NSP ATHLETE PROFILES

Mackenzie Case

Hi, I’m Mackenzie! I’m from Central NY and I’ve been a ski patroller for 7 years. I learned to ski at Labrador Mountain when I was 6 years old and always found myself looking up to all of the cool ski patrollers. I knew I wanted to patrol someday… so that's what I did! I joined Labrador Mountain’s patrol in 2017 and have been working there ever since.
In 2023, I competed in my first Freeride ski competition, the Stowe IFSA 2*. I was hooked and have been competing ever since. You will find me at most of the east coast IFSA events competing and cheering for the madness. When not skiing, I’m usually running, lifting, hiking, biking, climbing, or really anything outdoors. I love training for life and pushing myself to be better!
During the week, you can find me in the studio. I run my own small business, Mackenzie Case Handmade. I create jewelry that I love, drawing a lot of inspiration from my outdoor adventurers. My pieces reflect that, and I love being able to connect with others through them. The skills I have learned as a patroller have carried into the rest of my life. They have given me more confidence in my everyday life and increased my preparedness for many situations that can arise while on one of my many adventures.

Daniel Linden

Approaching my 12th season with the Loveland Professional Ski Patrol, I started there when I was 19 and had no idea what ski patrolling was going to be about. After years of growing as a patroller and human, participating in NSP courses along the way, I have been molded into a leader on my patrol as the acting ski patrol supervisor.  I have not been into competition snowboarding for as long as I have been patrolling, I started back just before covid. However, my first competition in 2020 was a successful one where I took 3rd place and discovered a new avenue of passion within snowboarding. Since then, competing in the FWQ events has been a major part of my winters. 
Balancing my duties as a ski patrol manager with my goals as an athlete is of the upmost importance to me.  As part of the NSP Athlete Program, I believe both the NSP and my own patrol have an opportunity to send a powerful message to the industry - one where the center of the message is: snowboard athletes have a strong presence in this industry and are not only succeeding within this career field, but in personal areas of the sport as well. That message paired with the power and beliefs that NSP brings, would be an impactful one I believe. 

Favorite NSP Moment: My favorite NSP moment over my career would have to be from February 2023. That was when Bandit and I passed our CRAD validation test. This is a search test that all deployment teams must pass in order to be deployable in the Colorado backcountry with FFL. We trained extremely hard to reach a point where we felt confident enough to test, over the course of 3+ years.
Becoming an avalanche dog handler has always been a goal of mine, since the first year I started patrolling. Being a snowboarder, I have battled many doubts and beliefs from others within this industry, and even sometimes to this day. Some of the beliefs and opinions were essentially that snowboarding didn’t have a place in avalanche rescue or avalanche mitigation. After passing my test, I’ll never forget how ecstatic I was. It felt like years' worth of pressure was finally off my shoulders and I could celebrate what felt like an impossible goal at times. Upon reaching this milestone, I confirmed with some of the CRAD leadership a hunch that I had. That was that Bandit and I were the first snowboard/splitboard backcountry avalanche rescue team to be certified in the state and possibly the nation.
Now that I’ve reached this goal I’m confidently able to say, not only did I prove it to the naysayers, but I also proved it to myself. Snowboarders can do avalanche rescue effectively, as well as avalanche mitigation effectively, and that has to be the most rewarding accomplishment, and favorite moment in my career thus far.

Alex Maresjo

Growing up skiing at the local non-profit hill, there were two things I wanted to do more than anything else: be a ski patroller and a ski racer. In my teenage years I pursued ski racing but found myself limited in my ability to participate in the sport the way that I dreamed of due to my family's financial situation. I gave up on that dream along with the dream of joining ski patrol, thinking it was only for an elite group of people with super specialized hard to get training.  

Many years later I would stumble across a booth at a ski film that said, "Ask us how to join the volunteer ski patrol". I had no idea this was even a thing! I was excited at the prospect of making one of those long-lost childhood dreams a reality and embarked on my journey of joining the National Ski Patrol. A couple of years later an old friend mentioned this thing called Master Racing to me. Once again, I didn't even know this was a thing! One day I found myself sitting on a lift with a member of the local Masters Team, and one week later I was running gates for the first time in almost 20 years.  

Today I get to live both of my childhood dreams, being an active member of the National Ski Patrol and a competitor in Masters Ski Racing. I am overwhelmed with gratitude every day I find myself sitting on a chair lift in either my patrol uniform or in my speed suit, as there is no where else I would rather be. Dreams really do come true. 

Favorite NSP Moment: My first few years as a member of NSP I had an amazing mentor named Kim. She showed up every day with enough energy for the entire hill and made sure every single candidate always had fun while learning to be a patroller. She knew this was the key to getting people to stick around for the hours and hours of training that was in front of them. The first thing we always did was ski all the runs with the best pitch, best conditions, and best lines to ensure they were “safe” for the public before we got into training for the day. Besides her fun approach, she was a great teacher, great patroller and great friend. Thanks to her, I still use that same philosophy with candidates. We are on the hill to serve the public and help them in what is possibly their greatest time of need, we work hard to train the next group of future patrollers to be ready for this, and in between we get to patrol the mountain, having fun, doing what we love the most, skiing. 

Michelle McGee

I started as a snowboarding lifty in Pennsylvania at Roundtop.  Then drove transport cats in Tahoe at Sugar Bowl.  Taught toddlers how to ski at Squaw Valley.  Then worked with Disabled Sports at Alpine. Somewhere in this timeline I learned how to telemark even though I was a diehard knuckle dragger.  My friend convinced me to patrol full time the next year at Homewood.  Then my wildlife biology job took me near Yosemite National Park and I joined the ski patrol at China Peak.  After 18 years on patrol, I find myself on tele skis when I am wearing a cross and a snowboard sometimes with my son.  We love making downhill laps on bikes all summer at the resort.  For the last two seasons I have raced the pro category for xc mtb.  I love patrolling year-round on skis and bikes.