Sanctuaries in the Snow

The "Dedication to Aspen Mountain" Plaque (Aspen Mountain)

The "Dedication to Aspen Mountain" plaque was put up in February 1999 by a group of skiing friends.  It states:  "In appreciation of many incredible years of skiing and the lifelong friendships we have made."  It then lists the names of "Australians":  Bob Beasley, Scott & Lucy Beasley, John & Judy Faulkner, Mike Jurecki, Wal & Denise King, Bob & Debbie Merkenhof, John & Eve Molyneux, Kevin Rogers, and Col & Georgina Pye-Rodgers.  Following those names are four more:  Jim Bain - Canada, Joan Bain - USA, and Jerry & Charlene Sax - USA.

This plaque is attached to a tree near the Midway Road run on Aspen Mountain.

A Photo of the plaque is below.

A big thank you to ski instructor Jimmy Bain, whose name is on the plaque, and who provided the information below in March 2011, in response to an e-mail from the author.
"Thank you for the e/mail on our plaque. The story started in the early 70s. A group that I was part of," Canadians " had a favorite spot that we called our wine tree, it is in the stand of trees at the bottom of the Nastar race course on Silver Dip Swing. Well as all stories go, we were standing at the wine tree one day in 1974 and this group of Aussies pulled up and we offered them a drink and they wouldn't go away, they are still good friends to this day. Bob Beasley has become one of my best friends to the point where my wife and I went to Australia for Bobs daughters wedding. Now to the plaque. We used to have two plagues in the stand of trees that was the so called wine tree, one said the Canadian wine tree and the second was put up by Bob that said the Australian wine tree. When we lost this area to the race course we decided to make up this plaque for the group that was skiing together at that time and asked the Ski CO. for permission to put it where it is today. Just a little bit of nostalgia as to our lasting friendship and a thank you to the Aspen Ski Co. for all the great times, and yes the group on this plaque are still skiing on Aspen Mt. to this day. Regards, Jimmy Bain."

Joan Bain's name is also on the plaque; she is Jimmy's wife.

The author would like to thank Leigh Maloney for assisting the author in obtaining the information on this page about this plaque. 

This plaque is part of a Facebook photo album that covers various signs and plaques on Aspen Mountain (you do not need to have a Facebook account in order to view the album):  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.451981024873867.101778.100001859201674&type=1&l=9577c13e9e

If you have any photos of or information about this item that you would like to share for use on this page, please send to the author at AspenShrines@aol.com.

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Click on images to enlarge.