Stories – Page 3

I arrived in the Aspen area in August 1972, having just graduated from college, married, and back from our honeymoon. A frat brother of my husband spent the previous winter in Aspen and he advised us, “You have to spend one winter in Aspen before you go somewhere to get serious about life.”

So, that WAS our plan. But by November, we bought a bar. In January, we bought a house…a real “fixer upper.” Six months in, we weren’t planning to leave.

In January, I also signed up for a clay class through CMC. It was held at Anderson Ranch. I had started “playing with clay” at age 14 and majored in fine arts and art education in college. I was very anxious to find a place to continue.

Over the years, I have taken many, many clay classes with extraordinary teachers. I have also taken watercolor and drawing classes, education classes, science classes, music appreciation, film classes, language classes and probably some I have forgotten about. I just know that when I need to request a transcript, it seems like they have to cut down a tree!

I love the concept of being a “life-long learner.” In the 1970’s, there was a banner that CMC would hang over Main Street at registration time that said, “GET A LITTLE CLASS IN YOUR NIGHT LIFE.” I love that!

CMC has been a life enhancing institution in my 45 years in Aspen. And during difficult times, knowing that I could escape to my “happy place” (the pottery studio) was lifesaving. And I have made the most wonderful friends in the ceramics community. I think of CMC as my second home and my family.

It was 1969. Darryl Grob emerged from the Vietnam War and headed back home to central Los Angeles.

Before long he, like many former soldiers of the time, went down the rabbit hole of what Darryl called “dysfunctional distractions.”

But a short visit to Aspen changed all that. Darryl left “all things LA” and moved to the area full-time.

Soon, he discovered Colorado Mountain College. He recalls the college played a “significant role” in his personal development. Each class he took revealed another layer of possibilities for his future.

“I loved it,” says Darryl, who was chosen as Student of the Year upon graduation. “It led me to a bigger, better life.”

Darryl went on to work for a local construction company, rising from laborer to vice president. Along the way, he was nominated and elected to the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department. In 1995, he became Aspen’s first, full-time, paid fire chief.

Fear can come in many forms, but what sent Krystal Baucum running for the hills was math class.

Luckily, she found the academic courage she was searching for here at Colorado Mountain College.

“CMC provided me with the perfect opportunity to take classes at my own pace,” says Krystal, a CMC Aspen student. “If you put in the hard work, CMC is there for you.”

Professors at CMC pride themselves on the personal connections they make with students. This individualized teaching fuels success by helping students focus on their unique goals.

“I knew the possibilities were endless with CMC,” Krystal says. “It was the perfect outlet.”

Originally from the small town of Talkeetna, Alaska, Krystal went to college in California and then started a career in the hospitality industry in Houston, Texas. However, she quickly realized this was not the right career path for her.

When she moved to Aspen with her husband in 2012, she easily could have landed a job in the hospitality industry but she used the move as a fresh start. Krystal was offered a full-time job at CMC and then began taking classes at night.

“It was a momentous decision,” she says of enrolling at CMC. “It was tough but I knew I wanted something different for myself.”

With help from faculty and staff, Krystal took small steps toward her goal of pursuing a career in math and science. She started with basic algebra classes and worked up to advanced calculus. In the fall, she will transfer to Colorado School of the Mines to pursue a degree in chemical & biological engineering.

“The professors at CMC are incredible,” says Krystal. “Everyone has an open-door policy and I took advantage of every office hour.”

“No words can express how thankful I am to CMC.”

When Colorado Mountain College Aspen opened the doors of its brand-new building, I was newly married and new to Aspen/Snowmass.

In a community where swapping stories of how long you have been in town is part of getting to know anyone, being a part of a new chapter in local history was meaningful to me. Teaching a course–on self-publishing books for children–on day one in the beautiful new building made me feel that I was part of the Aspen/Snowmass community. I met so many creative, amazing people over the 2-3 years that I was an adjunct professor.

Thank you, CMC and Ann Harris, for the opportunity to be a part of the CMC story; and thank you to everyone who participated in one my classes, many of whom are authors of beautiful books.

Looking for direction, Noelle Brigden found it at Colorado Mountain College.

Noelle was recently out of the army and recovering from a severe back injury. She hadn’t done well in high school but received a California Proficiency Exam Diploma, so she decided to give college a try with her veteran’s benefits.

“CMC helped me find my way by giving me confidence,” explains Noelle, who went on from Colorado Mountain College Steamboat to earn a Ph.D. from Cornell, Postdoctoral Fellowship at Brown University and a Fulbright Award.

Noelle says that CMC helped her “find direction through the advising and support of professors that encouraged me to reach for higher goals.”

But more importantly, the California native stresses, CMC helped make learning fun again. She describes CMC as a supportive environment where “I was never turned away from a professor’s office.”

“And the fact that the professors were so enthusiastic really inspired me,” she says.

Noelle now brings that same type of enthusiasm to the students in her classroom at Marquette University.

