Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is Hiring

Glenwood Caverns is hiring

Earn a paycheck and have fun at the same time! America’s only mountaintop theme park, Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, is hiring now for seasonal spring and summer positions.

When opportunity knocks, it’s always a good idea to answer. Well, it’s knocking today! Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, Colorado is hiring seasonal positions for the upcoming spring and summer seasons.

While the balmy days of summer may seem far off, they’re not. Peak season at the Park is just around the corner. With the installation of the Glenwood Gondola underway and on schedule for completion next month, it won’t long before the Park reopens to the visiting public in mid-March. We’ll need a fully, trained staff to welcome and serve guests—“to make people smile”—our company mission.

If you are hard-working, reliable, friendly and teachable, we encourage you to apply. Working at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park is a great way to build your resume and develop real-world marketable skills including increased confidence, public speaking, time management and problem solving.

We are looking for employees who share our six core values: guest service, enthusiasm, team player, passionate, adaptable and dedicated. If this sounds like you, we’d love you to be a part of the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park team in 2019. Now is the time to apply. To learn more about jobs, visit us at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park.

We are currently hiring for the following positions:

  • Restaurant Cashiers
  • Attraction Attendants
  • Gondola Cashiers
  • Gondola Operators
  • Gondola Attendants
  • Gift Shop Cashiers
  • CDL Drivers
  • Cooks for the Lookout Grille
  • Photography Cashiers
  • Restaurant Bussers
  • Janitors
  • Cave Tour Guides
  • Part-time Receptionists
  • Sluice Attendants
  • Retail Inventory Control Specialists

Restaurant bussers can be as young as 14; cashiers, 16 and up; minor attractions attendants must be at least 16 and major attractions operators, 18 and older.

Do you hear that knocking? Opportunities at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park abound, but they won’t last long. Get to work. Make money. Have fun. Apply today!

Behind the Scenes: Cave Care

Glenwood Caverns is temporarily closed until March while we install our new high-capacity tram. In the meantime, we’ve been busy housekeeping our treasured caves.

Most caves including Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park have a stable year-round temperature of about 55°F (13°C). Even when the outside temps dip to freezing or below, the interior of the caves remains comfortable for working—and that’s just what we’ve been doing since the Park temporarily closed in the fall.

Improving the cave experience for visitors

“The closure gives us time to work on some projects. We were able to eliminate eight steps on the King’s Row tour.  It will be the same fun and informative cave tour, but now guests will be able to walk amongst some of the rocks instead of above them on a walkway,” said Kathy Miller, Natural Attractions Manager at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. “Visitors will feel more a part of the cave and get a sense of what it might have felt like for the first people who discovered this room in 1960.” In place of the raised walkway, Miller and her team installed a new path with switchbacks that meander through the rockfall. The location of the new walking surface is in the Barn, the second largest cave room in Colorado. It’s what’s known as a breakdown room where the floor is covered with rocks that dislodged from the ceiling when the cave was formed. Extreme care was taken to ensure that no living cave formations were damaged in the process of building the pathway.

Yes, we dust our cave formations

Just like homes, caves are not maintenance free. Miller and her staff spend a significant amount of time housekeeping. Even though visitors leave backpacks, food and other items outside of the caves before taking a tour, they still track debris inside that must be tidied up periodically. “We regularly clean lint and hair from the cave walkways and formations, and we dust the formations as well,” Miller explained.  During the closure the team is doing an extensive deep clean that includes removing dust with small shop vacs fitted with an attachment typically used to clean computer keyboards. After the dust is removed the formations also get a gentle washing. “When spring comes the cave will rinse itself but we want to get the dust gone before the thaw,” Miller added.

Checking, replacing and installing

At any given time there are two to four staff members working in the caves as well as a welder who is constructing new handrails for guest safety and convenience. The maintenance checklist includes checking the airlock seals on the doors, replacing burned out bulbs and resetting lights for the new pathway. Building the pathway necessitated pouring concrete for a smooth and stable pedestrian-friendly surface. Because of its location inside a cave and the need for the airlock doors to remain sealed at all times, pouring concrete is done the old fashioned way. “We put up a double tent to contain the dust. Instead of using a cement truck, portable mixers and bagged concrete are hauled in. Our contractor does it the hard way—in small batches, by hand,” Miller said. Other tasks taking place include installing a new phone line in the event of an emergency and “scaling” work which is poking areas prone to loose rock.

Cave well-check

Open or closed, high-season or off-season, we are always concerned about the health and wellness of our cave. It’s our baby! Caves are extremely fragile environments with perceptible growth occurring incrementally over long periods of time. To assess its condition, the staff takes the cave’s temperature and measures humidity. It is an ongoing project that to date has spanned 20 years. Every three months a group of cavers from Denver check the evaporometers and data loggers that are placed throughout the cave. Evaporometers are devices that measure the rate of evaporation. Your cave guide can point them out to you on a cave tour. The data loggers take the temperature of the cave every 15 minutes. The information then gets downloaded and evaluated by experts four times per year.

