Ski area operations education launched emergency medical career

October 30, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

Photo:Reed Clawson, a CMC ski area ops, ski patrol and EMT grad, is a flight paramedic with Classic Air Medical based at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, caring for critically ill and injured patients throughout the region.

Reed Clawson, a CMC ski area ops, ski patrol and EMT grad, is a flight paramedic with Classic Air Medical based at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs, caring for critically ill and injured patients throughout the region. Photo Ed Kosmicki

Ski Area Operations Education Launched Emergency Medical Career

By Heather McGregor

Reed Clawson had his mind set on being a professional ski patroller. He never expected to be working as a flight paramedic with a helicopter team.

“I wanted to make ski patrolling as viable a career as I could. But all these doors opened because of the training and schooling, and led me in the direction I went,” said Clawson, 34, of New Castle, a 2012 graduate of Colorado Mountain College.

Since April 2016, Clawson has served aboard Classic Air Medical’s Bell 407 helicopter, based at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs. In 17 months, he has worked more than 150 medical flights.

“I like taking care of people. I also love that it’s not normal, not mundane. Every day, every flight is different,” he said.

The flight team includes a pilot, a nurse and a paramedic. Classic Air’s Glenwood Springs crew members – four pilots, four nurses and three paramedics – work rotating shifts.

“Our primary job is to care for and transport critically sick or injured patients,” Clawson said. Some flights transfer patients to or from Valley View Hospital; others are backcountry rescues where the flight team is often the first responder.

“Our goal is to get the person to definitive care as fast as possible,” he said. “You can really see the benefit of the helicopter. We can get to Denver in one hour, or to Grand Junction in about 35 minutes.”

The Glenwood Springs team also supports Classic Air’s helicopter and airplane teams in Steamboat Springs, Craig and Moab. The company serves Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming and Idaho.

Learning new skills leads to career change

Clawson arrived at this vital position, responsible for people’s lives and futures every day, after making a pivot as a CMC student. He was wrapping up his associate degree in ski area operations at CMC Leadville, which included emergency medical technician (EMT) training, and had started an internship on the Copper Mountain ski patrol.

“Reed was spurred on by the role of emergency medical provider. That lit a fire in him,”
said Roger Coit, one of Clawson’s CMC Leadville instructors.

After graduation, Clawson took an accelerated paramedic training program at Denver Health.

The training led him to paramedic work in Grand County, along with ski patrolling at Powderhorn and Aspen Mountain, until the Classic Air opportunity arrived.

When Clawson started his ski area ops studies at CMC in 2010, he had just returned to Colorado, out of money, after living abroad. “I was very determined to get into the workforce,” he recalled.

“I definitely got a return on my investment,” he said, citing CMC’s affordability and the high quality of instruction. “I was impressed with the knowledge and skill sets of my instructors. They set me up to be a professional in both of those fields. I was prepped to succeed either way.”

Woodward Copper’s Newest Terrain Park Builder

September 13, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

Steve Nicosia in a CMC Leadville SnowCat. Steve is the newest Terrain Park Builder at Woodward Copper. Steve Nicosia photo.

Woodward Copper’s Newest Terrain Park Builder

The Ski Area Operations curriculum blends technical and hands-on training, and is recognized by local resorts for its comprehensive approach in preparing students for lifelong on-mountain careers. Steve Nicosia, a 25 year-old student from East Aurora, NY has been enrolled since fall 2017. One year into the two-year program, and he’s landed a position as a Snowcat Operator and Terrain Park Builder for Woodward Copper.

“I definitely believe that CMC helped me get this position,” says Steve, who is expected to graduate next spring, “Before coming to school, I had no snowcat operating experience with minimal heavy equipment practice. Going to CMC gave me experience in a dozer, back-hoe, and a snowcat.”

Steve began working on the terrain park hand crew at Woodward Copper last winter, and hoped to move up to a snowcat operator in his second season. This past spring, he demonstrated his capabilities while building the summer camp terrain park at Woodward.

“I am looking forward to riding the features that I install,” says Steve, “and building a terrain park that is very well known. Some people come to vacation at Copper, specifically for their top of the line terrain parks. Many years, it is rated in the top 10 terrain parks across the U.S. by NewSchoolers, and I want to be a part of that.”

Backcountry Guide Seeks Avalanche Science Certification

July 10, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

Backcountry Guide Expands Critical Skills with Avalanche Science Certification

Chris Peterson was looking to expand his education in snow science and avalanche forecasting when he discovered the Avalanche Science program at Colorado Mountain College Leadville. Having recently earned an Adventure Guide diploma in British Columbia, he knew CMC would give him a competitive edge in the guiding industry while teaching the skills, knowledge and providing the mentorship he was seeking.

Now, almost halfway through the two-year program, Chris has already gained critical skills and hands-on experience while building his professional network.

“I have gained a community of classmates and instructors who all share a similar interest in snow and avalanches,” says Chris, “Not only are we a community within the college but we’re a community within the snow and avalanche industry.”

