Jerry Knowlton, a mountain resident since 2005, joined the Mount Hood Ski Patrol as a volunteer in the spring of 1997.

In those early years, the routine often included waking his daughter, Emily, in the early morning, driving up to Mount Hood with her and one of her
friends, and as he started his patrol day Emily and her friend enjoyed a nap in
the car before the lifts opened and they could go snowboarding.

Today, the routine is quite similar, except that Emily now skips the nap and
joins him on the slopes as two of 250 active volunteers of the MHSP.

“It’s corny, but I think it is so cool that she decided to do this,” said Jerry, 65.

“I was surprised.”

Jerry grew up in Michigan playing basketball and baseball and didn’t become
an avid skier until he moved to Oregon in 1981. But thanks to a skiing

neighbor and the interest of his two daughters, Jerry got hooked.

Now, he spends approximately 30 days (most of which are up to a 12-hour
commitment) on the mountain as a volunteer; including up to 22 days on
patrol, up to six days of training and a few more for committee work. He and
Emily patrol at Mount Hood Meadows and get to be together on patrol days up
to 10 times a season.

Emily got her start on the ski patrol at Mount Ashland Ski Area when she
attended Southern Oregon University. At the time, she was a more
accomplished snowboarder and just a novice skier, but she made the
conversion and started training, and didn’t let her father in on the news until
after she started.

“It was exciting,” said Emily, 30, of telling her father the news. “I think he
was pretty proud (for me) just to be following in his footsteps.”

Jerry recalled one time when he visited Emily at Mount Ashland while she was
still training. The two got to pair up for the day, but when they encountered a
case involving a broken collarbone, Emily took charge and got to work.

“She just did everything right,” said Jerry, president and owner of JHK, Inc., a
financial advisory firm based in Sandy. “I was there as the active patroller,
but she did the whole darn thing perfectly.”

After Emily moved to Portland and became a member of the MHSP, the pair
got the chance to patrol more often, although Emily started off at Ski Bowl
while her father was at Mount Hood Meadows. But that allowed them to
expose the other to more terrain on the mountain, although it wasn’t always
easy to keep things concentrated on the tasks at hand.

“It’s hard because it is work – we do have duties to do,” said Emily, who
works as a care staff supervisor at an assisted living facility in northeast
Portland. “It’s easier when I’m on my own patrolling to remember that, versus
being with my dad.”

Emily noted that patrolling with her father includes their history of good
communication, which translates well in responding to incidents on the
mountain.

She also sees how the time she and her family spent volunteering when she
was younger, including at soup kitchens, has fostered the drive to help out.
“I really just feel a deeper connection to be able to volunteer that time, and
then on top do it with my dad,” Emily said. “What better gift could we give.”