Photo by Frank Shine- Highlands Ridge
Sam Coffey
In 2019, the mountains in the West received an awesome gift of a great snow season making our resorts a very happy place, wait not just happy….Riders were Stoked!!! The skiing and snowboarding from New Mexico to Northern Idaho to California was all time awesome. During the season, Colorado backcountry skiing is very risky, but as spring comes along the snowpack settles, and we all head out past our resorts to ski the peaks who call to us all season. Spring is also a time for many in the mountains to get away from the mountains be the travel to a river or beach or back where ever growing up might have been. Winter can also be long.
During this Spring, tragedy struck. Sam Coffey born in Aspen and Aspen resident passed away the second to last week of May of a stroke. He passed away in Mexico after a wedding, a birthday gathering, and on a surf trip to Nine Palms and Ship Wrecks on the East Cape of Baja California. Sam was 29 years old. Sam was a vivacious local and extremely accomplished skier. He had gone to the University of New Hampshire to race collegiately, putting him in the top 1% of all athletes. Sam was a founding member of the a local ski gang in Aspen calling themselves the Freaks. The Freaks are ripping skiers and Stoked by life. If you get a chance check out their Instagrams: the_freakstagram and scramuelcoffey.
I had the pleasure of skiing a couple runs with Sam. Ride a couple gondy rides. Drink a beer at Mi Chola and watch a band at Belly up. Did I know him? No. Just a couple of times passing in town and on the hill. My brief meetings with him were always up beat and full of energy. I could never have understood the impact of his life on the Aspen community in my brief meetings with him. My impressions were that he was a crazy good skier with an infectious personality. He had a gregariousness to him be your best friend in minutes.
What was important was the Memorial Day itself. Memorial day has much greater meaning as the day pays tribute to those who have served this country and passed away. And also to those in my opinion who have served for this country and lived. Sam did neither. Sam was an ambassador of mountain life and skiing. The memorial for a friend, skier, and local community member seemed sort of odd on Memorial Day.
The celebration of his life at this time when Aspen Skiing Corporation had reopened Ajax Mountain for an extension of the season seemed very appropriate. Being a Monday, even more so as the mountain was filled with locals, not Icon Pass holders, not skiers from from other mountains. This day belonged to Aspen. The old Aspen community. The community who has dug in and made a life in the mountains fighting against rising living expenses. The families who have made Aspen home for 20 plus years. I was drawn to Ajax that day to ski, to see friends, and to pay my respects to a young man barely 29 who passed way too soon in life.
The Culture of the Ski towns like Aspen are and have been under attack by an extremely expensive cost of living led by super increased property values. Property has become the modern day silver mine drawing developers and the wealthy from all over the world. The insane rise in property value has had a direct effect on the soul of skiing and being a ski bum has proven to be extremely difficult. But a youthful group of Aspenites are trying like crazy to keep the soul of skiing alive.
Sam Coffee was one of them, but more than just “one” of them. The Freaks are over 40 members strong, and Sam was a leader of the group. Sam, growing up in Aspen, became a part of a cross generational ski society. His parents and his parent’s friends had been a part of the ski culture that was Aspen 30 plus years ago, when travel from down valley was a two lane road and very difficult. The multiple generations of ski enthusiasts were here on this day drawn together by Sam.
The Ski Resort Companies and the related ski Industries are the savior to helping the younger generation be a part of any ski town, and Aspen is no exception. Sam had spent the previous winter tuning skis for best friend and current American Ski Team member Wiley Maple. Earning a living tuning skis, traveling and skiing? Yep, checks all the boxes.
Monday, May 27 was the most energetic ski day on Ajax Mountain I had ever seen without the day being a powder day. I had friends say the good skiing STOKE was strong all weekend even when lift lines became long. But Monday was a total and complete gathering of all who have bummed in Aspen. All Ages.
The aura of the mountain was magical. Sam and every other local skier who passed were overseeing the festivities from on high, but this day was Sam’s day. The only lift open was Chair 3. All the skiers and riders funneled to one place. The gatherings at the lift and at the top and at the Sundeck were basically 6 degrees of separation. We could be one web of friendship with just a little effort, we could connect us all through our friendships. In a universal skiers greeting, ski poles were clicked from friend to friend. We said hello. We caught up and exchanged stories. We became one.
To be honest, I wasn’t going to go to the memorial service. I had met Sam, but I didn’t know Sam. I didn’t feel quite right as I wasn’t really a part of the inner circle. Death to me is an immediate friends and family event. But as I was going to go left to take the Gondola back down, the wave of friends past and present, swept me to the backside to Ajax overlooking Aspen Highlands and between the clouds, the Maroon Bells. The perfect venue for Aspen to come together. I thought I would be out of place and instead felt a part of a family.
I learned a whole lot more about Sam over the next hour and a half and the stories only confirmed the acquaintances, I had had with him. Did I truly belong? No. But as support for those who did truly belong and know him? Yes. The moment was truly special and the Sound Cannon that ended the ceremony was as loud and awesome. Ok what is a Sound Cannon? A literal sound cannon is used to disperse people. The Human Sound Cannon is quite the opposite. We all came together in a tight group and started with a low hum. The hum gradually got louder and louder until the collective group reached a crescendo and very primal scream. All as one, bought together by Sam’s tragic passing. The group became one and Aspen was for this brief moment, a true small town.
The younger generation has a tough road ahead fighting to keep Aspen…. well Aspen. The Roaring Fork Valley is filling up with houses and people. Town has officially changed. Sam represented all that is good about Aspen, skiing, and small towns. I swear he looked over all of us that afternoon and made sure we all had a smile and understood what it was like to be a friend. The Stoke was never stronger.
We need to live life inspired to follow our heart and find a stoke which will drive us. The Soul of Skiing is Stoke. Passion. But Passion doesn’t pay the bills. Skiing is cheap relatively, Living in a ski town is expensive. But try to be inspired. Find A Way to be inspired no matter where you live. Sam was infectious with his go after life attitude. Live Life!
