At VistaVerde Ranch, just outside of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the people who work the ranch aren’t only staff. They are enthusiastic participants in the western history of the ranch, mission, and lifestyle.
Amp up the experience’s novelty and the potential derived benefits, and the person guiding the experience takes on more importance.
These are all impressive people. They bring their heart and soul to VVR and your experience. Every individual there is interesting in their own right, so finding three that embody the West’s personal spirit seems a little unfair to the rest of the group. As the average length of working the ranch is seven years, these are not transient like the seasons. They like what they do and find personal and transferable meaning from the experiences and work to the guests and the world. After a week at VVR, a typical stay, you might even call some of them friends.
Cholly McGlynn might be the most critical person at VVR because everyone has to eat. Nothing at VVR is easy, all hard work, and that takes fuel, which he directs as F & B Director. His early years were in Philadelphia, with early anticipation of being a Marine Biologist. After a brief stint in electrical engineering, food preparation’s continual learning process propelled Cholly down the culinary road.
He has been at VVR for 17 years, actually split into two stints. What separated them was his foray into baking, which was somewhat a gauntlet for his learning mantra and cooking skills. Through trial and error on his yeasty sabbatical, he became a master baker. However, he noted, “my first baguettes were a disaster, a real door-stop.” For Cholly, one of his driving forces is always learning.
Like the eight-armed, whirling-dervish of all things food and beverage, he has helped elevate the dining and beverage experience of VVR well beyond expectations. As if exceptional food was not enough upon his return, he trained as a sommelier, resulting in VVR bumping up to Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence in 2018.
He has a tie to VVR that is more than a job. He regularly hunts and fishes and participates in the hunt to table competitions. His two children were born on the ranch, so it is in their blood as well.
If you are going to get off the National Forest property, you need a guide skilled in every direction and every mode of exploration. Shannan Balser is the battery bunny of guides at VVR, with endless energy and a personal passion for connecting people with the land.
Like most of the staff at VVR, Balser found work to be the perfect union between personal passion and location. If it is really down in her rare downtime, then it is dance movies/videos that get her attention. In her 12 years at the ranch, you can most likely find her doing the same biking activities, running, skiing, and snowshoeing on her off time.
Growing up, she was tied to the bike and running and Placerville, California. She has a unique tie to activity, the land, which is combined with connecting with people. Her travels have helped her empathize with people quickly upon first meeting, a skill that really embellishes the outdoor experience for the guests. Balser is not afraid to get out and go, as evidenced by her bike trip across Guatemala when she was 22, which was self-supported and relied on villagers for direction without GPS aid.
If she was not at VVR, she would be working with kids in some outdoor setting. When they get off the trail with Balser, that does apply as the guests are like big kids in a new world, so a perfect fit for both.
In a ranch like VVR, the horse is calling, and James Reeves, wrangler extraordinaire, can get you in the saddle and into the sunset in no time. Reeves, the son of wildlife biologists, has always had a kinship to the mountains and packing somewhere off the beaten path. Talk to him for five minutes, and it’s apparent this is in his blood. And, according to Reeves, his parents expected him to do something akin to wrangling.
Reeves first saw an ad for VVR, and now in his third year, the Sacramento native has settled into what he considers the ideal location. He notes there is definitely a bit of family association between the staff, almost a VVR comradery.
You might think being a Black wrangler places him in a unique position. That is true. However, Reeves notes that it is about doing your job in a ranch setting and respecting those who do their jobs.
He is a naturally quiet man who obviously has a gift when chatting with the equine population. Maybe one of his best contributions is getting the guest to just slow down and develop that quiet connection to the horse. He has quite the cerebral schedule of art, poetry, and watching an occasional movie on his days off. He definitely has an old west quality about him – a man of few words but intense connection and purpose.