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Mikey Wechsler, center, with green socks, was recognized by Aspen Mountain Manager J.T. Welden, third from right, and other Skico employees for hitting the slopes 1,000 days over the last 10 seasons.
Courtesy photo
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The 98 people who were skiing or riding at least 100 days for each of the last 10 seasons will receive this special 1,000-day pin from Aspen Skiing Co.
Courtesy photo
The best of Aspen’s ski bums are getting their due.
Aspen Skiing Co. has created special 1,000-day ski pins for 98 people who have skied or ridden their snowboards for at least 100 days for each of the past 10 seasons.
“We realized at the beginning of the year that this was the 10th year of giving out the 100-day pins,” said Xanthe Demas, Skico assistant public relations manager.
Upon that realization, Skico officials decided to recognize the folks who earned their 100-day pins each of the seasons. Special rectangular pins were made up that say “1,000 days Aspen Snowmass” — simple and to the point.
About 70 members of the elite club are Skico employees, according to Jeff Hanle, Skico vice president of communication. However, many of them hit the slopes even when they weren’t on duty, so Skico felt they deserved the recognition. Hanle said he was aware of one ski instructor who was at Aspen Mountain just about every day for first tracks, regardless of whether he had clients lined up that day.
Roughly 28 members of the 1,000-day club were people who are simply passionate about hitting the slopes. The pins will be mailed to them this week.
The program has been low-key, with one exception. Skico officials tricked super ski bum Mikey Wechsler of Aspen into dropping by the base of the Silver Queen Gondola on Wednesday on the pretense of needing to interview him. When he showed up, Aspen Mountain Manager J.T. Welden and seven other Skico employees presented Wechsler with a replica big check but instead of a cash amount it said “1,000 days Aspen Snowmass” in large lettering.
In a video made and posted by Skico, Wechsler said, “First rule of being a ski bum: Quit your day job.”
He said he hasn’t missed a day of skiing in the past nine seasons and estimated he has hit the slopes 1,600 days over the past decade. He was close. Demas did the math and found he’s been up 1,666 days.
Wechsler is looking forward to more days on the slopes.
“Keep piling the days up. As long as I have my health, I’m going to keep doing it,” he said in the Skico video.