History

History of Nordic Patrol at Mt. Rainier National Park

1990: On Sunday, October 28, Jim Kampe was lost while skiing the Muir Snowfield with friends. Jim was a member of the Washington Ski Touring Club (WSTC), the Sierra Club, and the Seattle Mountaineers. Members and friends joined Rangers in the unsuccessful multi-day search for Jim. He was 38.

Greg Woodman, then President of the ski club, recalls:

“The next WSTC meeting was that Thursday. I had to announce that Jim Kampe was missing from that Sunday outing. Many Club members were still down at Rainier searching that Thursday. That’s when Stan Davis came up with the idea of Nordic Patrol.”

1991-92: Washington Ski Touring Club Officer Stan Davis worked with Mt. Rainier National Park administrators to find a way to improve search and rescue operations within the Park. The result was Nordic Patrol, a volunteer program to enhance the safety of winter visitors in the backcountry. Teams of Nordic Patrollers would tour the trails and slopes around Paradise performing "preventive search and rescue" – marking safe trails and helping the public stay found. In emergencies, Patrollers would engage in the search and rescue of lost or injured visitors.

1992-93: WSTC launched the volunteer Nordic Ski Patrol at Mount Rainier.

2017: Twenty-four years after its founding, Nordic Patrol spun off and became a chapter of the National Ski Patrol. In partnership with the National Park Service, Nordic Patrol expanded its volunteer training programs to enhance the safety of patrollers and park visitors. Nordic Patrol has since grown to more than 60 active patrollers. The Patrol volunteers over 3,000 hours per season and assists in life-saving search and rescue operations in the park.

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