Alright adventuring do-gooders, time to put your skis where your mouth is. The Mount Hood Ski Patrol has posted its 2009/10 recruitment schedule. Tryouts for the all-volunteer operation are being held this Sunday (Dec 6). And demand is brisk—the available slots have already filled up.

So why bother telling you? Glad you asked. If the thought of donning a red coat and plucking wounded—and eternally grateful—bodies off the mountain tickles your whiskers at all, advance planning is in order. This is exactly why you’ll want to mark February 27 on your calendar. That’s the date pegged for the group’s spring auditions; ample time to wax up those Atomics, log some quality time on the hill, and whip you into shape.

The patrol will also be eyeing candidates for positions like mountain hosts and associate patrollers, neither of which requires advanced ski skills. So even if you look like Lane Meyer from Better Off Dead cart wheeling down the K-12 on a pair of toothpick skis, there’s spot on the roster for you. Get the skinny at mthoodskipatrol.org .

And no, showing up with a box of Voodoo Doughnuts won’t increase the likelihood of making the squad—but it wouldn’t hurt them either.

(Full disclosure: the author spent last year as an apprentice patroller until he was sidelined in the spring with a newborn son. When the dust and diapers settle, he hopes to re-up.)