WOMEN OF SKI PATROL - MADI - BIG SKY MONTANA

Did you always love and respect the Ski Patrol?

Throughout the course of my ski racing, I got to go to many different countries and interact with the patrol and all the volunteers that put the races together. I always had a lot of respect for what they did for us. The ski patrol would also give us early-ups, I will always be super grateful for that.

When I was in high school (in Steamboat - CO) I got stopped by patrol a lot because I was a racer brat and would think I was in control, zipping through slow zones and acting generally entitled. We always got yelled at. Our response was always some bratty retort about how we were good skiers and wouldn’t hit anyone. But really it was a love hate relationship.

During my second season of competing in the Freeheel Life Cup (a telemark specific Big Mountain Competition in Grand Targhee, Wyoming) some friends and I ducked a rope and went out of bounds. We were standing on top of a cornice and just generally not having great backcountry etiquette. A patroller had followed us up there and just laid into us. “Do you have the proper avalanche gear? Do you know what you are doing out here? Do you know the area? Do you know the avalanche conditions?” We all did have beacons, shovels, & probes - but it was a moment of making a very poor decision. I remember thinking, “Oh man we are getting in so much trouble.” I felt so embarrassed and it looked really bad for the competition. We had a very respectful conversation with the patroller on our hike back down to the resort. I kept thinking, “Man, we are a bunch of idiots.” My guilty conscience got the best of me, and at the end of the competition I got a case of beer for the patrollers and brought it to their top shack. I ended up talking to them about patrol life for a while. I asked how they liked it, if they were paid okay, and if it was actually a feasible job. The Targhee patrollers were really cool and willing to talk about their experience. That’s when I first started considering patrol as a full time job.

I love that you went and made amends - that’s very cool.

Let’s start from the beginning. How did you become a snow junkie?

I started skiing at age two in Grand Targhee. My grandpa lives in Alta, WY (the closest town to what locals call The Ghee). I was born in Spring Creek, NV - there weren’t really any big ski areas around there, but my parents were both skiers. We had a tiny little hill called SnoBowl with a rope tow and slow moving double chair - it was maybe 600 vertical ….. And my parents were super into backcountry skiing in the Ruby Mountains. My dad is an ex-ski racer and ski coach so he got me going on alpine, and then when I was ten I switched to telemark skiing. Both of my parents telemarked. Even when I was on alpines I would try to put my uphill ski back behind me and ask if I was doing it. My parents would laugh and say, “No, you need our bindings - it doesn’t really work like that.”

hahahahaha

I probably didn’t actually start backcountry skiing until I was on telemark gear, but when I was little we had a big group of friends that lived in Spring Creek - two of our family friends had snow cats, and the rest of us had snowmobiles. My parents would drive our snowmobiles to a small meadow and build a sunken snow bar with shoveled out seats. The parents would grill, make sure the kids had enough food and then go skiing. I remember my dad taking me up to the top of Ambrosia, a steep little pitch between the trees. We would park the snowmobile at the top and then ski down.

What a great family.

When did your life become skiing?

We moved to Steamboat, CO when I was 12. They had a telemark racing program that my dad found and naturally, I really got into. When I was 15 I made the US National Telemark Team, and I competed on the World Cup Circuit for six seasons.

There was a question when I graduated high school of, “Do I go to college right out of high school and try to do racing and college at the same time? Do I only focus on school? Or only focus on racing?” I decided to do my first semester of college at Montana State University in Bozeman. Then in the second semester, I didn’t take any classes, and I moved to Chamonix (France).

WHAT!

I was able to do the whole World Cup tour that year and do all the French Cups as well. I was living in France with Jasmin Taylor of the British Telemark Ski Team for the whole winter, racing, trying to do well, and developing a new best friendship.

Insane.

I raced for two more seasons after that and then I realized that racing wasn’t making me happy anymore, so I quit and finished college.

After college I wasn’t really sure what to do with my life. I spent two seasons trying to figure out how to stay in Bozeman and settling on working food industry jobs and teaching yoga. Last season I got my EMT and was hired to patrol in January. This season there wasn’t a question, I was going back to the patrol job.

Ardha Chandrasana in the Your Yoga studio

What is your favorite part of the day when you are at work?

My favorite part of the day, honestly is probably when I scare myself. Big Sky has a lot of exposed terrain, and you can get cliffed out easily. Also, if you fall at the top of say, Lenin and it’s super hardpack and icy, you could slide for at least 1,000 ft if you don't self arrest. It’s intimidating knowing that there’s this huge amount of terrain below you. When I get somewhere super challenging and I realize, “Alright, this is my job, I need to efficiently navigate this terrain, make it down in one piece, not fall in my uniform, and get on with the day.” That’s my favorite part. It’s a cool thing to be able to have a job that challenges you in that kind of way.

You are a rare breed, with the ski racing, ect. You have a higher tolerance of fear, but did you ever think maybe you didn’t want to start patrolling at such a crazy hill? Like, perhaps you could begin somewhere a little more chill?

Haha. Big Sky has a large patrol, so there are more opportunities and openings. They have a huge volunteer program. It’s generally easy to get on the volunteer program, you just have to have your EMT. In the year of 2016/2017 I was thinking of joining the volunteer program - but my friend Weston (a former patroller) told me, “You could just apply to be professional...” to which I said, “You can do that? Oh, Okay!” So I did that. In the summer I had an interview with Dave (our assistant patrol director) and he told me they would need me to have my EMT certification when the resort opened (but I wouldn’t have it until December) so it would be better if I did the volunteer program, until mid-year when I would have my EMT certification. I hoped that my resume would woo him enough into hiring me, and I said so in the interview. He laughed and said, “Oh no, it’s not that you aren’t wooing me - we just can’t technically hire you without a current EMT license.” It was a very funny interview of me being generally awkward.

