Gretchen Rous Besser, Ph.D.

​Year inducted: 2012
Primary Patrol: Smugglers’ Notch VT

NSP Involvement:​

• Joined ski patrol at Milton Snow Bowl, NJ, 1967
• Patrolled for 25 years at Vernon Valley/Great Gorge after Snow Bowl closed, and at Smugglers’ Notch, 1970s
• NJ EMT, 1966
• National appointment #5756
• Volunteer in VIP headquarters at 1979 World Cup and 1980 Olympics, Lake Placid
• NSP International Liaison, 1980-85--delegate to FIPS meetings in Australia,1981; France, 1982 and 1983; Japan, 1984; Canada, multiple times
• Represented NSP on U.S. ski industry mission to People’s Republic of China, in Manchuria, 1986
• Attended President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, 1980, 1982​

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Awards and Honors:

• NSP Distinguished Service Award, 1992, 1996
• Ullr Award, International Skiing History Association, 1997
• First recipient of National Chairman’s Excellence in Service Award, National Ski Patrol, 2010
• Inaugural class of National Ski Patrol Hall of Fame, 2013
• VT Ski and Snowboard Museum Hall of Fame, Paul Robbins award, 2015
• U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame, Class of 2016

​Ski Writing:​

• Researched and wrote The National Ski Patrol: Samaritans of the Snow. 1983; updated edition, 2013 Ski columnist for Recorder Newspapers, 1993-2008
• Contributed hundreds of articles to National Notes and its successor, Ski Patrol Magazine, 1976---

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