The staff at Majestic: Who are we really?

We are the ones who greet you as familiars, serve you as family, and party with you as friends. We won’t hesitate to wake you for the northern lights, we think after dinner parties are best by bonfires, and we may be the first to say “yes” to a round of shots. Our goal is to give you a memorial experience both on the mountain and in the lodge, and we take our jobs just as seriously as we take our relationships with you.

One of the coolest aspects about Majestic, aside from the obvious incredible heli skiing, is the mesh of personalities that make up the anatomy of the business. We’re a small staff of 19, and every position we fill is crucial to maintaining a five star experience. It’s not just the jobs that we do that make it a five star experience, though; it’s our charisma, backstories and connectivity both between ourselves and the guests.

But aside from the titles of “guide,” “chef,” etc., who are we really? You can check out job bios about some of our staff on our website, majesticheliski.com, but if you really want to know who your future friends are, here’s some inside scoop on who you’ll meet:

The Guides

Njord RotaOwner and Guide

Who knew?: Right out of high school he was cleaning hotel rooms in the Alps while skiing through Europe, eventually moving up to janitor and bartender. He’s scrubbed more toilets than any of our housekeepers before he became a ski guide, pilot and professional kayaker. He’s a marketing master as the publisher of Kayak Magazine, and in the summers he trains pilots in mountain flying and teaches high altitude test work. If you enjoy a round of Fireball, you may be his new best friend.

Chris ShellyOperations Manager and Head guide 

What you wouldn’t know: The dessert queen who hates Facebook, Chris has been all around the world heli and snowcat guiding in places like Iceland, New Zealand and Japan. He’s also been a ski patroller for 85 seasons.

Aside from playing in the snow, he’s spent his fair share on the water as a 20-year professional kayaker and whitewater raft guide. His claim to fame, however, is his short-lived gig as a bouncer at a cowboy bar.
He quit after the first night.

Brett MentorSnowboard Guide

Who knew?: For six years our favorite ginger was wearing tap dancing shoes when not wearing snowboard boots, but has stuck with snowboarding full time since the age of five. He’s since been sponsored by Venture and other snowboarding companies, and teaches mountaineering, backpacking and outdoor skills at Colorado Mountain College. He’s also run an outdoor recreation camp for children with disabilities, worked on the nearby Matanuska Glacier as an ice climbing guide, and earned two All-American lacrosse titles in high school.

Lynn KennenSki Guide

Who knew?: Most people know her as a competitive sponsored skier who began instructing at just the age of 13, but few know she picked up the art of poi spinning while standing around a bonfire on a raft trip. She’s also a mountain biker who owns five cruiser bikes and has been to a bike repair camp. After working and managing a restaurant in Tahoe City for 15 years, she decided becoming a full time guide and minimalist nomad was more of a fitting lifestyle. She’s a class V whitewater guide, has lived out of her van, her 4-runner and a camper, and has a deep affection for wildflowers.

Alex KittrellSki Guide

What you wouldn’t know: He’s going on 23 years as a part time lumberjack and arborist who’s both harvested and saved thousands of trees, and is the nicest, no-shit taker you’ll ever meet. He was also a contract timber feller on wildfires, and the occasional ski bum while touring mountains in Colorado, Montana, California and Idaho. Seven years ago he joined Sun Valley Heli Ski as one of the lead guides, and shares his winters between guiding there and here.

Amy Pertuz Ski Guide

Who knew?: An ultra distance runner who completed the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim to Rim race in 2015 (for those of you who didn’t know, that’s 43 miles roundtrip with over 22,000 feet of vertical change), she started skiing in her 20s and eventually became a ski patroller, avalanche educator and heli and snowcat guide. Another feat she accomplished in her 20s: building her own house and winning a mechanical bull rodeo in a bar. Next on her list is learning a martial art and working in disaster relief.
Loves explosives.

The Pilots

Kevin Yenser
Who he really is: The peter pan who flies so he doesn’t have to grow up. A 22-year hockey player who also snowboards, hunts and camps, he studied mechanical and architectural drafting in college before flying. For the past three summers he was an aerial firefighter and part of SAR (search and rescue) in Yellowstone National Park.
Loves his family, has an unnatural disdain for meatloaf and can really get down to some karaoke.

Zac Miller

Who he really is: An outdoor enthusiastic who’s big into fishing, particularly when he can fly his personal plane into the backcountry for a real wilderness camping experience. Before becoming a pilot 12 years ago, he was a 4-year vet tech, specific to equine dentistry, and barrel raced in California rodeos. He’s a recreational hockey player and was once a coffee brewer in the Grand Canyon (though he didn’t actually brew anything).

The Chefs

Heidi SolumHead Chef

What you wouldn’t know: This Culinary Institute of America graduate spent three summers cooking with grizzlies at the remote Great Alaska Adventure Lodge—a bear viewing camp accessible only by bush planes in Lake Clark National Park. Before pursing her culinary passion she competed in gymnastics for 10 years and became a vault level 7 winner in Hawaii. Traveling is her passion and wants to one day be totally self sustainable on her own farm.

