July 30, 2011

 

Greetings from Shadowcliff.

 

As many of you know Bob and Judith are enjoying their last season as Shadowcliff Directors, a decision they announced to the Shadowcliff Board of Directors several years ago. I have the privilege and honor to follow in the footsteps of Warren and Patt Rempel and Bob and Judith as the next Shadowcliff director. It is both an exciting and challenging opportunity.

 

I am no stranger to Shadowcliff or Grand Lake. My first Shadowcliff experience occurred in the summer of 1988. I spent a night in Rempel Lodge with seven or eight running buddies, including Bob. We had run over from Estes Park, spent the night at Shadowcliff, and ran back the following morning. And, while that was my first Shadowcliff experience, my family (Barb and sons Neil and Brian—now expanded to include daugther-in-laws Lyndsay and Claire and Grandson Edgar) and I had been vacationing in Grand Lake since 1978.

 

During the 1980’s, I had the good fortune to practice law with Bob and become good friends with Bob and Judith.  In fact, it wasn’t unusual for me to spend a little time over those years updating  Shadowcliff’s corporate minutes.

 

Since 2001, my wife Barb and I have visited Shadowcliff nearly every year, almost always bringing six or eight high school cross country runners with us to run on mountain trails and enjoy their own Shadowcliff experience.  It provided an opportunity for me to share my love of the mountains and trail running with a younger generation. It also provided an opportunity to help others see the interconnectedness between themselves and the natural world. Sometimes I think that too many people have lost sight of this idea, seeing themselves as something separate and apart from the natural world.  Shadowcliff has definitely inspired my journey, and I hope that it has inspired the journey of many young cross country runners as well.

 

Shadowcliff has always been a very special place for my family and me. For me, it was the one place where I could instantly relax, leaving behind the problems of the work world and quickly regain a personal sense of perspective and balance in my life. I was honored to join the Shadowcliff Board of Directors in 2005 and work with a talented and dedicated group of individuals. It also afforded the opportunity to work once again with Bob and Judith.

 

It should come as no surprise that the idea of me succeeding Bob and Judith as Shadowcliff Director was hatched while Bob and I were running with others up and over Flattop Mountain heading towards Bear Lake.  It was July 2009. Bob and I were trailing the pack, and we began a discussion about the process for selecting a new director. By the time the run ended, a seed had been planted.

 

Three years later, that seed has taken root. To prepare myself for this transition, I have been hitting the books to learn more about the operational management of Shadowcliff and about sustainability issues, in general.  Over the last 30 years, I have represented many non-profit organizations and served on the boards of others.  To learn more about Shadowcliff’s operations, I spent six weeks at Shadowcliff in 2010, and I will be spending 8 weeks at Shadowcliff this summer.  I have attended a number of Shadowcliff workshops, always leaving inspired and hopeful about what others are doing to promote a more sustainable world and the great possibilities and opportunities that lie before us.

 

I have had the opportunity to be inspired by the story of Shadowcliff, the vision and work of Warren and Patt Rempel, and the ongoing work of so any volunteers who give selflessly of their time and energy each year serving on the Shadowcliff Board, working on its committees and especially to those who help restore, repair and replace the Shadowcliff facilities each year. I have long been inspired by the work of Bob and Judith, and I expect that our personal journeys will never drift too far from Shadowcliff.

 

I look forward to meeting many of you and renewing relationships with those I have met along the way.

 

Carl Sniffen

 

Successor Director