The earliest members of HoliMont's Ski Patrol came as a group from Blue Mountain (later Blue Mont) which had filed for bankruptcy in 1963.
Notable among those who helped the Patrol get started was our first Patrol Leader, Bob Kreitner. For a short period of time, Mr Kreitner also acted as HoliMont's Manager. He and his wife, Carol, were later associated with Blue Mont.
Early HoliMont members Gary and Olga Richards, and Jerry Hilger spent most of their ski time in patrol uniform. Gary was Assistant Patrol Director for the first year and Patrol Director for several years after that.
At the outset, in 1963-64, the HoliMont Patrol was also responsible for servicing Poverty Hill. Doing double coverage was difficult, especially after HoliMont's chairlift was installed (most of the patrol members wanted to stay at HoliMont), so the Patrol split up. Gary Richards took over the leadership at Holimont and worked hard to recruit would-be patrollers from his home in Lockport. They needed only to be enthusiastic skiers with compatible personalities; HoliMont's patrol members took them on and trained them in skiing and injury-handling techniques.
Among those who served HoliMont was the late Bob Hayden who was a conscientious, devoted member of our Patrol, continuing with it well past his retirement years.
At a time when HoliMont had no money to provide the patrol with equipment, they provided their own. They used hickory toboggans that they had built themselves, and later made some out of corrugated aluminum. The cooperative effort of building has, in part, accounted for the strong camaraderie among HoliMont patrol members.
The HoliMont patrol built the original Patrol Room at the base of Exhibition Lift. When that became far too small to handle multiple injuries at the same time - an event which occasionally happened - the Patrol built the hut at the bottom of the slope. HoliMont paid for the materials, but the Patrol supplied the labor. In fact, up until the Patrol Hut was built in the Sunset area, the Patrol had always built its own facilities.