What Is Outdoor Emergency Transportation (OET) in Ski Patrol?

Updated

OET stands for Outdoor Emergency Transportation, the National Ski Patrol (NSP) discipline that covers transporting injured or ill people out of the mountain environment — most visibly by toboggan. In the New Hampshire Region, OET is one of the region's listed educational services, alongside Outdoor Emergency Care (OEC), Mountain Travel & Rescue (MTR), Avalanche Certification (AVA), and Instructor Development. If you are trying to understand how OET fits into patroller training, the short answer is: OEC teaches you to assess and care for a patient, and OET teaches you to move that patient safely over snow.

OET vs. OEC: two halves of the same job

These two disciplines are usually discussed together because they answer different questions.

Discipline Question it answers Focus
OEC (Outdoor Emergency Care) What is wrong with this patient, and what care do they need? Patient assessment, emergency care, and treatment in an outdoor setting
OET (Outdoor Emergency Transportation) How do I move this patient off the mountain without causing further harm? Toboggan handling and the skills needed to transport a patient over snow

A patroller who can assess a patient but cannot control a loaded toboggan on a steep, icy slope is only half-equipped for the job. OET is what closes that gap.

What patrollers actually learn and practice in OET

The New Hampshire Region describes OET as "Outdoor Emergency Transportation" and lists it as a core educational service, but it does not publish a detailed OET syllabus on the page reviewed here. What can be said with confidence is the general shape of the discipline: OET is about the movement phase of a rescue, not the medical phase.

In practice, that means skills such as:

  • Toboggan handling — controlling a sled on varied terrain, snow conditions, and gradients, both empty and loaded.
  • Belaying and edge control — managing speed and direction on steeper or icier pitches where a toboggan can run away from you.
  • Loading and securing a patient — packaging someone so they stay stable during the ride.
  • Terrain and route decisions — choosing a line down that is safe for a loaded toboggan and the patrollers running it.
  • Team coordination — working with other patrollers when a transport needs more than one person.

The region's site also references "Toboggan Enhancement" as something members can find through the Calendar, which suggests OET-related training continues beyond the initial course.

Where OET sits in the broader NSP education path

OET is not a standalone credential so much as one strand of the patroller skill set. The New Hampshire Region lists these educational services together:

  • OEC — Outdoor Emergency Care
  • OET — Outdoor Emergency Transportation
  • MTR — Mountain Travel & Rescue
  • AVA — Avalanche Certification
  • ID — Instructor Development
  • Women's Program

The region also mentions a Senior Program and Senior as a keyword, which in NSP terms is an advanced patroller pathway. OET skills are typically part of what a patroller builds on toward senior-level recognition, since toboggan handling is one of the more demanding practical competencies. MTR and Avalanche address travel and snow safety in non-resort terrain, which is a different problem from moving a patient down a groomed run.

Who needs OET

If you are a patroller who will be transporting patients at a ski area, OET is not optional — it is the transport half of your job. The New Hampshire Region serves both volunteers and professionals across 18 member patrols, and its educational courses are described as "open for student registrations" for all NSP disciplines.

You would look into OET if you are:

  • A new patroller building the core skills for on-hill duty.
  • A patroller returning for refresher training or a toboggan enhancement session.
  • Someone working toward Senior or other advanced recognition.
  • An instructor candidate, since Instructor Development is a separate listed service.

How to find OET courses and registration

The New Hampshire Region points members to two places:

  1. The Calendar — for Toboggan Enhancement, Senior Program events, Mountain Travel and Rescue, and Avalanche.
  2. The PROGRAMS webpage — for event pages specific to each discipline.

The site does not publish OET pricing, prerequisites, or a course schedule on the page reviewed, so those details have to come from the region's calendar and program pages or from your local patrol leadership. Start with the Calendar, then check the discipline-specific program page for the event you need.

One practical note from the region's own framing: it describes itself as operating "the educational infrastructure of National Ski Patrol (NSP) within New Hampshire," so OET registration flows through the NH Region rather than a single resort. If you are unsure which course you need, your patrol's training officer is the fastest route to an answer.