Friday mornings during ski season, a lot of kids in Clear Creek County will wake up before the sunrise to check equipment, snowboards, skis, helmet, goggles and gloves in preparation of hitting the slopes.
After they’re dressed and with a quick breakfast, they wait in Idaho Springs or Georgetown for the school bus to take them to Loveland Ski Area for a day of lessons or just fun with friends.
The program Snow Dodgers has been teaching local kids from kindergarten and up the confidence and skills to ride the mountains on skis or snowboard since 1963, according to board members.
“If they’re good enough, they can just be free-range skiers and do their thing all day,” first-year Snow Dodgers volunteer Chelsea Dendegna said. “It sets them up with lessons if they need it and just supports them on their journey as skiers or snowboarders.”
Many of the students who started early in the program are now in the sixth grade and riding double-black diamond trails at Loveland.
“I’ve learned a lot by watching other people and my family teaching me things, so I’ve improved a lot,” Carlson Elementary sixth-grader Maddie Hinojos said.
A team of volunteers and board members keep Snow Dodgers going each year, piling equipment into pickup trucks and checking names as kids get on the bus to perpetuate what generations before them did for them.
“Everybody works hard to make things come together for a project like this. It’s just a nice community,” Hinojos said.
According to state records, Snow Dodgers is one of the longest-standing ski clubs in Colorado, and many locals can attest to parents and grandparents who learned to ski with its volunteers throughout the years.
Some of the organization’s mottos on the website clarify goals and motivation: “Take Risks and Reap the Rewards,” “Be Prepared To Experience New Adventures” and “Overcome Your Fears and Master Your Skills.”
The organization’s long-standing relationship with Loveland Ski Area in Dillion is seen as mutually beneficial, according to Loryn Roberson, director of marketing for Loveland Ski Area.
“For Loveland, our community is everything and it’s so important to support these new skiers and riders and give them a space to not only learn but also to enjoy the slopes,” Roberson said.
Snow Dodgers typically runs from the second weekend in January to the second weekend in March.
“Having a program like this in place really allows them to familiarize themselves with the sport and it really grows the next generation of skiers and riders which is incredibly important to Loveland,” Roberson said.
On-going education in ski industry
Opportunities for mountain youth to learn and excel in the sport of skiing and riding don’t end with Snow Dodgers.
High school and middle school programs in Clear Creek County offer hands-on experiences in the manufacture, maintenance and business of the ski industry.
“Creek Craft” is a new name in the ski and snowboarding industry, and Clear Creek County high school students, mentors and teachers aim to make it profitable.
Students in the Clear Creek High School Entrepreneur II class are taking their business education to the next level by creating a sustaining model for manufacturing and marketing, according to Career Connections coordinator Dacia Kelly.
“The students in this class are learning how to start a business and they’re doing it through a real-world project rather than a hypothetical,” Kelly said.
Meanwhile, outdoor rec and tech instructor Ben Shay at the high school and middle school in Evergreen gives students the hands-on experience of building a board or skis starting with plywood, laminate and an idea.
“It gives kids an outlet to do creative work with their hands and bring something to fruition. I like to tell the story, ‘Kids used to go home and give their mom a wooden spoon they made in wood shop.’ Now they get to show up with their own pair of skis or snowboard,” Shay said.
Several rec and tech students were eager to show off their one-of-a-kind creations they made just for themselves when the Courant visited the class in November.
The art of creating a board or ski is dependent on the individual creating it; thick or thin tails and tips, shaping and tapering you create your custom ride with graphics you’ve designed, 11th-grade student Johannathan Scott said.
“It’s really a surreal kind of feeling when you get to make something that you’re going to use.., it’s just a really good feeling,” Scott added.
Another advantage to the rec and tech program is local students are learning the skills in high-demand at local ski areas and shops, according to both Shay and Roberson.
“It’s such a unique program. These other communities and these other schools have things like woodshop and home economics; but for our community, the thing we all live and breathe is skiing. So, to be able to modify it and have this program that allows them to learn that skill set is invaluable,” Roberson said.
“They learn a lot of the woodworking skills here that they would in a wood shop, but then they get something that they actually get to strap on their feet, go to Snow Dodgers, ride the hill and say, ‘Look, I made this,’” Shay said.
The pinnacle of skiing skills: Alpine Rescue
Based in Evergreen, Alpine Rescue is an all-volunteer, mountain search-and-rescue team that’s been operating, free of charge, for more than 60 years.
Alpine Rescue is one of 13 Colorado teams accredited by the Mountain Rescue Association in technical rock rescue, wilderness search, avalanche rescue and winter technical rescue, according to its website.
“In the last few months we’ve had some pretty intense rescues and our pick of the first to go in are usually pretty tough skiers and they have had to go miles in sometimes very deep snow that is not easy to ski in. So, there’s a lot of physical endurance and strength,” Alpine Rescue volunteer and public information officer Dawn Wilson said.
“To have kids learn how to ski and not just ski but be ‘mountain aware’ is idyllic. I’m jealous of those kids,” Wilson said.
Programs like Snow Dodgers instills early education and muscle memory in kids that are critical to working and playing in the mountains, according to Wilson.
“If those kids grow up and they want to give back to their community and volunteer for fire or a mountain rescue team they’ve got that ingrained in their body and soul, they don’t even have to think about it,” Wilson said.
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