In The NoCo

The soldiers who trained in Colorado for alpine combat in World War II helped turn the tide of the war. And later, many of them changed outdoor recreation in Colorado as we know it.  

The U.S. Army built Camp Hale in the high country near Leadville. Thousands of soldiers there trained for skiing, rock climbing and other elements of high-altitude combat.  
 
But the story of Camp Hale and the 10th Mountain Division didn’t end there. After the war, many of those veterans became trailblazers in the outdoor sports world. Some became athletes; others started ski resorts or recreation companies, while others helped invent or redesign outdoor gear.   

A History Colorado exhibit on display in Leadville highlights the legacy of Camp Hale, and the post-war contributions that the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division made to Colorado’s outdoor recreation economy and culture. 

Sydney Mauck is History Colorado's Anschutz Military Collections specialist.  She spoke with Erin O’Toole about Camp Hale’s enduring legacy. As Colorado marks its150th birthday this month, this is the first of several conversations about the state's history we'll reshare in the days ahead. 

If you enjoyed this conversation, check out Part 1 of the discussion about the soldiers who trained at Camp Hale. 

This story has been lightly edited for clarity. A previous version stated that a 10th Mountain Division soldier had started the Sierra Club. The soldier mentioned served as the organization's first professional full-time executive director, but was not a founder.

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Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

During World War II, the U.S. Army built a unique training ground in the mountains outside Leadville.   

At Camp Hale, soldiers in what would become the 10th Mountain Division trained for combat in extreme alpine conditions. And that led to key victories for Allied forces in the mountains of Europe. After the war, some of the soldiers returned to Colorado and helped launch the state’s ski industry.  

A new History Colorado exhibit called Winter Warriors explores the legacy of Camp Hale and its impact on surrounding communities. It’s on display at the Healey House Museum in Leadville.   

With Colorado celebrating 150 years of statehood this year, we wanted to learn more about this fascinating piece of the state’s history. So, we reached out to Sydney Mauck, History Colorado's Anschutz Military Collections specialist.  

She talked with Erin O'Toole earlier this year about the U.S. Army’s first, and only, winter warfare division – and the pivotal role of these "soldiers on skis" in World War II. It's one of several fascinating chapters of Colorado's history we'll reshare in the coming days. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

There's a trend in Colorado that has higher education officials concerned.  

The number of high school graduates is declining -- and that means the state's colleges and universities are expecting a dropoff in enrollment in the coming years.  

Colorado is one of three dozen states bracing for what's become known as the "enrollment cliff." And the prospect of fewer students only adds to the pressures that many colleges and universities are currently navigating, like recent cuts to federal research grants or a drop in international students. 

Education reporter Erica Breunlin recently wrote about the looming enrollment cliff for the Colorado Sun. She joined Erin O'Toole to talk about what's driving the problem -- and what state education leaders plan to do about it. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

The Colorado River has been under strain for years from hotter temperatures and prolonged drought. It supplies drinking water to tens of millions of people and provides irrigation for more than 5 million acres of farmland.  

And demand has been growing for a shrinking supply. The seven states that rely on water from the river have spent years trying - and failing – to agree on how to divide up less water.  

Now the federal government has stepped in with a plan that could mean steep cuts for some users, especially in the lower-basin states of Arizona, California, and Nevada. 

 So, what does the proposal mean for Colorado? And does it help solve the problem? 

Luke Runyon is co-director of The Water Desk, an environmental journalism initiative at the University of Colorado.  He joined Erin O’Toole to explain some of the details. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Colorado has played a leading role in many films. The state’s western landscapes can be seen in movies like The Hateful Eight and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.   

Then there’s the famous scene in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in which Paul Newman and Robert Redford leap off the edge of a cliff into the rushing river below. That scene was filmed near Durango, above the Animas River.   

Robert Redford famously spent a lot of time in Boulder. And actors like Don Cheadle and Pam Grier have all come from Colorado.    

This summer, the first-ever Colorado 150 Film Festival will celebrate these movies and actors with screenings of 150 films being shown in 35 independent theaters across the state. It’s also a celebration of the state’s 150th anniversary on Aug. 1.  

Erin O'Toole spoke earlier this year with one of the festival’s organizers, Rob DuRay, about the festival – and where Colorado’s film industry might go from here. As Colorado prepares to mark its 150th birthday tomorrow, this is one of several conversations about the state's history we'll reshare in the coming days. 

The Colorado 150 Film Festival kicked off in June and continues through November. View the full lineup of films and venues.

