The Colorado Mountain Club traces its roots back more than 100 years when its founding members worked to establish Rocky Mountain National Park. And today that legacy continues as the club provides myriad ways for experts and novices alike to enjoy and appreciate one of the state’s premier attractions.
The group offers more than 3,000 year-round mountain adventures annually ranging from hiking, rock climbing, fly fishing and backpacking to ice climbing, backcountry skiing and snowshoeing. But training to climb a 14er or learning the basics of belaying are not the CMC’s only focus. It also provides youth education programs and continues its original mission to protect wild and public lands through conservation and stewardship programs. The CMC operates a press, hosts film festivals and speaker series and offers adventure travel programs throughout the world.
CMC Marketing Director Rachel Vermeal calls it “a way for people to really get into a relationship with the mountains. We give them the tools and skills, a very hands-on approach.”
The nonprofit CMC, which is a Scientific and Cultural Facilities District Tier II organization, has 12 full-time and 16 part-time employees at its home in the American Mountaineering Center in Golden. The center is a bustling hub of outdoor organizations that include the building’s co-owner American Alpine Club, the American Mountaineering Museum and the American Alpine Library.
The CMC relies on its nearly 770 volunteers to lead trips and teach classes.
“Our teachers have a high level of training in mountaineering, but also have master’s degrees in education-related academics,” says CMC Executive Director Scott Robson.
That’s a vital part of the club’s youth education program in Colorado schools.
The CMC also reaches out to underserved schools that have a high percentage of reduced or free lunches, “in neighborhoods where maybe the students haven’t grown up getting outdoors or to the mountains,” Robson says.
A new feature this year is the Bouldering Bus: a full-sized yellow school bus whose interior has been retrofitted to a climbing gym on wheels – about 40 feet of climbing holes on the walls and ceiling with a big soft pad on the floor to cushion falls.
“What’s cool about it is we can go out to even more schools, take a climbing gym to them and then roll out our science curriculum. We think that’s a unique resource to offer,” Robson says.
Stewardship and land conservation is another important focus. Through its Backcountry Snowsports Initiative, it advocates maintaining quiet, non-motorized backcountry areas at Vail Pass. It advocates for protection of heavily used areas such as Rampart Range and Brown’s Canyon. And CMC volunteers work with federal agencies to repair mountain trails and areas along river valleys.
The CMC press is the club’s business line with 44 titles currently and two more coming out in April. Its “Guide to the Colorado Mountains” has been in continuous publication for 60 years, and guide books on Colorado 14ers; Aspen and Rocky Mountain National Park hikes, children’s hikes and trail runs can be found in most backcountry stores.
Adventure travel program will become a growing area for the club as it expands its offering of trips around the world: climbing trips to Mountain Everest, Mount Kilimanjaro and Australia’s Mount Kosciuszko, cycling tours in Tuscany and Grand Canyon raft trips.
With an eye toward the future, CMC aims to appeal to the state’s younger demographic. The club is working with college outdoor programs and is organizing events such as the Banff Mountain Film Festival at the center’s 350-seat state-of-the art auditorium. It also is expanding its offerings in mountain biking and backcountry skiing.
“The value of a club like the CMC is that you’re doing things with a group of peers who have a deep knowledge of the mountains,” Robson says.
