Manoj Shah

Review of Belleayre Mountain

This review will focus almost exclusively on the e...

This review will focus almost exclusively on the exceptional members of the First Aid Station and the Ski Patrol at Belleayre.

After an amazing day of skiing at Belleayre last weekend with my two sons, aged 12 and 11, we experienced an awful incident where my older son severely injured himself on one of the black trails on his last run.

I was in the lodge with my 11 year old when I got the call from Steve Reich, a member of the ski patrol, to inform me of the news about my 12 year old. He was on the mountain and got to my son minutes after he fell. Despite telling me that my son had badly hurt his back and that his breathing was pretty ragged, Steve's professionalism, focus, and demeanor helped me to stay calm and to absorb the alarming news. Steve told me to get to the First Aid Station where they would bring my son. I went there immediately and was greeted by the amazing staff there. Christina Wells and Jim Lowda greeted me and were patient, kind and most importantly, incredibly competent. They did a great job calming down a shocked, frazzled, and worried father as we waited for the Ski Patrol to arrive with my son.

Let me tell you, I almost had a heart attack when I saw my son in the stretcher being pulled by the ski patrol's snow mobile. But, Christina and Jim were amazing. They kept talking to my son and assuring him that he'd by ok. The other members of the ski patrol, Tony Caneski and Mike Sarubdi, did a phenomenal job of securing my son to the stretcher so that they could quickly bring him down to the First Aid station. There were no less then six people who rushed to help him get off the stretcher, out of the restraints and into the ambulance so that we could get to a nearby hospital in Margaretville.

After several hours in the ER, we got the good news that my son hadn't broken or fractured anything. We were released and were on our way home later that night.

As if their attention to my son and me the day of the accident wasn't enough, the very next day I received phone calls from Jim and Steve to check up on him to see how he was doing. Their concern was genuine and I can't thank them enough for taking the time to do that.

It's been about a week since his accident, and my son is still healing, but he is on his way to a full recovery.

You absolutely should visit Belleayre to ski/snowboard as it is a great resort, with really nice facilities, and well maintained trails. However, I wrote this because I wanted you to know that, if you are ever in need of medical attention while you're there, you will be in VERY good hands. I simply cannot thank the First Aid staff and Ski Patrol enough for what they did for us.