High Country Adventures: Rappelling with The Survival University in Teller County

TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - KRDO13’s Julia Donovan checked out The Survival University’s new rappelling course in Teller County. It's all part of our High Country Adventures segment, where we show you the coolest ways to explore Colorado’s natural beauty!

The Survival University is run by Jason Marsteiner, who quit his job in corporate America after finding out how popular and lucrative this line of work can be.

Born and raised in the Colorado mountains, he started selling survival packs on eBay.

"I'm like 'I already know this stuff, I grew up doing it,'" he told KRDO13 about his adventurous upbringing in Cripple Creek.

Eventually, one eBay buyer asked for survival lessons.

Jason recounted the moment: 

"He asked, 'can you take me out in the woods and teach me how to use it?'" 

Julia laughed, “So it’s all thanks to a guy who wanted to go out into the woods with a stranger from eBay?”

16 years later, The Survival University (TSU) is the world’s largest survival school, sitting on 5,000 acres of land.

Instructors at TSU teach people how to make fire, build shelter and forage for food – but its newest course is even more daring!

"We can give people a little bit of a taste of military mountaineering," explained Kenny Guinn, the new Wilderness and Technical Instructor, who learned how to rappel back when he served on the U.S. Air Force bomb squad.

Click here to learn more about The Survival University's rappelling courses and other offerings.

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