Member Bio

Member #: 89
Member Year: 2007
Mark Szabo

Bio Summary
Community Activity Summary
Mark Szabo found himself in the vicinity of Pikes Peak either physically or by namesake in his love for volunteering. Marks enjoyed giving back to both Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs in various way over the years. Mark helped one of his clients, Ent Credit Union who donated their used equipment, find homes and refubish (if needed). He was able to provide many non-profits with equipment that they would not otherwise be able to afford.
Occupation Summary
Mark Szabo worked as a Field Engineer for Data General Corp. 1979 -1989. and went on to start his own business, Baseline Computer Service, in 1979 and as of 2022 was still at it. Mark worked at Current Inc.'s Stone facility in the ESD (equipment service department) and Collins Machine and Manufacturing while building his client base in his startup company.
AdAmAn Service

Hobbies
Mark's favorite pastime is doing anything with his kids and now grand kids. Skiing, snowshoeing, photography, trail running, birding, bicycling, woodworking, art, motorcycles.
Climbing Experience Summary

Bio Detail
Community Activity Detail
Mark Szabo has been involved in many community activities including helping other Manitou Springs residents build a large wooden play park for the Maintou Springs Elementary school. He also donated his time to the local Schools and small clinics to fix Apple and IBM computers and other devices. Mark volunteered (at times with his daughter Catie) with the Triple Crown of Running and helped with setup and support for their many running events including the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon where he had volunteered as the OPs person at the Summit of Pikes Peak for many years. He met Tom Lear at this time who is also an AdAmAn member. Tom was the Summit aid station lead a pre-raceday Ops volunteer. Mark got involved with the Pikes Peak Hillclimb in various volunteer positions through his friend AdAmAn Don Sanborn and they also Volunteered as Track Ambassadors for Pike Peak Internatinal Raceway. Mark was on the board for TSL (the Center for Tibetan Buddhism and Culture) at Colorado College. He was fortunate enough to help setup many of their events at Colorado College, and many other location around Colorado. He also had the honor of helping with an event Hosting the Dalai Lama, who had a 3 day class and public session in Pasadena California. Mark also volunteered for many years at Pikes Peak Hospice and Palliative Care, where he did home health care, vigil care and volunteered for the Children Grief Group along with many odd jobs over the years.
Occupation Detail
Mark Szabo started working for Data General fresh out of college and serviced all of Data General products along with many third party devices that DG sold. Mark started at a time when the technicians carried a toolbox full of various integrated circuits (chips), other discreet components and a soldering iron to fix the 15 inch circuit boards in the super mini computers he worked on. He also covered a large area of Colorado and had many harrowing flights to small remote towns on Rocky Mountain Airways AKA Rocky Mountain Scareways. Mark was laid off from Data General when expensive Super Computers were being replaced with Personal Computers and as part of Data General severance package he attended a company provide course on starting a business, giving Mark the confidence to start his own business. Mark's first customer was Park County Government, where he worked on personal computers and supplied them with his own brand of PC. His PC were special because he built them in the living room of his family's house in Manitou Springs and charged extra for computer with his kids figerprints and dog/cat hair. Park Countys data processing manager like having Mark work there because as he often said " It's fun to watch the handicapped work".
Climbing Experience Detail

Memories
Memories From First Climb

Memories From First Member Year

Memories of Family

Favorite Memories from Climbing Fourteeners

Memories from Favorite Mountain Climb

Memories of Favorite Gear

Memories of Worst Gear Failure