From an article by Nancy Espelin, for the Norwester, Spring, 2003
The Mt. Spokane Ski Patrol moved into their new aid facility located at the base area on Mt. Spokane near Spokane, Washington in 1993. This all-volunteer patrol, one of the few patrols to receive the Ski Patrol of the Year award from the National Ski Patrol, is extraordinary.
Aside from rescuing injured and lost riders on the mountain each year, patrollers volunteer at many events offering aid and raising funds throughout the year. But the most Herculean effort was culminated in the building of this facility.
For years, the patrol moved from room to room until their building finally was condemned and they found themselves in a musty, rat infested aid room that battled the challenge of keeping the mice excrement at bay each day. A small niche was made in the basement of another lodge and the tiny 3 bedroom once saw 27 patients in one day. Patrollers had no place on the mountain to store equipment and gear so many keep extra toboggans and signs at their homes, bringing them to the mountain when they were needed. As the crowds to the mountain increased, there remained no room for patrollers to bring their families, so many left them at home. It was clear to all, something had to be done. “I can't believe we did that,” Larry Briney gasped referring to a video of he and Craig Lee scaling five-story-high scaffolding.
Briney, an attorney with the State of Washington Attorney General's Office, and a long-time member, directed the patrol when he went before his general meeting and proposed the group allocate all of $130,000 they had been saving for 25 years to go to toward the building of a new patrol building at Mt. Spokane. This proposed building would house their aid room, patrol locker area, kitchen, bathrooms, storage, eating and meeting space. The only nay vote for the proposal came from a patrol member who, as a contractor, felt the lofty goal of using mostly volunteer labor could not be accomplished. The patrol member felt so strongly about the error, that he left the patrol after the vote. The patrol began to think even more seriously about a building when MSSP member, and then National Ski Patrol Chairman Marlen Guell, advised them that the money had to be used or there could be the possibility that; the national organization would end up with the funds should the Mt. Spokane patrol somehow no longer be on the mountain. Briney said no one wanted all that money that everyone worked so hard to raise to go to the IRS or National, so they decided they would propose spending the money on a building.
Mt. Spokane Ski Patrol could not even begin to think of starting a building without the accumulation over the years of the proceeds for the annual SKI SWAP held the last weekend of October each year at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds. The annual event provides the patrol's toboggans, oxygen, trauma packs, bandages and dressings for each year's operations.
It is one of the few in the entire division that provides all of their own medical supplies for the accidents and searches they help with each year. The group pays their annual dues and any training costs out of the money raised each year. For years, while they worked on the building, all the patrol paid their own dues, freeing up an additional $5,000 each year for building construction costs. Today, money continues to be used to continue to work toward completion of the building.
All the planets have to be in a row before another patrol could do this, longtime patrol member, and Alpine Ski Patroller of the Year Lu Cairns proclaimed. Lu even speaks with some amazement that the patrol was able to pull everything together to accomplish such a task. But Lu should know better than anyone the dedication of the patrol in general and a few key people as he recorded the most number of hours of anyone while volunteering on the mammoth project. Lu could be seen 7 days a week and many nights working on everything from the framing to the varnishing.
One of those planets happened to be in the unique connections this talented group of patrollers had. Craig Lee, 26 year patrol veteran, co-owned an engineering consulting firm that gave him unique opportunities to present the story and ask for money from construction industry and material supplier contacts. When Craig asked the Dix's to borrow scaffolding for a couple months, Pete Dix didn't even blink. Craig recalls a discussion with Potlatch about procuring a few units of the best grade of plywood sheeting at a rock bottom price and having them arrange the purchase though the person who handled the lumber purchases. Elaine Cairns (wife of Lu), 27 years on the patrol, and also an Alpine Ski Patroller of the Year hooked the architect up with Craig Lee. Former patrol member and architect Glen Cloninger wanted to make a lasting contribution to the patrol and the sport he loved so much and designed an award winning structure for the patrol.
Former director Elaine Cairns clocked the second most hours, right behind her husband Lu. She recalls contractor Tom Costello telling her he could never get the men to cut the wood correctly and that she could not take any days off until the building was complete. Costello, although paid for his work only 5 days a week, was found on the mountain most weekends. I think he was amazed at our group and liked working with us, Lee commented. Costello's wife wanted their 16 year-old to be kept busy all summer, so Costello hired him and paid him out of his own money.
When it came time to roof the 12 in 20 pitch roof, former patroller Pat Potts volunteered along with his recently retired father, Fred, who said he knew how to do a little sheetrock and other contraction tasks. We were so fortunate for Fred, Elaine Cairns related. He volunteered the entire summer and helped the group get the entire building closed in by September 1992.
It was as much a community effort as well, as members of the Mt. Spokane Committee visited the mountain during construction and even reached into their pockets for donations of cash as well as raffle prizes. Lou Lou himself donated $4000 worth of ski gear and the patrol added $1,000 for a raffle that raised the patrol additional funds.
