Pat O'Donnell
Aspen Skiing Company
Aspen, CO USA
"I get excited because I'm passionate about life, I really am. It can be so good; it can be so good."
Career Roadmap
Pat's work combines: Action Sports, Entrepreneurship, and Being Physically Active
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Engineering, General
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
By the age of 27, he knew he wasn't meant for a 9-to-5 job; he took a climbing trip to Yosemite and realized he'd found his passion.
2.
Took a job in Yosemite as a bellman, which only paid ninety cents an hour, but allowed him to climb for six hours each day.
3.
He was so content that he feared he'd become "like Rip Van Winkle" and wake up in the same place thirty years later without having progressed.
4.
Forced himself to leave; took a job in Lake Tahoe, where he helped build the Kirkwood ski area.
5.
His exceptional work in Lake Tahoe got him a job as chief operating officer in charge of ski operations at Keystone resort in Colorado.
6.
The perk about his job was that it allowed him to pursue passion, which had graduated into Himalayan climbing.
7.
After an avalanche killed three of his best friends, Pat came home, quit his job, cashed out everything he had, bought a sailboat, and sailed away.
8.
He spent a year and a half unwinding and processing his grief, then came back to dry land, where he's now the CEO of Aspen Skiing Company.
