Endorsement Letter:

September 5, 2006

 On May 3^rd  2005, Larry Heywood presented his proposed Avalanche Blasting Amendments to State explosive Orders to the board members of the Association of Professional Patrollers (APP).  The Association of Professional Patrollers is an education and certification group of Ski Patrollers from the Western United States that has been closely involved with the ski industry since its inception in 1971. We have an active membership numbering in the hundreds and an alumni in the thousands and have certified over 500 ski patrollers in the past 34 years.

The board members, most of whom are active avalanche control experts at their respective ski areas, reviewed the proposal and after a short discussion voted unanimously to endorse the amendments set forth by Mr. Heywood.  The amendments were presented to the APP membership in a slide show by Mr. Heywood on the 3rd of May and also made available to the general membership in printed form during our Spring Clinic at Mammoth Mountain that week.  During a general meeting of the APP on the 5^th of May the APP Board endorsement of these amendments was announced to the membership and was well received during discussion with no dissent from those in attendance.

            Subsequently, over the past year, Larry Heywood and others have been working diligently with many ski areas, Cal Osha, and other interested parties to produce new Blasting Regulations for the Ski Industry.  The new regulations were presented to me last month, and I have since, made them available to the board members of the Association of Professional Patrollers.  Again, these proposed regulations reflect, literally, decades of experience and tried and tested techniques for successfully and safely managing the hazards and dangers of avalanches at our winter resorts; and these regulations will clearly define the procedures that are allowed.  These proposed regulations, again, stand as the most thorough, effective, and common sense approaches to this discipline of the ski industry and the Association of Professional Patrollers strongly endorses their implementation. We will be posting our endorsement and the Proposed Regulations on our Web site (www.propatrollers.org) through the 2006/2007 ski season.

Thank you for your consideration.

W. Scott Hoffman

President

The Association of Professional Patrollers

www.propatrollers.org

Proposed Avalanche Blasting amendments to State Explosive Orders (3-27-05)