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

In an era of high-speed gondolas and sprawling ski resorts, it's easy to forget how some of Colorado's smaller mountains shaped ski culture as we know it today.
 
Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs is one of those mountains. It's a fraction of the size of the resorts in Aspen or Vail – or the bigger resort across town.

But Howelsen Hill made a huge impact when it opened back in 1915. The hill bears the name of its founder, a champion ski jumper from Norway named Carl Howelsen. Over the years, Howelsen Hill got more people skiing, and eventually served as the training ground for dozens of future Olympians.

Candice Bannister is the executive director of the Tread of Pioneers Museum in Steamboat Springs, which has plenty of Howelsen-related artifacts in its collection.  

She talked with Erin O’Toole in January about Howelsen’s legacy – and why Howelsen Hill is still an important place today. Ahead of Colorado's 150th birthday this Saturday, this is one of several In The NoCo conversations about the state's fascinating history that we'll reshare in the coming days. 

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

Colorado marks its 150th birthday this Saturday, Aug. 1.

Experts at History Colorado have been thinking for a while of different ways to help commemorate the state’s anniversary. One idea was to track down the earliest known photograph of Colorado.   

And what they uncovered is striking: It’s a daguerreotype from 1853, taken during an expedition across the West more than 20 years before Colorado became a state in 1876. 

The image depicts a Cheyenne village with two people facing the camera, near what is now Lamar, Colo. 

For the curators at History Colorado, the photo also revealed the fascinating story of the photographer – a man named Solomon Nunes Carvalho, who traveled the West with a bulky camera and captured some of the earliest photos of the region.  

Erin O’Toole spoke last fall with Sam Bock, History Colorado’s director of Interpretations and Publications, to learn more about the search for the oldest photo and what it tells us about Colorado’s early history.  

With Colorado's 150th just a few days away, this is the first of several conversations about the state's history we'll reshare in the days ahead.

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

It was one of the deadliest disasters in Colorado history: Fifty years ago, a flash flood swept through Big Thompson Canyon between Estes Park and Loveland. It killed at least 144 people on July 31, 1976. 

A torrential rainstorm that formed suddenly unleashed more than a foot of rain on the area that evening. Emergency crews rushed to warn people. Many residents and tourists hurried to safety. But many others were caught off guard. 

That disaster changed how emergency responders operate in Colorado. It helped underline the need for better emergency alert systems. And lessons from that event still come into play when a disaster strikes Colorado today. 

To learn more about the impact of the Big Thompson flood, we spoke with Lori Hodges, director of Larimer County's Office of Emergency Management.  She told Erin O'Toole that she thinks about the flood often, including during emergency planning drills held a few months ago. 

Larimer County will hold a commemoration event this Friday afternoon at the Pulliam Community Building in Loveland.  And the Loveland Museum is showing an exhibit marking the 50th anniversary of the disaster, with an opening reception Friday evening.

This story has been slightly edited for clarity due to varying accounts of rainfall during the flood. A previous version stated that the surrounding towns of Estes Park, Loveland and Fort Collins did not report rainfall. According to people who were in Estes Park on the day of the flood, they did see rainfall in that area.

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

When a wildfire breaks out in Colorado, scores of emergency responders help fight the blaze and protect residents: wildland firefighters, pilots for air tankers, and law enforcement to help evacuate people. 

There's one job you don't hear about as much — but it plays an integral role in how crews respond to a fast-moving wildfire. 

A team of incident meteorologists with the National Weather Service dispatches weather experts to disasters like wildfires, hurricanes and blizzards. They help emergency crews plan their response based on how weather conditions are likely to change. 

Juan Hernandez is an incident meteorologist who’s currently stationed in Pueblo, near the Aspen Acres fire that has scorched more than 100,000 acres and more than 850 structures over the past month.  

He spoke with Erin O'Toole on Thursday about the unusual work he's been doing there, and how he helps crews fight a wildland blaze.  

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

On a given night, there are more than 800 people experiencing homelessness in the city of Aurora.  

That's according to the most recent survey from the Metro Denver Homelessness Initiative. Some of them find shelter and support at a regional center designed to house up to 600 people.  

On Friday nights, one of those people is the city’s top elected official.  

Since late February, Aurora mayor Mike Coffman has spent his Friday nights sleeping on a cot at the shelter. He says it gives him unique insight into the program and how to improve it. 

Coffman joined Erin O'Toole to talk about why he wanted to do this, and what kind of impact it's had on city policies.  

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Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org
Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: [email protected]
Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!
 
Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
 
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.