This Breckenridge Ski Patroller Built a Haven for Local Ski Culture

Ski shops mean different things to different people. 

They might, for example, be the place where you stumbled across a copy of your new favorite magazine, glanced at the glossy photos, and decided to dedicate the rest of your life to skiing. Maybe, instead, a curmudgeony old ski tech taught you how to perfectly tune ski edges while enchanting you with stories of the “good old days.” Perhaps working at a ski shop gave you a steep pro-form discount on some sparkly new sticks.

To Sam Simonds, a patroller who runs Breckenridge’s Green Light Tuning, ski shops can be an oasis of culture and community in an era where the socioeconomic fabric of ski towns is changing fast. Simonds, his shop, and his fellow patrollers star in the latest episode of Peaks & Passages, a web series that illuminates the quieter, soulful corners of skiing. Fittingly, the episode’s called Green Light.

Check out Green Light below and keep reading for our conversation with Sam.

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Watch: Green Light, Peaks & Passages, Season 3, Episode 1

This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.

I’m wondering where the physical green light, or stoplight, that you had in the shop came from?

“Shoot, you know, I wish I had a really cool story behind that, but, yeah, I mean, it just came off the internet. Originally, the shop was not in its current location. It was actually in the same building, but in the back rather than in front. And when I first opened it, things were very unofficial. And I got a green light bulb, and I put a lamp in the window, and I would flick on that green light whenever I was open, just so people would know, because I didn’t really have hours—just kind of come in and have a beer and drop off your skis if you see the green light on.

When I moved into the storefront that I’m in now, I decided it should be official, and so, yeah, it’s a way to communicate out the storefront if I’m open or not, and even, you know, if there’s a red light, maybe we’re in there, but we don’t necessarily want you to come in.” 

For the broader skiing public, being a ski patroller is often seen as a glamorous, fun job where you’re just skiing all day. From your perspective, what are the parts of it that are hard?

“Patrolling can certainly be glamorous at times. You know, there are times when you find yourself asking yourself, ‘Do I really get paid to do this right now?’ But you know … most of the time you’re saying to yourself, ‘I really don’t get paid enough to do this job.’ 

And then it’s easy to kind of point out some of the cliche parts that are hard, like the hours you know, you’re on the hill before sunrise, and you’re leaving after dusk, you know, after everybody else is gone, and just the physical demands that patrol places on you are really hard. 

But I would say, you know, the people—that can be as simple as having to tell a guest that his season is over because he just blew his ACL, or even worse, having to tell a mother or father that we’re going to do our best, but it’s not looking good for their son or their daughter. That’s definitely the hardest part, which is kind of seeing life-changing events happening up there and trying to stay, not necessarily positive, but keeping at it day after day. 

And also, you know, your co-workers can be really hard. If you’re in a position of leadership, having to ask them to go do super dangerous things day after day, you really have to gain their trust and meet them at a personal level, and despite those things being the hardest, the most challenging, they are certainly some of the most rewarding things. 

When you get to see a co-worker thrive, or figure something out, or, you know, you buy a patient some time, get them off the hill safely, get them to the doctor, and you see that their outcome is really good because of the care that you took on the hill with them.”

What are some of the usual highlights in the life of a ski patroller?

“I gotta say, you know, again there, there are certainly some cliche answers here, but they’re cliche for a reason—and one of the one of the biggest highlights for me, is opening new avalanche terrain, and that there’s nothing quite like it, especially if you’re out there with your co-workers who become like brothers and sisters to you over time, and you overcome challenges and get through a tricky avalanche control route, and then call a piece of terrain open and then watch you know, locals and guests hooting and hollering and just really enjoying their day. That has to be one of the most rewarding things on patrol.

Another thing I have to say that is super rewarding on a personal level is that, having patrolled for over 15 years now, I am coming to understand snow better. I’ll be a lifelong student of snow and snow pack and how it behaves, and how to stay safe. But I feel that I’ve been able to take what I’ve learned on patrol and translate that into safer days in the backcountry, more days in the backcountry, and better days in the backcountry, which is one of the reasons I started patrolling in the first place, was to learn how to ski in the backcountry safely and be able to handle anything that may come up, and also make those important but hard decisions about where to ski and when.”

What is the importance of gathering places like Green Light?

“If the ski industry continues to chase profits and prioritize profits over people, skiing risks losing the magic that makes it so special in the first place. And, you know, I can’t sugarcoat it. There are five core local shops that have gone out of business just in the past couple of years here in Summit County, and we’re kind of rapidly losing that local ski culture. 

For myself and Greenlight, just trying to do our part to create a space for people, where people feel comfortable, and also where people get the local information that makes them love the place that they moved to—and that’s for visitors as well. It is also a way for us to put on display the tight-knit and supportive culture that we have here for visitors and keep them coming back and keep them excited about visiting Breckenridge.”

What have you learned running a tune shop that you may not have learned otherwise?

I’m not a businessman. I didn’t go to school for business. So I’ve learned the basics of running a business, which is not as exciting as you know, maybe some of the other components of running the shop. I’ve certainly learned how to repair equipment even better than I already did. 

The biggest thing I’ve learned is that people really open up to you when they’re in a place where they feel welcome and comfortable. When people feel vulnerable enough to open up, it roots them in the place where they are, despite encroaching challenges like the cost of living and the sensation that they’re losing their local hill to a large corporation.”

What’s harder? Perfectly tuning a pair of skis or bombing in just the right place for an avalanche?

“Shot placement is definitely harder than tuning a pair of skis. One of the beautiful things about mounting bindings and tuning skis is that it’s fairly objective. There’s really one result that you’re looking to get, and if you don’t get that result, it’s wrong. Whereas interpreting the snowpack and deciding where and how and what size shots to place—that is heavily open to interpretation and is a lesson that myself and others who have dedicated their lives to the mountains will be learning for the entirety of their lives.”

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