It’s 7:15am and eight members of the Verbier ski patrol are clustered around a table in a small room nearly halfway up the mountain, dressed in their matching Helly Hansen red ski uniforms. It’s pitch dark outside and they’ve ridden the gondola up here to Les Ruinettes for their morning briefing.
Despite the early hour and bracing temperatures (it’s -19°C), the energy is high – 11 inches of fresh snow fell overnight on top of over a foot in the preceding two days and they’re expecting a busy day and great skiing. They chat animatedly in French while knocking back expressos from a machine that sits on the table. Other patrollers come and go, grabbing gear from their lockers and in the corner, the head of security, a gray-haired gentleman named Rafi, sits quietly at his desk and figures out which areas of the mountain need to be bombed this morning to mitigate the risk of avalanche.
