{"id":15392,"date":"2019-05-23T11:49:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T17:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=58028"},"modified":"2019-05-23T11:49:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T17:49:08","slug":"sam-coffey-remembered-as-personable-fun-friend-who-just-loved-to-ski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/sam-coffey-remembered-as-personable-fun-friend-who-just-loved-to-ski\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Coffey remembered as personable, fun friend who just loved to ski"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sam Coffey<\/strong>
Courtesy<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sam Coffey needed only a couple of nights to become the talk of Wengen, Switzerland. As Wiley Maple\u2019s ski technician on the World Cup this past winter, Coffey could stay out a little later than his best friend and his infectious personality soon won over the town, much like it did just about everywhere he went.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalking down the street to the bars, he knew everybody in the whole town,\u201d Maple recalled Tuesday. \u201cThey are like, \u2018Oh, Sam from Aspen! Come in here!\u2019 So he\u2019s introducing me to all these locals, and I\u2019ve been going to this race for 10 years and I know like five people in the whole town and he\u2019s met them all within the first week.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s who Coffey was. Tall, charming and always wearing the biggest smile to match his iconic mustache, the Aspen native was as unique and as pure as they came. His passion for life is what his friends will remember the most, a passion he had the ability to pass on to everyone he met.<\/p>\n

Coffey died Monday after suffering multiple strokes<\/a>while vacationing near Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. He was 29.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe outpouring of love is awesome and overwhelming and super beautiful,\u201d said Aspen\u2019s Baker Boyd on Tuesday from Cabo. Boyd was one of Coffey\u2019s best friends and was there with him when he suffered his first stroke. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of hard not to smile and laugh thinking about spending time with him, because he was seriously the best guy. Literally every moment I spent with that guy was the time of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

SHENANIGANS<\/p>\n

Before Maple was an Olympian and before Coffey was an All-American at the University of New Hampshire, the boyhood best friends were energetic youths who lived for days on the mountain with the Aspen Valley Ski and Snowboard Club. Boyd moved to town when he was 12 and from that point on those three would become nearly inseparable.<\/p>\n

As endearing as they were, they also had a tendency to push boundaries. Alice Black, AVSC\u2019s current Alpine director, remembers being with the boys at ski races in Telluride when they were around 16. Maple, who happens to be a talented artist, and Coffey took it upon themselves to draw a little picture in the snow one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a very large depiction of male genitalia on the field. It\u2019s like a football-sized field, and the thing is taking over the whole field,\u201d Black said. \u201cSo the next morning we got on the lift and I look back to see if they\u2019ve actually taken care of it. \u2026 They had turned it into a beautiful elephant, which must have taken them a good chunk of the evening. That\u2019s just kind of the sense of humor the kids had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pat Callahan, a longtime AVSC coach and Aspen ski-racing fixture, said Coffey was the leader of the group. Always happy, always smiling, Coffey also had this coolness about him that, as Callahan said, made all the girls want to be with him and all the boys want to be him. Very little changed when he got to adulthood.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could make anybody in the room feel the like most important person there. His eyes would light up whenever he saw any friend or anybody he knew,\u201d Callahan said. \u201cTalent-wise, he was unbelievable. He should have been on the U.S. Ski Team. They made a big mistake not picking him up, because he was right there with Wiley, same level.\u201d<\/p>\n

LIFE ON THE WORLD CUP<\/p>\n

Coffey had a successful college ski career at New Hampshire, although he had to watch as Maple went on to make the World Cup and eventually earned a spot in the 2018 Olympic downhill<\/a>. Not fully embracing office life and trying to overcome the loss of his father, Snowmass icon Joe Coffey, who died in January 2018, Coffey decided to do what he does best and embrace adventure.<\/p>\n

He spent most of last summer as a raft guide, briefly moved to Chamonix, France, and eventually took up Maple\u2019s offer to become his ski technician on the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe ultimately made the decision that his time was more valuable than making money in an office, which was a very mature decision, I think, and just kind of set himself free,\u201d Maple said. \u201cSam always wanted to be a ski racer more than I did. From the first time I started ski racing, I don\u2019t remember enjoying it until I was like 15 or something. But Sam always had the nicest stuff, the best equipment and put in the most time. It was basically a dream come true to bring him on tour with me for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coffey had no trouble fitting in. While Maple isn\u2019t officially on the U.S. Ski Team, he spends a lot of time around them on the World Cup circuit, and it didn\u2019t take long before they embraced Coffey as one of their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those guys to have the opportunity to share the world stage for a year together and support each other and try to help each other was pretty special,\u201d said Aspen\u2019s Johno McBride, a longtime coach on the World Cup and at the AVSC<\/a>. \u201cSam definitely fits in wherever he goes. He can be the life of the party and he was a great guy to be around. People were drawn to him. He had a great energy about him. Always a smile on his face.\u201d<\/p>\n

TRAGEDY IN PARADISE<\/p>\n

Maple was recently with Coffey for a few days in Punta Mita, Mexico, near Puerto Vallarta. After Maple returned stateside, Coffey joined up with Boyd and George Rodney, another accomplished Aspen skier <\/a>and close friend, in Cabo.<\/p>\n

After a couple of fun days messing around and enjoying life, it all went wrong. Around noon on Tuesday, May 14, Coffey suffered what they would later find out was a stroke and was quickly taken to a local hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the time we left the hospital, and really from 10 until midnight, you wouldn\u2019t expect that Sam had a stroke,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cHe was fully with it and completely himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coffey remained in intensive care that night as a precaution and seemed to be doing fine. But his brain began to swell Thursday morning, leading to two surgeries and more strokes that night. He died early Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

Boyd said they believe the strokes were caused by a blood disorder Coffey wasn\u2019t aware he had, something likely passed down from his father. This, however, can\u2019t be confirmed until the medical tests are finalized.<\/p>\n

While Boyd was in Cabo with Coffey, where he was eventually joined by Coffey\u2019s mother, Cathy, and sister, JoAnna, Maple was helping teach children at the American Downhiller camp in Mammoth, California. He wanted to return to Mexico to be with Coffey, but agreed with Boyd that it would do no good.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaker and I decided that I should keep doing what I\u2019m doing and not come sit around in hospitals waiting for bad news. Kept coaching the kids and skiing,\u201d Maple said from Mammoth, where he remained Tuesday. \u201cThis is what Sam would want, to continue to ski and pass on the love for skiing to the next generation. It\u2019s a healthy distraction to be here and have to focus on the kids, but it\u2019s definitely hard. It hits me in waves. Some moments I\u2019m fine-ish, and almost happy and accepting of the circumstances, and other moments I\u2019m barely holding it together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Due to political red tape, it could take weeks before Coffey\u2019s body is returned to the U.S. In the meantime, Aspen Skiing Co. and the Coffey family are tentatively planning a celebration of Sam Coffey\u2019s life for Monday on Aspen Mountain, which will be open for skiing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSam is gone from us, but he\u2019s in his dad\u2019s arms. I\u2019m sure Joe is relishing those moments,\u201d Snowmass Village Mayor Markey Butler said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a tough struggle for the family, but this community will surround Cathy and JoJo with tons of love and understanding and patience.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam CoffeyCourtesy Sam Coffey needed only a couple of nights to become the talk of Wengen, Switzerland. As Wiley Maple\u2019s ski technician on the World Cup this past winter, Coffey could stay out a little later than his best friend and his infectious personality soon won over the town, much like it did just about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 22:53:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}