By Carrie Click
Chris Sutton was lying flat on his back, apparently in a lot of pain. Hannah Gould was carefully assessing his injuries, as ski patrollers are trained to do. But Sutton wasn’t really in pain, and he wasn’t skiing.
That was 2001. Sutton was helping teach an outdoor emergency care class at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, after taking ski area operations classes and earning a certificate in emergency medical technician (EMT). Gould was a student in the OEC class, working toward a degree in ski area operations.
“I was proctoring Hannah’s exam,” said Chris of that first encounter. “I was acting as a victim during her test. That’s how we met.”
Since then, the two have married. Hannah Gould is now Hannah Sutton, and the couple’s studies at Colorado Mountain College led to work as ski patrollers. They didn’t stop there, though. Today, Chris is a battalion chief for the Eagle River Fire Protection District and Hannah is a flight nurse for CareFlight Medical Services out of St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction.
Chris initially attended the University of Colorado, but says college was not holding his interest. What he was interested in was backcountry skiing, and one day on Berthoud Pass, a fellow skier told him that Colorado Mountain College had a ski area operations program.
Chris signed up, and met Paul “Bear” Rauschke, associate professor of ski area operations (SAO).
“Paul used to say, ‘It’s SAO time,’” Chris said. “He’d say, ‘If you’re on time, you’re late. If you’re early, you’re on time.’ I had to pull the piercings out of my punk mountain biker face and set a course. The program gave me structure to my life.”
Hannah was from western Massachusetts, and her father had been a patroller for 35 years. As far back as she could remember, she wanted to be a patroller, too, though by age 18 she was unsure how to go about it.
“I hadn’t done that well in high school,” she said. “I was ski racing.”
While at a southern Vermont ski area, Hannah saw a bench emblazoned with an ad: “Become a ski patroller – Go to CMC” it read.
“It was the first time I’d heard of CMC,” she said. “That was it. I moved to Colorado.”
‘Intensive care in the air’
In 1999 Hannah started with classes at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, determined to follow her ski patrolling father – and also her brother – into “the family business.”
Her goal quickly expanded when a helicopter landed on a soccer field during an OEC class about air medical services. She made a swift trajectory from the college’s EMT training and ski area operations, focusing on ski area risk management and emergency medicine, to patrolling and snowcat guiding at Ski Cooper. She took a job with St. Vincent Hospital’s ambulance in Leadville, and after becoming a paramedic, she attended Chamberlain College of Nursing, earning her Bachelor of Science.
Today, Hannah is a certified flight registered nurse and paramedic with CareFlight – what she calls “intensive care in the air” – providing critical care transport by helicopter, fixed wing and ground throughout all of Utah, Colorado and the western United States.
‘A desire to serve’
Chris, too, wanted to carry on a family tradition – in firefighting.
“I grew up visiting my two uncles at the firehouse,” he said. “I fell in love with fire science.”
In the ski area operations program, he studied risk management, ski patrol emergency and snow safety, and his EMT certification led to patrolling with the Copper Mountain Ski Patrol. He took some fire science classes at the college, then began volunteering and working with the Leadville/Lake County Fire-Rescue, leading to an engine captain position with the Red, White and Blue Fire Protection District in Breckenridge, and today, his battalion chief position with Eagle River Fire Protection District.
Even the Suttons’ dogs serve others. With Hannah and Chris as handlers, Cade, their 10-year-old golden retriever, and Hank, their 6-year-old yellow Lab, are highly trained rescue dogs who perform in a variety of local and national disaster and avalanche incidents.
‘Leave things better’
When Chris and Hannah first met at the Leadville campus, both were passionate about skiing. Today, they’ve reached beyond their initial goals, and they’re returning the favor.
“Over the years I have mentored many CMC nursing, paramedic and EMT students,” said Hannah. “That is one of the best parts of my job.”
“Bear [Rauschke] has guided my career and purpose in life,” said Chris about his CMC professor. “Whether it be the ski industry, our fire district or our nation on disaster incidents, it’s a desire to serve; and to leave things better than you found them.”