Sugarloaf Ambulance Rescue Patch — c. 1990s

A vintage Sugarloaf ambulance and rescue patch from Carrabassett Valley, Maine, estimated to date from the 1990s, a white round with a black merrowed border carrying a pale blue mountain outlined in gold, a navy Star of Life at its center, AMBULANCE running up the left side and RESCUE down the right, SUGARLOAF across the foot.

The Star of Life is not decorative. It is the recognized symbol of emergency medical services, its six points stand for six specific stages of care, and it is not put on a patch by people who are guessing.

Carrabassett Valley is remote. When something goes badly wrong on that mountain — a bad fall, a cardiac event in the lodge, a car off Route 27 in a storm — the people wearing this are what exists between the incident and a hospital that is a long drive away in good conditions and a serious problem in bad ones.

This was earned, not bought, and the people who earn them generally keep them. It is the single most serious object in this catalog.

Mountain rescue patches are collected seriously, and mostly by people in the field rather than by skiers. An EMS collector will know exactly what this is at a glance and exactly what the six points mean.

Embroidered on twill, merrowed edge. Photos are the condition report.