Penrith Mountain Rescue Team member Keith Hill is heading to China later this month as the only UK-based ski patroller supporting the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Beijing.
“If all goes well on the travel arrangements, I’ll be leaving the UK on 22nd January and spending a total of nearly seven weeks in China covering the two events,” said Keith.
“I’ve been responsible for midweek ski patrol in Glencoe in Scotland for over 20 years and am active in the British Association of Ski Patrollers and its international equivalent.
“It is through those contacts that the Olympic Committee’s request for a ski patrol team to work in Beijing came through to me and I am honoured to be involved.”
The role of ski patrol involves being responsible for first aid on the mountains and Keith will be working on the downhill and slope style events. He will also have responsibility for some aspects of the courses, such as barriers and safety precautions.
“There’s plenty of heavy fetching and carrying on steep slopes as well as using my casualty care background to deal with potentially serious injuries,” he said,
“so there are a lot of similarities with being a volunteer in mountain rescue.”
Keith joined Penrith Mountain Rescue Team as a probationer at the start of 2020, before the pandemic, and became a full member of the team last year.
Based in Bampton, his day job is as a trainer on outdoor first aid courses, combined with the ski patrol role in Glencoe when the slopes are open.
He joined the team with considerable first aid and other related experience and successfully completed the mountain rescue casualty care qualification last May.
“The role at the Olympics is going to bring together a lot of the different things that I do,” said Keith.
“There will be language challenges I’m sure, but working with colleagues from a range of countries will give the opportunity to see and discuss different approaches.
“I’m looking forward to being part of such a huge global event and seeing China first hand.”
