Leadville
Kristen Wells: Prepared at CMC for Stanford
Leadville native Kristen Wells misses her hometown and the Rocky Mountains. The Lake County High School graduate and former CMC student is now pursuing her Ph.D. in genetics at Stanford University School of Medicine. Though she yearns for views of the Collegiate Range, the allure of being on the cutting edge of medical research is…
Read MoreMark Mueller: Powder Chaser to Avalanche Forecaster
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…
Read MoreGenny Michael – Change of Heart
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…
Read MoreGeoff and Allison Marriner: Olympic Experience
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…
Read MorePowder Guild: Lifelong Connections
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…
Read MoreGil Cisneros: The Right Place at the Right Time
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…
Read MoreLorene Martinez: From Unsure to a PhD
Leadville local Lorene Martinez was unsure about college. But she took one class at Colorado Mountain College. Then another. With encouragement from faculty, this single mom realized she could succeed. And she did, all the way to a PhD in microbiology from Colorado State University. “CMC is one of the best choices I ever made,”…
Read MoreBob Hartzell: Best Eight Jobs I’ve Ever Had
As Bob Hartzell tells it, he came to Leadville in 1970 “mainly to ski,” but what he ended up finding was a fulfilling 25-year career at Colorado Mountain College. “I think I have the type of personality where I never thought I’d hold a job longer than three to five years,” explains Hartzell. “When I…
Read MoreDon Nguyen: Reality TV Star and Rainier Guide
Making an outdoor hobby into a career is a dream shared by all Outdoor Recreation Leadership (ORL) students. Hundreds of aspiring mountaineers, raft guides, and rock climbers have joined the ranks of Colorado Mountain College Leadville students, looking to gain the skills necessary to turn that dream into a reality. Don Nguyen, a 29-year-old ORL…
Read MoreBrett Menter: Soft Skills Outdoors
Since graduating in 2014 with a degree in Outdoor Recreation Leadership, Brett Menter has led heli-ski trips in Alaska, guided ice climbing trips on glaciers, coordinated outdoor activities for disabled children and more recently, taught outdoor orientation classes at Colorado Mountain College Leadville. A natural born leader, Brett saw that he would need to learn…
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