Episode 119: Jim Hancock - Fishing the Gunnison River

Mill House Podcast

Jim Hancock is one of the finest people you’ll ever meet and one of the hardest working, too! I’ve know Jimmy a very long time, from Aspen of course, where he started working for the Aspen Ski Company in 1977. He worked in many fields for them: snowmaker, powder guide, instructor, race director, and by 1981 he’d proven himself to take on enormous responsibility when he became World Cup Chief of Course and ultimately the Chief of Race. He shined brightly. The team he assembled to prepare the slope for the high speed downhill and tech events for the best skiers in the world became his trusted family, and when anything was needed they dove in head first. He was beloved by all and they anointed him as their Pope. Jimmy is also embedded with hunting and fishing, and for the last 30 years has been an elk hunting guide every fall. He’s an adventurer at heart and doesn’t fear the unknown. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison is a narrow, daunting canyon with walls that stretch 2500 skyward. The river at its floor falls steeply and in some sections form giant rapids with the ability to flip rafts at the beat of a heart. But, too, it’s the home of the most amazingly prized rainbow and brown trout that have never seen the pressure that most rivers know too well. Many years ago Hancock saw something that few thought possible, fishing it by raft, and then sharing it with those that love to dare in the pursuit of great fishing in God’s country. His operation, Gunnison River Rats just sold to Elk Mountain Expeditions in Aspen, Colorado but he is still a guide taking multiple trips a summer down there.

On today's podcast we cover the forging life of Jim Hancock!