Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times
Name: Michael Marlett
Age: 26
Where are you from? I’m originally from Florida.
Years as a liftie: First season in Aspen and season as a liftie.
What brought you to Aspen? I’m a traveler and just started seasonal work. I heard Aspen had some of the best mountains and terrain, so I wanted to come try it out.
How long have you been snowboarding? I learned this year. It’s been awesome. I’m a surfer, so I’m trying to transition.
What do you think of your first season as a liftie? I love it. Honestly, I love it. I’ll definitely be back. I like interacting with the people and it’s been a ton of fun.
What do you think of working as a liftie at Aspen Highlands? I love the local vibe and the community here. The community is a little bit small and more personal, so whenever you are working on the lifts you definitely get to build that personal relationship with people over time because they’re here every day.
What lift can we find you at? I normally work DT, so Deep Temerity.
Where do you live? I live literally here at Highlands. I live above one of the shops.
What surprised you the most about Aspen? I would have to say the community, which is kind of why I stuck around. The community is very active, helpful and positive. It’s just like everybody’s here to have a good time and help each other have a good time.
If you don’t go out too much in Aspen, what’s your ideal day off? I’d say day on the mountain and maybe follow it up with live music. I like live music at Silver City.
What’s your most memorable interaction with a guest so far? I have to say on Tuesdays there’s an employee from Snowmass and every Tuesday he comes by with a group of about 15 people and they have a little cookout. They’ll hand out hotdogs and chicken and cook for the lifties. It brings people in and it’s cool. It’s a cool little get-together.
What’s your best tricks for staying warm? Stay moving and keep working, I guess.
How do you choose the music to play at the lift? I like to keep a variety, but I normally just let the other guy pick the music. I like the oldies, you could say. I keep a variety of oldies.
You can visit Michael at the Deep Temerity lift for Weeny Wednesdays. The lifties cook hotdogs and hand them out.