Ute Community Involvement

By Bob Wade, Owner

At the Ute we realize that success does not come in a vacuum, regardless of how hard we work. The partnership with our customers and our community creates our success. So we believe in giving back to the community who has supported us.
Our favorite way to do this is by giving our time. But we can’t do everything, so when we can’t give time, we give money to charities run by people who run their non-profits with a passion. The areas that excite us most are youth, environment and athletics.

Events are close to the heart of the Ute. For example, we started the Golden Leaf Half Marathon 30 years ago; it’s almost as old as the Ute. The Golden Leaf is a trail run from Snowmass to Aspen during the colorful fall season. It really epitomizes many of the things that turn us on: beauty, exertion and doing something fun in the out-of-doors with friends. We also put on America’s Uphill, a race 3200 feet up Aspen Mountain, a spring rite for Aspen locals. The Owl Creek Chase is a USSA, FIS certified race for Nordic skiing, an old passion of both my wife’s and mine.  In the past few years we have partnered with the City of Aspen in running these events. We admire their vision in keeping Aspen an exciting place to live and visit.

We also like to bring educational or entertaining events to the Ute. The “Best of Banff” film festival is an incredible evening of mountain-related films. We host events with elite climbers and locals who have summitted the highest peaks in the world, and we hold avalanche transceiver trainings. They are all a great way to get our friends in the community together.

So that is a bit about who we are and how we work; again, we depend on the community for success and we give back when we can.

The Ute Mountaineer and the Wade and Spung families are proud to support the following organizations in 2021:

  • Access Fund

  • American Alpine Club

  • Aspen Center for Environmental Studies

  • Aspen Chapel

  • Aspen Community Foundation

  • Aspen Education Foundation

  • Aspen Elks

  • Aspen Historical Society

  • Aspen Journalism

  • Aspen Music Festival

  • Aspen Valley Land Trust

  • Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club

  • Braun Huts System

  • Challenge Aspen

  • Chris Klug Foundation

  • Clean Energy Economy for the Region

  • Colorado Fourteeners Initiative

  • Colorado Mountain Club

  • Colorado Wild Public Lands

  • Community First Foundation

  • dZi Foundation

  • EcoFlight

  • English in Action

  • Friends of CAIC

  • Friends of Cedar Mesa

  • Grand Mesa Nordic Council

  • High Country News

  • Hike for Hope

  • Hospice of the Valley

  • Independence Pass Foundation

  • LIFT UP

  • Mount Sopris Nordic Council

  • Mountain Rescue Aspen

  • Pathfinders

  • PEAK Samburu Youth

  • Response

  • Roaring Fork Conservancy

  • Roaring Fork Outdoor Volunteers

  • Robbie Wade / Ute Mountaineer Scholarship Fund

  • Rotary Club of Aspen

  • Shining Stars Foundation

  • Sierra Club

  • SMS T2 Skiing

  • Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

  • Theatre Aspen

  • Western Resource Advocates

  • Wilderness Land Trust

  • Wilderness Workshop

01/11/2024

Winner of the 2024 Inaugural Thrive Award

ACRA established the Thrive Award to specifically honor businesses that make efforts to include sustainability in their business model.

“As a business that helps make the outdoors accessible for everyone, Ute Mountaineer works to train staff and educate customers about the best ways to experience the outdoors while taking care of it for the next generation,” the release says.

Read more about this award here.

10/14/2020

We’re excited to share that Ute Mountaineer Founder / Owner Bob Wade received the Pitkin County Cares Volunteer Service Award! It’s great that the community has recognized his hard work with environmental and outdoor stewardship events and efforts. Great work Bob and all the other Service Award recipients!