Why I picked Ski Area Operations

If you are wondering why I chose to study Ski Area Operations… During my junior year, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life or where I wanted to go to college. I love snowboarding, so I looked at the website for the USCSA (United States Collegiate Ski & Snowboard Association) to find out what colleges had ski/snowboard teams. Then I visited the websites for all of those colleges and eliminated the ones that only had ski teams. I went through the remaining colleges and got rid of the ones that I couldn’t see myself going to. When I got to CMC, I was like “What… a degree that relates to snowboarding! How much better can I get?”. So, with the idea that I wanted to study something relating to snowboarding, I had it narrowed down pretty well. Then, my senior year I applied to a 4-year school in California, and visited CMC and a school in Michigan. I decided that neither California nor Michigan were going to cut it, so I was left with CMC. Originally, I was considering going to the Steamboat campus for Ski & Snowboard Business, but then I found out that I’d have to learn about boot fitting, which didn’t interest me. When I visited Leadville, they told me I’d have to learn about diesel engine mechanics, which didn’t sound much better.

Last winter, I interned at the ski area near where I lived in South Dakota. This firmed up my decision that I wanted to study Ski Area Operations.

It turns out that diesel engine mechanics are tolerable and that apparently the snowboard team is in Steamboat, but I am still happy with my decision to study Ski Area Operations at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado.

A couple weeks ago, I was asked what I want to do with my degree, and I replied “I’m not exactly sure. I really like instructing, but this degree doesn’t have much to do with instructing, but it does give me a background on the industry.”