have moved away from volunteer patrollers and association with the National Ski Patrol. (Only 15% of the group\u2019s members hail from resorts in the Rocky Mountains and the West.)<\/p>\n

\u201cBunch of East Coast dinosaurs that support not paying patrols. I don\u2019t know why we keep joining,\u201d said a patroller from a Colorado resort who asked not to be named.<\/p>\n

\"Telluride
Telluride ski patroller Jim Greene throws a hand charge on Palmyra Peak. (Brett Schreckengost\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Claire Smallwood, the co-founder and executive director of SheJumps \u2013 which has provided 36,000 girls and women with outdoor opportunities, training and guided trips since 2007 \u2013 severed her group\u2019s partnership with the National Ski Patrol after Rull\u2019s column and apology.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Smallwood and her team took issue with the National Ski Patrol\u2019s apology that \u201csome readers\u201d found Rull\u2019s comments offensive or inappropriate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat signals that they did not categorically denounce the phrase or that \u2018some readers\u2019 were just being sensitive,\u201d said Smallwood, who suspended the SheJumps\u2019 junior ski patrol partnership with the National Ski Patrol, which offered girls as young as 8 training in how to be a patroller.<\/p>\n

Smallwood offered strategies for improvement at the National Ski Patrol, including ways to infuse more acceptance and diversity into patroller ranks. The concern, she said, was marginalized skiers possibly being mistreated by patrollers who don\u2019t recognize or accept inclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause NSP works directly with people, it\u2019s so important for all skiers and snowboarders to see and trust that NSP is inclusive,\u201d said Smallwood, who did not see the organization respond to any of her suggestions. \u201cThere is zero interest at any level of that organization to make any kind of change. That is incredibly harmful to all ski patrollers and really dangerous to the future of skiing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National Ski Patrol relies heavily on its partnership with clothing maker Patagonia and Subaru. Both of those organizations expressed anger over Rull\u2019s column in 2020 and Castilian said he spent a lot of time with those partners making sure the group was on track with its promises to be more inclusive. Those heavyweight partners could step in and push the National Ski Patrol to change in ways the previous executive directors could not, Castilian said.<\/p>\n

\"Ski
Ski patrollers at Purgatory Resort train with the crew of a Flight for Life helicopter in February 2021 at the ski area. (Cameron Kautzman\/Special to The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

At the National Ski Areas Association annual meeting in May, the association\u2019s executive board met with the volunteer National Ski Patrol board \u201cto provide an opportunity for both organizations to learn more about each other,\u201d said association spokeswoman Adrienne Saia Isaac. The meeting was scheduled six months in advance and the chairman of the ski patrol board, Rick Boyce, did not show.<\/p>\n

Isaac said Castilian\u2019s resignation \u201cis of great concern\u201d to the association and its board. But she was quick to distinguish between the issues at National Ski Patrol and \u201cthe passionate folks who work as patrollers in service to the skiing public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir reputations as first responders should not be tarnished,\u201d Isaac said.<\/p>\n

At that meeting in May, a National Ski Areas Association board member and executive of a major ski resort described the National Ski Patrol governing body as \u201ca dysfunctional HOA board.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter Castilian sent to his staff this week, he said the National Ski Patrol \u201cdoesn\u2019t have any capital left to burn\u201d with its partners. Churning through three executive directors and 80% of National Ski Patrol staff, he said, \u201cwill send a signal to the broader snowsports industry that something isn\u2019t working.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the board listens and takes constructive feedback to heart this time and fundamentally changes the organization,\u201d he wrote, \u201cso that NSP can move beyond the label of a \u2018dysfunctional HOA board\u2019 \u2026 and remain relevant in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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