What are some of the things you do at work?

When I first thought about patrol - I figured they deal with people on the hill - they deal with avalanche mitigation, and they deal with infrastructure. So I was prepared as an EMT to go in and do medical assessments on people, but I didn’t really realize that everyone on Big Sky’s patrol does avalanche mitigation. When I got hired I was like, “Cool, putting up signs, building ropelines, going on medical calls, and I was prepared for those things. As a midseason hire, I didn't think I’d be put through Blaster training (our explosives handling training). Then - all of a sudden - I was in training, working with explosives and triggering avalanches. It was a really cool thing!

Whoa - I wondered if you got to throw bombs!

Well, we call them explosives, because bombs kill people.

My bad, my bad.

Haha - This season I’ve only been on route three times (this interview took place in January 2019) because we haven’t gotten a lot of snow - but we’ve had a bunch of control mornings. If you aren’t on route, you perform what’s called backup. You are positioned in a shack that is in a central location to the routes that are out, so if anything were to go wrong, you’re there for the medical back-up; or for search efforts. Most of the first year patrollers are put on back-up and that helps them learn the routes, shot placements, and general locations, and how early mornings work.

How many people are on the Big Sky Ski Patrol?

Around 105.

Wow. How is your pay? Is it equal with the dudes?

My male counterparts are paid the same as I am. This is based on the level/experience of the patroller.

How about when you were racing?

There were a couple of races when you would get a big check for the prize, and the women weren’t getting equal checks to the men. When I was racing I didn’t always get on the podium and didn’t always do really well so, anytime I did win money all I could do was a happy dance because, “Woohoo I won money!” and I wouldn’t even think about the fact that the boys check was bigger. In my mind I’d think, “Sweet! Stoked! Won Money. Yup - professional, moving on.” Because I’m no longer involved in the World Cup Telemark Racing circuit, I’m not sure if this has changed over the years. But I do know that the Freeheel Life Cup paid out the male and female competitors equally, Which was rad!

Hahahahahha. Indeed.

Freeheel Life Cup 2018 L to R_ Kami Abi-Nader, Madi McKinstry, Sofia Infante PC Freeheel Life

Do you go to the Southern Hemisphere and patrol in the summer?

I’m a really big mountain biker, and a river rat in the summer. I guide up in West Glacier (right outside of Glacier National Park). It would be sweet to ski all year round, but I really appreciate summertime.

Melted snow parties!

My dad was a scenic and fly fishing guide on the Snake River in his 20’s - so when I was little we used to go on river trips. I grew up on rivers. My parents would say, “You know, as soon as you start learning how to row this boat, you could make money by taking people down the river.” When I was 17, I realized that yes - I too could be a river guide.

You have some pretty amazing parents.

I’m very lucky.

How’s your ski patrol family?

It seems like it would be hard to get to know all 104 patrollers, but you work four days a week and then you have a three day weekend. So you overlap with every single person. Maybe you don’t work with them in the same shack, but you see them on the hill - you see them in the locker room, and the morning meeting - so it really does seem like we are just one huge heard of weirdos. We are all so weird in our own ways - we mostly get along - just a certain degree of weird on different days, and it works. Everybody that I have encountered has been super supportive; if you don’t understand something and you need to ask a question three times in a row - it’s okay. They would rather have you do something the right way the first time. It’s a very welcoming and learning enabled environment.

How do you advance your training?

We have something called the Dirtbag fund. It’s a non-profit organization. The donations and the merch money from our patrol shirts and hats are used for patroller education and avalanche dog training. If you personally wanted to go take a high angle rescue course - you sign up for it, pay in full and when you get back from the course - the Dirtbag Fund reimburses you if they chose you as a scholarship recipient. It’s a cool way of rewarding patrollers for getting the extra training.

As we wrap this up - Is there any Gear that makes your life better?

Kinco mittens.

I have found a new love for the merino wool top that Trew Gear makes. They don’t smell when you wash them, and they don’t itch.

Sno Cåt Coozy - Neck gators made by a girl in Tahoe. If it’s puking snow and super cold, I can put that around my nose and it won’t fall down. So then I have this shield of puffy fleece. Mine has kittens and flowers all over it.

And of course my Coalition Snow SOS skis. I have been skiing on Coalition for four seasons now and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So... I heard that sometimes your pack gets stuck on the chair?

Yeaaaaaah, it happened once last season, and it’s already happened once this season. It’s my pack’s buckles, they just get stuck on the chair sometimes. I check! I feel like I’m really good at making sure, like my pack is free - okay! I’m going to get off this chair - I’m in uniform - don’t wanna look like a newb! This one lift - Lone Tree - it gets me every time. I get to the top and I’m free, and I go to ski away and I’m not free.

hahahahahaha - oh noooooo.

Madi is still patrolling at Big Sky. She’s an ambassador for Coalition Snow. Find more of her thoughts at https://madimckinstry.wordpress.com/. Keep an eye out for her yoga class schedule if you’re ever in Bozeman at www.youryogabozeman.com.

Jiggs and Madi at the summit of Ousel Peak PC Cam Hardie