Taught by Avalanche Professionals

For Chris, it’s the quality of instructors and their professional experience, that puts CMC’s Avalanche Science program ahead of the rest. The curriculum is designed by avalanche professionals from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC), CMC and USFS. Notable instructors include Dr. Ethan Greene, the Director of the CAIC, Dr. Kelly Elder, USFS Research Hydrologist, and Roger Coit, EMS and Outdoor Studies faculty at CMC.

“The entire faculty currently works in the snow and avalanche industry in various job types,” says Chris, “This gives students an insight into different positions and opportunities to learn from them in their workplace.”

Faculty connections have created many hands-on learning opportunities outside the classroom for Chris and his peers. He’s collected snow-pit data for instructor Dr. Kelly Elder at the Fraser Experimental Forest and shadowed instructor Becs Hodgetts who is the CAIC highway forecaster for the Monarch Pass corridor.

Flexible Scheduling for Working Professionals

Roger Coit, Avalanche Science faculty at Colorado Mountain College Leadville, displays avalanche rescue equipment to students.

The Avalanche Science program was designed with working professionals in mind. The hybrid curriculum is a mix of online coursework and three on-site sessions each year. Students take classes in meteorology, snow and avalanches, weather observations, forecasting and safety operations over the course of two years. There is also a required field internship and a portfolio seminar.

“I really enjoyed the forecasting class with Dr. Ethan Greene,” says Chris, “We put together weekly weather and avalanche forecasts for a wide variety of applications. The only difference between our class and what the CAIC forecasters do was not having to put the forecast together at 4am every day.”

A low student/ instructor ratio encourages enhanced learning opportunities while mitigating risk during field work in avalanche terrain. Enrollment is capped at 12 students per year, with program entry requirements geared towards current and aspiring avalanche professionals. Current students include a roster of ski patrollers, backcountry guides, rescue groups, and other outdoor professionals.

Classes begin this fall and interested students are encouraged to contact Colorado Mountain College Leadville directly for more information. Email lvaviscience@coloradomtn.edu or call 719.486.2015

CMC senior builds pet waste composter for CARE shelter

May 7, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

By Heather McGregor

This story was originally published on CMC ENews

Ramsey Bond dearly loves her dog, Summit, but she is all too familiar with the “back end” of dog ownership. In preparing to soon earn her bachelor’s degree in sustainability studies at Colorado Mountain College, Bond is taking that “back end” challenge head-on through animal waste composting.

Bond teamed up with the Colorado Animal Rescue shelter in Spring Valley, which is adjacent to the college’s veterinary technology farm, to build an outdoor animal waste composting system. The three-bin composter will convert a mixture of the shelter’s animal waste and a local woodworker’s sawdust into composted soil that’s safe for lawns, shrubbery and flower gardens.

“I knew our campus had a vet tech school,” Bond said. The vet tech program is closely affiliated with the shelter. “I wanted to see how we could reduce pet waste from that facility. Because I own a dog, I have always seen it as a problem.”

In her research, Bond came across EnviroWagg, an animal waste composting company operating in Longmont, Colorado. She contacted the owner, Rose Seemann, and is now completing an internship with EnviroWagg as part of her CMC studies.

“This is an area where there is a great deal of denial,” Seemann said. “Dogs produce about 270 pounds of waste per year, but nobody wants to think about the back end.” Seemann said pet waste accounts for about 4 percent of all residential waste.

Bringing information to community

Using what she learned at EnviroWagg, Bond visited CARE, where the shelter staff immediately grasped the advantages.

“They really wanted to be a part of it,” she said. “It went along with their mission of helping animals go back into the community. Now we can use the waste to keep their landscaping healthy.”

Over the years, CARE has worked to increase its sustainability by recycling, using wood pellets for cat litter and installing solar panels for electricity, said the shelter’s executive director, Wes Boyd.

“This is our next addition for sustainability, and we really appreciate it,” he said.

System kills pathogens

Until this spring, CARE staff collected the shelter’s daily animal waste in a plastic garbage bag and carried it to the dumpster, said Tracey Yajko, CARE’s community outreach manager and a longtime shelter staffer.

With the new composting system, shelter staffers collect waste through the day in a heavy-duty plastic bucket with a screw-top lid, and empty it into the outdoor compost bin at the end of the day.

Bond built the three side-by-side composting bins in an enclosed area on the warm south side of the shelter building. Fellow student Aaron Anderson, president of the CMC Sustainability Club, helped with clearing a space within the enclosed area and with building the bins.

They used scavenged shipping pallets for the framework and attached scrounged one-inch wire mesh on the sides to keep the composting material in and critters out. The bin lids are topped with corrugated sheet metal, which was donated and cut to fit by Umbrella Roofing Co.

Near the bins, Bond placed two large plastic trash barrels with lids, each full of sweet-smelling sawdust. It’s provided by Daniel Oldenburg at Summit Construction, and is another waste byproduct that previously went to the landfill. A few scoops of sawdust go in on top of each day’s waste.

The new CARE composter is based on a three-stage system developed and tested in other communities: building, working and curing.

