Ron Clark
#11 Ronald Clark
Patrol -Powder Ridge
Joined NSP - 1973
Inducted - October 20, 2013
Ron has been active at three local patrols, The CT Region, The Eastern Division and has been on the National Staff over the course of patrolling since 1973. Ron began patrolling at McIntyre Ski Patrol in New Hampshire. Two years later he moved to CT and became an energetic member of Powder Ridge Ski Patrol. From 1975 to 2006, when Powder Ridge succumbed to financial problems, he was always an esteemed and highly respected member of the patrol. He has been involved with Lift Evacuation training at Powder Ridge. Ron continued to be active transferring to the Butternut Ski Patrol where he has been a Pro patroller. He also volunteers with the Thunderbolt Ski Patrol on Mt. Greylock patrolling the famed Thunderbolt Ski Race.
Soon after joining Powder Ridge, Ron was elected to Treasurer serving from 1978 to 1980. He earned his Senior in 1977. With his great enthusiasm and passion for mountains, Ron became a Ski Mountaineering (now Mountain Travel and Rescue) instructor in 1980 and followed this up in 1983 by becoming an Avalanche Instructor. As such Ron honed his teaching skills early on by leading many A&M courses in CT and was quickly appointed as the CT Ski Mountaineering Advisor, serving 5 years from 1980 to 1985. Ron's background, willingness to teach others and his ability to travel allowed Ron to teach A&M courses throughout the Northeast from West Virginia, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and New Jersey where he was given a certificate of appreciation for helping them establish their Mountaineering program in 1981.
As Ron and his expertise became well known in the Division, he was appointed in 1985 to the Eastern Division Ski Mountaineering Advisor position. He held this position until 1992. During these years he continued to patrol at Powder Ridge. He co-authored the first Eastern Division Avalanche and Ski Mountaineering Instructor's Manual that was distributed in 1987. He also taught a wide variety of topics at Junior Seminars (Now the Young Adult Patroller Seminar), the Avalanche, Mountaineering and Nordic Seminars in New Hampshire, and basic and advanced courses here in CT. In 1992 Ron was appointed the National Ski Mountaineering Program Director, a position he held until 2000. In this position, he continued to teach a variety of topics at several Powder Fall Conferences in Utah and in Val d'Isere, France. His other accomplishments during his tenure included chairing the committee and co-authoring the text Mountain Travel and Rescue published in 1995 and the Ski Mountaineering Instructor's Manual in 1997. Finally it was under Ron's guidance that the Ski Mountaineering program officially became the Mountain Travel and Rescue Program as it is known today.
In 2000, Ron stopped teaching Mountain Travel and Rescue classes after 25 years of service. He also stopped teaching Avalanche classes after 22 years of service. He continued to patrol at Powder Ridge. Only one year later Ron was appointed the National Skills Development Program Director. In this position he worked closely with the Wilderness Medical Society to develop a joint course to train Doctors in skills relevant to ski patrollers at ski races. When this was completed Ron once again returned to patrolling. Throughout Ron's Patrolling career, he eagerly shared his knowledge and wrote many diverse articles for a variety of ski publications including Connecticut's Lift Line, Trail Sweep, Tracks and Banners, Pointers, The Professional Skier, Pro-Rider and Ski Patrol Magazine.
Over the years Ron has been recognized many times. He received his National Appointment #7037 in 1988, a Distinguished Service Award in 1996, two Yellow Merit Stars (For an outstanding act or service) in 1992 and 1995. He received a Gold Merit Star for The Charles Schobinger Award for the Outstanding Administrative Ski Patroller in 2000. Even with all these Ron is most proud of those he received at Powder Ridge. Ron was entered into the Powder Ridge Honor Board in 1992 and given the Powder Ridge Distinguished Service Award in 1998. Awards were never Ron's goal. He unselfishly enjoyed helping out wherever needed, mentoring others but mostly patrolling the hill.