“It was the right decision for me,” Noelle says of attending CMC. “And I would encourage others to choose CMC, particularly for non-traditional students that might be a little apprehensive about returning to the classroom.”

Noelle adds that CMC provided an excellent foundation for future study by allowing her to take a wide range of courses like economics and Spanish. She even got to reflect on her time in the military during speech class.

“All of these things opened up a lot of different worlds to me that I wasn’t aware of,” she recalls.

That eagerness to learn new ideas continued throughout her academic career. Noelle’s doctoral research focused on the violence and uncertainty that confronts Central American migrants. She conducted two years of fieldwork at a Catholic migrant shelter, and rode a train along illegal migrant routes in El Salvador, Mexico and the United States.

Her research has led to countless journal articles and she is in the process of writing a book. Noelle was also recently awarded a highly competitive invitation to be Visiting Associate Research Scholar at the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS).

“Where would I be without CMC? I don’t know,” says Noelle. All of this might not have been possible if she had not found Colorado Mountain College.

Like most mountain folks, Mark Mueller fell in love with snow culture at a young age. But after a few years of working as a cook and in the rental/ repair shops, he recognized he needed knowledge and skills to grow his passion for powder into a rewarding career.

It was in the early 1970’s when Mark learned about Colorado Mountain College’s Ski Area Technology program (now Ski Area Operations), and he knew education was the missing link.

“I loved the atmosphere, like-minded friends, and culture around the ski area,” says Mark, who is originally from San Carlos, CA. “I knew I wanted to do something ski area related. I read about Colorado Mountain College in Ski magazine and it sounded cool!”

Mark attended Colorado Mountain College Leadville from 1974 – 1976 and immersed himself in all things ski industry. His instructors, CK Lukow and Ken Host, taught him about lift maintenance, equipment operations, welding, and avalanche safety.

After Mark graduated from Colorado Mountain College he spent 15 winters at California’s Squaw Valley, including 12 years as Ski Patrol Director from 1980-1992. Then in 1992, he made the familiar migration back to the Colorado Rockies to pursue a career with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC).

Mark spent his first winter back in Colorado patrolling for Wolf Creek Ski Area, and started with CAIC in the fall of 1993 working on a new highway avalanche forecasting program with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). In 2015, he was promoted to Lead Avalanche Forecaster at the Pagosa Springs Office.

“I love my job! Each winter is unique and the learning never ends,” says Mark, who has been with the CAIC for 24 years. “I work with great people at CAIC and in CDOT and I get to spend a lot of time on skis out in the snow.”

Although professional upward mobility in the ski industry can be challenging terrain to navigate, it is possible to achieve your dreams. With the help of Colorado Mountain College’s Ski Area Operations program, Mark turned his passion for powder chasing from a part-time job to fulfilling career.

“My advice to students or anyone who wants to work in the ski industry,” says Mark, “Is to dream your life and live your dream. Make it happen.”

L-R Roy Picard, Rena Fowler, Genny Michaels, Don Hix, George Bagwell, and Dan Comcowich.

When Genevieve “Genny” Michael heard that her husband had taken a job at the Forestry Service in Leadville her reaction was downright biblical.

“I thought I had died and gone to hell truthfully,” jokes Genny, who worked at the Colorado Mountain College Leadville campus from 1967-1980.

“But it ended up being a place we really loved.”

Upon her arrival in 1966, Genny was quickly overcome by the charms of small town mountain living. She was even recruited by the local high school superintendent to get involved in the early days of the new CMC campus in Leadville.

Her roles there through the years ranged from physical education teacher, counselor, vocational guidance, and job development specialist. While overseeing occupational education, she took every class herself from auto mechanics to welding, so she knew what the students were experiencing.

Many of their students came from the Climax mine, and it wasn’t uncommon for her to register students all day and into the night – well past 9:00 p.m.

“Climax was just an incredible partner in every way to make sure the college was successful,” she says. “Anything we needed we called Climax, and they came through offering up their staff, bulldozers, you name it.”

Faculty came up with some inventive ways to promote the college as well, she recalls. During Leadville’s Boom Days, Genny proudly led the Boom Days band with a plunger in hand, while other CMC faculty played pots and pans.

“I have had the chance to do lots of neat things in my life,” says 85-year-old Genny, who went skydiving during her last birthday. “My time at CMC was part of that and so good…I really did love my time there.”

South Korea is over 6,000 miles away from Colorado, but when it comes to the ski industry, it’s surprisingly close.

Nobody knows that better than Allison Kohn Marriner and her husband, Geoff “Salty” Marriner, both alumni of Colorado Mountain College Leadville’s ski area operations program.

The couple was hired to join an international team of seasoned professionals producing the XXIII Winter Olympics and the XII Paralympic Winter Games at Jeongseon Alpine Centre in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Geoff, who’s the mountain operations manager at Jeongseon, has been in South Korea full time since 2015, and Allison has shuttled back and forth between Korea and their Colorado home.

