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Action County

Richard Chittick
Summit Daily/Brad OdekirkFrisco's Jen and Molly McConnell
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Jen McConnell lives the perfect Summit County lifestyle, trail running and kayaking in the summer and ski patrolling for Copper Mountain in the winter. The Frisco resident is now in her fourth year at Colorado Kayak Supply (CKS), where she has risen through the ranks to become the manager of both the Silverthorne and Buena Vista retail locations. McConnell moved to Blue River in 1998 after years of visiting from her hometown, Denver. Over the last six years, she has managed to live in every Summit County town, as well as Summit Cove and Wildernest.

After three years of devoting much of her summers to running the local whitewater, McConnell is using this summer to spend more time with her three-year-old yellow lab, Molly.McConnell found trail running as the best way to exercise with her dog, and on any given afternoon she can be found jogging along the Miner’s Creek Trail just outside of her Bill’s Ranch home, or on Buena Vista’s Midland Trail. Once CKS closes in September, McConnell will return for her second season on the Copper ski patrol, a career that began five years ago at Keystone.

Do you love your dog more than anything in the world?”I do. She motivates me to run and stay in shape. I like the summer because I get to spend more time with her. I like running in places with water because Molly can get wet. I’m not kayaking as much because of work and Molly. I even gave up mountain biking because I couldn’t do it with the dog.” Do you prefer winters or summers?



“I like both, because when you’re burnt out with one, it’s time for the other to begin. When the summer is over, I’m ready to start skiing again.”How did you get into ski patrolling?”I love being outside, I love helping people, and I grew up skiing. It’s my favorite thing in the world.


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