Vertical Dreams – Jackie Kuusinen
This article first appeared in Steamboat Magazine. By Murray Selleck.
Jackie Kuusinen’s dreams come true. Her dreams are of granite and sandstone, rock faces reaching into the sky, and hanging out on tiny ledges high above horizontal ground. Her dreams are also her job.
Kuusinen is a climber. A good climber. Her imagination was first captured by the thought of climbing as a middle school student here in Steamboat Springs. It was at school, on an artificial climbing wall, that she first tied into a harness, grabbed a hold, and stepped up onto the wall. She began thinking of bigger climbs, steeper cliffs, and what might be next.
All through high school and college, as she earned her master’s degree in library science, Kuusinen found her next climbing goals and worked hard at achieving them. As each goal was met, others were set. This is climbing at its core.
Internships, guiding professionally, earning her single-pitch accreditation from the American Mountain Guides Association, and assisting lead instructors at Colorado Mountain College all led to her current job of teaching and leading rock climbing courses back home at CMC. (As if that weren’t enough, Kuusinen is also the reference librarian at Bud Werner Memorial Library.)
“Working as a climbing instructor for CMC is a dream come true. We have incredible students and it’s the best job in the world,” says Kuusinen. The excitement in her voice is contagious. It is no wonder her students are equally excited to learn.
Teaching at CMC, while a dream come true, doesn’t mean Kuusinen has stopped setting goals for herself. This summer she plans to earn full rock-guide certification from the AMGA. She also has her sites on climbing the Diamond, Longs Peak’s massive east face.
Worthy and powerful dreams.