Nationally-recognized ski patrollers serve at Sunburst Ski Area



KEWASKUM -- Even though we have had temperatures in the 70s on a consistent basis for a good portion of March, there was enough snow this winter for a couple of nationally-recognized winter sports standouts to do their thing.

You can't have a ski season without snow, and there WAS a ski season this winter, albeit shorter than normal. You also can't have a ski season without the ski patrol.

"The easiest way to describe the ski patrol is, it's a group of individuals who are trained medically, and how to transport people off a hill or a ski area or a mountain, and take care of those people who get hurt while they are participating in the sport of skiing or tubing or snowboarding," Mike Husar said.

There's a lot to keep an eye on at Sunburst Ski Area in Kewaskum. There are more than a dozen runs available, and participants can take part in downhill skiing, tubing and snowboarding. The ski patrol keeps it all moving smoothly, and two of the nation's best ski patrollers are two of the biggest reasons why.

"We get people who go off big jumps, and they can have head injuries or internal (injuries) or a hurt leg," Emily Husar Martin said.

Husar Martin is a 17-year-old high-school senior who just so happens to be the National Young Adult Ski Patroller of the Year. Her boss on the hill is her uncle, Mike, who just so happens to be the National Ski Patrol Director of the Year. They are trailblazers in a way.

"As far as we know, it's never happened, even on a patrol level, so to get them for the same ski area in the same year, and then have them from the same family, it's never happened in the 75 years of the organization," Mike Husar said.

Mike started on the ski patrol in 1975, and says he'd be on the hill every day if he could. His niece is no different. "It's something to do in winter, it's fun, I'm good at it and I love the people out here," Emily Husar Martin said.

Mike Husar had the chance to be a part of the United States Ski Patrol for the Winter Olympics in Calgary, while Emily Husar Martin hopes to become a professional patroller in Colorado after finishing school.

CLICK HERE for more on the National Ski Patrol.