And even though the Olympics are a year away, the experience of landing in a foreign country and working towards one of the world’s biggest international sports events has been invaluable in their career and personal development.

“I’ve definitely been taken completely out of my comfort zone in all aspects of life, home and work,” Geoff wrote from Jeongseon. “So just for that this has already been a worthwhile experience.”

Since studying ski area operations at Colorado Mountain College, the Marriners have made steady progress toward their current responsibilities in South Korea. While working at Vail Resorts they gained experience with on-mountain operations and World Cup ski racing production that helped them to learn the ropes within the international ski racing community.

Both have developed solid reputations in the ski business: Allison as a Beaver Creek snowcat operator and lift maintenance assistant, and Geoff as a Vail equipment operator, as well as a Beaver Creek grooming manager and supervisor.

While Geoff works full time at the Jeongseon Alpine Centre, Allison travels back and forth between Colorado and South Korea. She works part time as a snowcat operator in South Korea, and returns to operate cats at Beaver Creek and do lift maintenance during the summers.

Although Allison said she is widely accepted in the U.S. as a female snowcat operator, in South Korea, the reactions can be different.

“One day while grooming through the finish area, there was a group of Korean women,” she said. “Every time I came by I got a thumbs-up and smiles and cheers.”

In the early 1980s a lifelong bond was formed among the students and instructors of the Colorado Mountain College Ski Area Operations program. They called themselves the Powder Guild. It was their desire to turn a passion for skiing into a career that brought them together in Leadville, but it was their never-ending quest for powder, camaraderie, and playful antics that have kept the Powder Guild in touch to this day.

“Back in the day, our motto was ‘We’re young, good looking and do what we want’,” says Powder Guild member John ‘Staatzy’ Staats, who currently lives in Tucson, Arizona, “Now it’s ‘old, out of shape and do what our wives tell us’… just kidding, we’ll never grow up!”

The twelve members of the infamous Powder Guild came from all over the U.S., Canada, and Japan, ranging in age from 18 – 32. After graduating from the Ski Area Operations program, many Powder Guild members went on to enjoy successful careers in the ski industry at resorts around the world.

Over the past few decades, members have coordinated trips to Jackson Hole, Hawaii, Colorado, and even Japan to appease Japanese member Yoichi Amano, who has traveled to numerous state-side Powder Guild gatherings. In 2015, Yoichi hosted members, Jim Oberriter and John Staats, showing them around Tokyo on separate trips.

“I meet with the Powder Guild whenever I can find an opportunity to do so,” says Yoichi, “We exchange emails and find every opportunity to get together. Even 30 years after graduation, we are still united.”

Inevitably, celebratory milestones like weddings and births have been replaced by funerals for fallen brothers. Founding member, Kent ‘Kento’ Bridges and Phil Sande, have since passed. Their spirits are celebrated with every Powder Guild gathering and through many cherished memories.

Though it has been decades since their college years, the fun-loving, carefree attitude of the Powder Guild is still very much intact. However, the group is more than the chronicles of college students and ski resort shenanigans – though the anecdotes are undoubtedly entertaining. It’s about exploring a passion while discovering genuine friendships, and investing in those connections for life.

“It was a chance gathering of guys from all over the globe that loved to ski and be free,” says Staats, “We bonded as no other group of people that I’ve ever met or heard of.”

In 1967, Gil Cisneros was newly married and feeling the pressure to get started on a career.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I couldn’t see myself working underground for the rest of my life”, says Cisneros, who was working as a miner at Climax Molybdenum Mine in Leadville.

He started taking classes at the newly opened Colorado Mountain College – East Campus, where he was able to study in between his shift work at the mine.

“My experience at CMC Leadville was exceptional”, Cisneros recalls, 50 years later.

He knocked out several core courses in science and foreign language, transferred to Adams State College and completed his bachelor’s degree in three years. Since that time, he has had an illustrious career, culminating with the founding of the Chamber of the Americas in Denver in 2001.

The Chamber fosters trade and investment relationships primarily between South American countries and U.S. business interests. His work has been lauded by numerous professional organizations, including Hispanic Magazine which in 2002 recognized Gil with the U.S.-Latin American Friendship Award at the Hispanic Achievement Awards. Prior to that, the Mexican government honored him as Businessman of the Year for the Rocky Mountain Region, 2000, and in 2007, the Institute of International Education presented Gil with the “Global Colorado Award.”

“I’ve been very, very lucky”, he says of the opportunities that have been available to him. “I was in the right place at the right time, several times in my life and it started with attending CMC”.

Now, at the age of 73 and a grandfather of two high school students, he encourages young people to look beyond the traditional college path and consider the advantages of community college. He tells his grandchildren about his time at CMC and how the flexibility of the faculty and class structure enabled him to find his path to a rewarding and fulfilling career.

“CMC was a wonderful, wonderful experience for me.”