A Whitehorse ski patroller recently joined a short list of prestigious award winners.

Don Wilson is just the 10th member of the Mountain Division of the Canadian Ski Patrol System (CSPS) to be awarded the Life Member Award, presented during the spring annual general meeting in Edmonton on May 21.

"To be honest, I was quite surprised. I wasn't expecting it. It wasn't anything I was even aware of being nominated for,” Wilson said.

"There are lots of people out there that really work hard at providing ski patrol training and first-aid services and all the rest, so it's kind of humbling to be picked out among them for an award, because there are lots of people who did every bit as much as I did, that's for sure.”

It's hard to imagine with Wilson's list of experience and accomplishments.

Wilson has been a patroller in the CSPS for more than 30 years and took on the role of establishing the new patrol at Mount Sima when it opened in 1993, when he trained all of the new alpine patrollers and volunteered for the role of the Yukon's first Alpine Patrol Leader and On-Hill Training Officer.

For these accomplishments, the Yukon Zone was awarded the Zone Progress Award and Wilson won the Zone Appreciation Award for 1993-1994, a Division Appeciation Award in 1994-1995 and a National Appreciation Award in 1994-1995.

He continued his role as on-hill training officer at Sima until 1998 and has been the alpine patrol leader there several times in the past decade.

Most recently, Wilson has been the Yukon Zone VP Education for the past two seasons. In this role, he has arranged and led the instructor trainer sessions, returner and rookie first aid courses, as well as leading the bulk of the first aid training sessions.

He continues to be an active patroller and leader serving as the CSPS Yukon Zone's training officer, and as an on-hill instructor and examiner.

The quality of Wilson's training was evident through Yukon Zone's recent success in the Mountain Division First Aid and Toboggan Competition at Nakiska, Alta., where the Yukon Do It team took first in the Mountain category and second overall for first aid marks.

In addition to his contributions as a patroller, Wilson has also been president of the Great Northern Ski Society and served on the board in other capacities.

Born in Manitoba, he has been a leading member of the Yukon Zone for the past 20 years.

Prior to moving to the Yukon, he patrolled in several zones throughout Canada.

He first became interested in patrolling while being an instructor for both able-

bodied and disabled skiers.

"I just thought, ‘This is a good extension of my skiing, it'd be nice to be able to ski and help at the same time.' And then over the years, the first-aid component became important in my work.”

As Wilson stuck with the program, he began meeting more and more people.

"It's kind of like a big family. Anywhere you go coast-to-coast in Canada, there are ski patrollers, and certainly when you get together with them at annual meetings and things like that, everybody is somewhat of the same mindset; they're all volunteers and they're all skiers and usually they're pretty enthusiastic outdoor people,” he added.

"It's a great group to be involved with, and I think that's what keeps people coming back to it.”

In 2007, Wilson was in charge of recruiting and coordinating patrollers for the Canada Winter Games held in Whitehorse.

He successfully recruited and 32 patrollers from across Canada to provide first aid and rescue services at three venues and five sports.

He considered that event a highlight in his long and illustrious career.

"It's a lot of fun, you get great first aid training and you meet some good people,” Wilson said.

"Obviously I've been with it for 30 years, so I certainly enjoy it.”