Jill SeversonBread & Pastry Chef 

What you wouldn’t know:Nominated Best New Pastry Chef for Food and Wine Magazine in Seattle in 2013, this International Culinary Center grad has worked in both New York and Seattle as a top notch dessert chef (lucky us!!). She’s a traveling rogue who recently bought a house in Sand Point, Idaho, but likes taking frequent food and neighborhood tours to become more cultured in her surrounding environment. When not working her magic and snowboarding at Majestic Heli Ski, she’s camping, continuing her travels and working weddings at Majestic’s lodge in the summer. Feel free to gift her any drink, so long as it’s whiskey.

Cate HastingsChef

Who she really is: Not your average “lunch lady.” After 8 years serving in the Navy, she worked on B52 bombers and FB11 fighter jets as an electrical engineer before deciding that she wanted to travel the world. So she became a chef who went from barefoot cooking in Thailand for Thai dignitaries to cooking in Australia for Ozzy Roughneck gold miners and chinese geologists. She can kill both the drums and the violin, enjoys oil painting and will take you on any day in kickboxing.

The Providers of a Good Time

Kari Rowley  Human Resources and Reservations 

What you wouldn’t know:  The go-to go-getter who meshes out the knitty gritty of Majestic, she was in the Virginia Junior Miss Pageant in high school, though claims to be the furthest thing from a pageant girl and was tricked into it by her guidance counselor. She ended up winning $500 for her piano performance and moved on to the state competition (much to her dismay) and lived out the classic nightmare of being laughed at in an uncoordinated cheer dance on stage. But she believes that laughing at yourself is a huge part of life! When not working at Majestic she’s at home skiing in Basalt, Colorado with her three kids: two human and one dog.
Red wine anyone?

Amy Helm Mechanic

Who knew?: After getting her pilot’s license at just 19, she went after her mechanics certification so she could fix her own plane. Shortly after she moved to Alaska to work on helicopters for four years and now is a Colorado-based aircraft mechanic working on anything from fixed wing to fabric restoration to helis. Her favorite holiday is Oktoberfest, not just because she can speak fluent German, but because all her friends and family dress up in Lederhosen and Dirndl to serve beer to her hometown.

Jenn Cleary Lodge Manager

What you wouldn’t know: A previous flight attendant and whitewater raft guide who loves pie eating contests and dancing, she ran competitively for 15 years and hit sub 5-minute miles before deciding it was time to try out other things. A year ago she moved from Maryland to Colorado to intern for Trail Runner Magazine and take a stab at snowboarding, and is torn between the mountains and the sea. Life goals include skydiving in all 50 states (currently only three down) and eventually writing a novel.

Victoria Bustamante Lodge Hostess

Who she really is: A Leadville, Colorado native who moved to Park City, Utah to make candy for 11 years, she’s been a snowboard and ski instructor since 2002 and has a lifelong goal of becoming a heli guide. This past summer she spent her days kiteboarding under the midnight sun in Homer, Alaska, and camping along the shore with her dog. In addition to kite and snowboarding, other serious passions include rocking out to David Guetta and anything Denver Broncos.

Stacey WardLodge Hostess

Who knew?: After earning a NCAA scholarship to Humbolt State for rowing (where they took first for the northwest), this gal worked for the USDA forest service as a river ranger and archeologist. She was part of a hotshot and helitack crew for 13 years, has managed a wilderness lodge in Yosemite, performed search and rescues in the Tetons, and now river guides, backcountry skies, mountain bikes and boats in her free time (what doesn’t she do??). Hope playing a piano duet with both hands and toes wasn’t what you were about to say next, ’cause she can do that too.

Becky AndersonYoga instructor and Massage Therapist

What you wouldn’t know: This scrappy 19-year massage therapist grew up skiing in Utah and for the last several years has run a yoga studio in Aspen, called Aspen Shakti. She worked the Warp Tour back in ’99 as a massage therapist and has worked with professional athletes of all major American sports, including X Games and Olympic medalists. A guitar player and singer who writes her own music, and WILL win any dance battle she’s challenged to.

Matt Doskocil 
Lodge Host, Flight Following

Who he really is: Primarily in charge of flight following, he’s the eye in the sky—the communicator between the field, base and the lodge. A former student in a mountain recreation program in northern Vermont, he’s big into rock and ice climbing and guitar playing, and in 2015 won the biggest competition on the east coast for downhill skateboarding. He’s been snowboarding since the age of eight and plans to one day turn that passion into a heli-guiding career.
He can also tell you about any and every video game ever created.

Todd GilbertLodge Host, Flight Following

Who he really is:  One of the lodge’s go-to guys for just about anything, he’s an aspiring heli mechanic and techie with a serious interest in robotics, encoding and building computers. He’s had an assortment of jobs, including surf instructor, hostel manager, sailboat hull clearer and Repo agent, but he most enjoys sea kayak guiding in San Fransisco. He hopes to one day own his own adventure company and his favorite food is everything, but particularly a good veggie lasagna.