The first bin already has a growing pile of animal waste and sawdust. Even on a recent warm spring day, there was no odor. Once the pile is about three feet high, the label on this “building” bin will switch to become a “working” bin, and the CARE staff will start piling new waste and sawdust in a new “building” bin.

Meanwhile, composting starts in the first bin, managed by the CMC Spring Valley Sustainability Club.

Students will add water, aiming for the pile to be damp from top to bottom. Using a long-stemmed thermometer, they monitor the pile’s core temperature. Natural composting heats the pile to about 150 to 160 degrees, which kills off the pathogens and parasites that might be present in animal waste, Bond said. As it cools down, students use a pitchfork to turn the pile.

The heating, cooling and turning process happens three or four times over several weeks, until the pile no longer heats up. At that point, the “working” bin shifts to the “curing” stage. The composted waste sits, exposed to the weather, for several more months. After about a year, Bond said, it will be ready for use in landscaping.

Bond is using her capstone project, another requirement for completing her bachelor’s degree, to visit dog parks from Aspen to Carbondale and survey 50 pet owners about dog waste.

She plans to analyze the survey results to see what types of animal waste collection and composting could work in the community, and whether it could be a sustainable business.

Seemann said Bond has gone past the “ick” factor to seek practical solutions for diverting animal waste from landfills.

“It takes a certain kind of person to think about the responsible way of dealing with things,” Seemann said. “There’s a huge sustainability problem here, and Ramsey Bond recognizes it.”

Composting backyard pet waste

Here are a few resources to help you learn more about pet waste composting:

“The Pet Poo Pocket Guide: How to safely compost and recycle pet waste,” by Rose Seemann (available through Amazon); https://www.amazon.com/Pet-Poo-Pocket-Guide-2015-05-26/dp/B01FKWURAU/

“Composting Dog Waste,” by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District (free, available online); https://prod.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142p2_035763.pdf

CMC Culinary Team Wins Silver Medal

April 23, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

photo: The CMC Culinary Institute Team won the sliver medal award at the American Culinary Federation California Western Regional Championships on Sunday, March 18, 2018.

CMC Culinary Team Earns a Silver Medal

Quick, creative teamwork and practiced fundamentals payoff in competition

photo: finish disp prepared in competition by the CMC culinary team. Photo by Daniel Molina

Spring Salad with Rainbow Snow Peas, Pea Tendrils, Spring Radishes & Shaved Fennel Carrot Tuile, Toasted Almond Crumble and Truffled Sea Salt Cured Egg. Photo by Daniel Molina

CMC’s Student Culinary Team, representing CMC Culinary Institute and the Keystone Resort Apprenticeship program, won third place and earned a silver medal (based on a point system) at the American Culinary Federation Western Region Culinary Salon held March 17-18 at Orange Coast Community College.

Over the two-day competition, the team competed in a basic skills relay where four of the team members are randomly selected to execute a series of basic culinary techniques such as knife cuts and cutting a whole chicken into pieces to be used for different recipes. The second phase of the competition consist of producing four portions of a signature menu in 1.5 hours.

The team is given one required course by the national competition committee that all the teams must produce. The teams also develop three other courses. This year’s required menu item was oeuffs a la neige (Snow Eggs) – poached meringue served with vanilla custard sauce. The team would like to send a special thanks to The Seattle Fish Company and Red Bird Farms Chicken for their sponsorship of the team.

Back-to-back state championships

The team earned the privilege of representing Colorado in the region competition by winning the state competition, held at the CMC Breckenridge Campus in December. CMC Culinary Institute team holds back-to-back state championships.

CMC photography students win international awards

April 11, 2018 By cmctestgenesis

Photo: “A Dedication to Bridger Reese.” Photo Lynzee Dorrenbacher

photo - The CMC Leadville campus at dawn with the Sawatch Mountain Range in the background.

Colorado Mountain College Vail Valley in Edwards

CMC photography students win international CPOYawards

Three Colorado Mountain College professional photography students have received high praise for their work from the international College Photographer of the Year contest. The contest received thousands of entries this year from over 600 students worldwide. Seven judges, from National Geographic magazine to Nikon, gathered at the University of Missouri during four days in November to select the winning images.

Receiving a Bronze prize in the Interpretive Eye category was Claire Clarke’s “The Gateway.” Clarke is working toward an associate degree in professional photography. She captured her image at Cap K Ranch up the Fryingpan River near Basalt.

“A Dedication to Bridger Reese,” by current full-time CMC professional photography student Lynzee Dorrenbacher, won an Award of Excellence in the Sports Features category. Dorrenbacher took the shot at a high school football game in Akron, Colo., as players carried the jersey of a teammate who was severely injured during a game.

Shannon Outing captured her image, “Sunrise on the Marsh,” while fly fishing for redfish in Venice, La., which earned an Award of Excellence in the Interpretive Eye category. Outing graduated from CMC’s professional photography program last summer.

The college’s Professional Photography Program is under the umbrella of CMC’s Isaacson School.