While the Park may seem dormant this winter, there is a lot happening behind the scenes. Special thanks to Kathy Miller for providing information and photographs. Miller was recently appointed to the board of directors for the National Caves Association as regional director for member caves in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona. She joined Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in March 2006 and was promoted to natural attractions manager in October 2014. Miller has lived in the area for 28 years.

How a Colorado Theme Park Ended Up on Top of a Mountain

The Beckley's exploring the Fairy Caves in the 1990s

A mountain is ideal for many things – hiking, skiing, hang gliding, but it’s not the most logical location for a theme park. Yet, situated 7, 100 feet above sea level in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, is America’s only mountaintop theme park. How exactly did Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park end up there?

Well, follow the path of curiosity long enough, as Steve and Jeanne Beckley did and you might find yourself in some interesting and unexpected places. What started out as a spelunking hobby in college became a quest to explore the private and nearly forgotten Fairy Caves, the closed-to-the-public Colorado cave fiercely protected by its then owner, Pete Prebble.

Inspired by photos he saw in caving books, Beckley began writing to Prebble in 1982, in the hopes of gaining access to the caves, but almost all of his letters came back unopened, stamped “Return to Sender.” Disappointed but not deterred, Beckley kept up the letter writing campaign. After a decade Prebble relented and in 1992, granted Beckley permission to explore the caves.

As spectacular as the images in the caving books were, nothing could prepare Steve and Jeanne for what they were about to see. After struggling though Jam Crack, a claustrophobically narrow opening only nine inches wide in spots, they emerged into The Barn, a huge chamber with fiery red walls. It was here, that Steve’s dream of sharing the beauty and wonder of the Fairy Caves with the public was born.

The Beckley's exploring the Fairy Caves in the 1990s

The Beckleys acquired the property from Prebble in 1998. On Memorial Day weekend a year later, 500 visitors showed up for a tour of the newly renamed Glenwood Caverns. By 2003, the “little” cave tour operation was accommodating 100,000 visitors a year. To transport the burgeoning number of guests to the mountaintop cave entrance, the Beckleys installed a Poma gondola and dubbed it the Iron Mountain Tramway.

Read the whole story in Roaring Fork Lifestyle Magazine’s Movers & Shakers edition

Steve Beckley’s Dream: Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

Alpine Coaster is a top ride at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

Though interest in the caves was booming, the wait for a tour was breaching three hours. “We started putting in rides to give people something to do while they were waiting for the caves,” said Steve. The idea took off and launched the business in a new and unexpected direction – the planning of a mountaintop theme park with a Western history slant officially got underway. The first rides were installed in 2005, including the Alpine Coaster which is still a visitor favorite. Since then, a slew of thrill rides and attractions have been added to the Colorado theme park.

What began over two decades ago as nagging curiosity to explore a little known cave in Glenwood Springs has become America’s only mountaintop theme park, a place where the thrills run deep and the sky’s the limit!

Hard work pays off. Check out a small sampling of accolades the Beckleys and Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park have received over the years!

  • The State of Colorado awarded the Beckleys the 2001 Governor’s Award for Outstanding Community Tourism Initiative
  • Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association named them Citizens of the Year for 2002
  • Glenwood Caverns was named one of the “10 Best Caves”, USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards
  • Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park ranked in the top 4 for “Best Family Fun” in Sunset magazine Travel Awards

Wild adventures in Glenwood Springs

Are you ready to explore a few heart pumping adventures in Glenwood Springs. Shawna Henderson, the Colorado Escapist, begins her journey underground on the Wild Tour at the Glenwood Caverns and Adventure Park. Get dirty! Crawl through tight spaces and discover some of the most incredible rock and water features.

Next stop is the Iron Mountain Hot Springs where we relax and unwind in a few of the 16 pools nestled next to the Colorado river. Lastly, Shawna joins Charlie MacArthur for some whitewater fun on Stand Up Paddle boards going down the Colorado River.

Testimonials for the Wild Tour at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

Wonder what it’s like to take a Wild Tour at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park? Watch these testimonials from students and a teacher at the Denver Academy!

The Wild Tour at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park takes you deep inside Glenwood Caverns in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, for an on-your-belly caving adventure. Guide Lorie Sheader shows you what the Wild Tour is all about. Call 800-530-1635, ext. 0, for information and reservations.

Glenwood Caverns and the Historic Fairy Caves are part of Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Located on top of Iron Mountain at an elevation of 7,100 feet, the park offers walking and wild cave tours, thrill rides, mountaintop dining, scenic gondola rides and lots of kid-friendly attractions.

Goin’ Wild on a Wild Tour at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

Ready to get down and dirty? The Wild Tour at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park takes you deep inside Glenwood Caverns in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, for an on-your-belly caving adventure. Guide Lorie Sheader shows you what the Wild Tour is all about as she takes students and a teacher from the Denver Academy underground. Call 800-530-1635, ext. 0, for information and reservations.

The King’s Row Cave Tour

Take a peek inside Glenwood Caverns as guide Kathy Miller gives you a preview of the King’s Row Cave Tour. King’s Row is the most highly decorated cave room in Colorado. The staged light show highlights the cave’s magnificent formations.

Glenwood Caverns and the Historic Fairy Caves are part of Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Located on top of Iron Mountain at an elevation of 7,100 feet, the park offers walking and wild cave tours, thrill rides, mountaintop dining, scenic gondola rides and lots of kid-friendly attractions.

 

Top Ten Reasons Glenwood Caverns should be…

Top Ten Reasons Glenwood Caverns should be the Eighth Wonder of the World

Recently, the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association entered Glenwood Caverns and the Historic Fairy Caves into VirtualTourist.com’s contest to crown “The Eighth Wonder of the World.”

Tourism boards, chambers of commerce and visitor bureaus around the world are sending in nominations to the website, which is a leading travel research website and community. The public is being asked to vote for their favorites out of the more than 200 submissions, and the “Wonder” with the most votes will be crowned the winner and will be featured in a national broadcast TV segment.

The Original Seven Wonders of the World is a list, compiled in the second century B.C., of man-made structures built during the classical era.

The Seven Wonders are:

  • Great Pyramid of Giza
  • Hanging Gardens of Babylon
  • Statue of Zeus at Olympia
  • Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
  • Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
  • Colossus of Rhodes
  • Lighthouse of Alexandria

We think Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park should be named the Eighth Wonder of the World! While the caves were formed naturally, it definitely took a lot of manpower to get them ready for the public viewing. Charles Darrow and his team first opened the Historic Fairy Caves to visitors in 1895, and the work continues today, with the recent completion of the Historic Fairy Cave Tour, showcasing even more natural beauty and amazing formations.

In the spirit of the Late Show with David Letterman, we’d like to offer our own Top Ten Reasons Glenwood Caverns should be the Eighth Wonder of the World:

10) The original owners of Glenwood Caverns claimed it first, in 1897, well before most of the other contestants even existed.

9) Glenwood Springs is a lot easier to find than Ephesus and Halicarnassus!

8) Seeing any of the Seven Wonders means being prepared for sweltering heat: the average summer high in Giza is 96° and in Olympia it is 97°! The Historic Fairy Caves, on the other hand, are a cool 52° year round–perfect for a hot summer day.

7) Most major attractions only invite you to take pictures, but if you take the Wild Tour you’ll be invited to get dirty, crawl on your belly and go deep into rarely visited areas of the caves!

6) We’re not sure, but we don’t think any of the current Seven Wonders offer drink specials and live music (Music on the Mountain at Glenwood Caverns does, though!)

5) The best things in life involve bacon
(cave bacon, that is!)

4) Glenwood Caverns and the Historic Fairy Caves were explored/excavated by enthusiastic cavers, not Greek slaves.

3) You’ve got to go diving underwater to see what’s left of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, but it’s only a short tram ride up Iron Mountain in Glenwood Springs to see the Historic Fairy Caves and King’s Row in the most highly-decorated show cave in Colorado.

2) There are no scary, hollow-eyed, naked Roman statues at Glenwood Caverns, only carved happy Wooden Bears.

1) Many of the Seven Wonders are known for their impressive height—but perched on the edge of the canyon 1300 feet above the Colorado River, Glenwood Caverns stands WAY above them all!

Do you think Glenwood Caverns should be the Eighth Wonder of the World? Cast your vote! Visit www.virtualtourist.com to vote for Glenwood Caverns and the Historic Fairy Caves. Voting is open until Sept. 30.

Visit Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

Visit Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in historic Glenwood Springs, Colo., for a unique mountaintop adventure. Wholesome family fun, from kids’ activities and attractions to rides for die-hard thrill seekers, makes this the perfect vacation destination. Take a walking tour or an on-your-belly Wild Tour of Glenwood Caverns and Historic Fairy Caves, one of the country’s leading show caves. Ride the longest alpine coaster in Colorado, with individual cars on tracks that race down the mountainside. Enjoy the highest elevation roller coaster in America, a 4D motion theater, a giant swing over Glenwood Canyon,  a zip ride, breathtaking views from the Iron Mountain Tramway, a climbing wall, sluice box gemstone mining, geode cutting, a Ferris wheel ride, a giant maze and more. The Lookout Grille serves lunch on the deck or inside by the fire, with a great kids’ menu. Perfect for parties, groups and reunions.