Saddle Sore: For the love of Summit
Tony Vagneur/Courtesy photo
Unlike some love affairs, we didn’t start out at first sight; hell, we didn’t even start as friends, but more like enemies.
Fresh out of college in the middle of winter years ago, I hooked up with my long-time ski buddy, Jimmy Gerbaz, for a few runs to get me back in the swing of things.
He says to me, “Let’s go try a new run; with all this powder, it might be fun.”
Head Competition Giant Slalom skis, 210 cm, were not exactly the best skis for heavy, wet powder, but you deal with what you got. Summit — that’s where Jimmy took me. Summit. Named after a mining claim in the area, of course. And it’s near the summit of Aspen Mountain.
About halfway down and after fighting the obnoxious double (although I swear its triple) fall line (with a dog leg, no less), we stopped to reconnoiter, and my first question was, “Who the hell cut this run?” “Red Rowland,” came the reply, to which I could only offer, “Somebody sure must have pissed him off.”
But like the woman whose aloof demeanor and cryptic comments you don’t understand, who draws you in, challenging you to keep after it to get her attention, I never forgot that day.
And, it wasn’t long until I was on the Aspen Mountain ski patrol. Summit was on my list every day, either to spice things up with a run, or I’d choose it as the trail I wanted for the end of the day sweep. Eventually, with enough hard-core blasts down that mother, my psyche was left wanting if I hadn’t daily caressed the tops and valleys of Summit’s mogul-covered terrain at least once.
Fast forward 20 years, and my love of Summit, if not growing, was maintaining with an unremitting fascination. My buddy Bob (who holds the record for the most Summit laps in one day) and I included Summit every time we skied, and we skied most every day. Word was out on my beguilement of the wonder and upon leaving Bonnie’s one day, a man approached, “Aren’t you the guy who likes Summit so much,” he asked?
Bill Schaffer had my attention, and we began a conversation, with him offering he had skied it over 3,500 times. Wow! I ball parked about 3,000 for myself, but he had written, verifiable proof of what he was talking about.
It was the beginning of a friendship, although he and I have never skied Summit together. We’d pass somewhere along the way, “Have you skied our friend, today?” he’d say with a smile. Talking about Summit with another who skis it all the time is like listening to two men talk about the woman they are both sleeping with. Every nuance, every caress, every iniquitous move is appreciated by the other in a way that only one who has been there can truly understand.
Not to name drop, but my asssociate, Schaffer, had been a good friend of Charles Schultz, the creator of “Peanuts”, the comic strip. Naturally, if you were paying attention, the “Snoopy” shrine used to be just off to the left of Summit, put there by guess who? Many folks have asked me to take them by the Snoopy shrine, but alas, only a few have been judged good enough skiers to actually get there — and get out. Unfortunately, the ski patrol recently asked Schaffer to decommission the Snoopy shrine as snowboarders started coming into the shrine from above, blasting through the trees and making safety a concern. Good Grief!
Schaffer used to get a 100-day pin every year but has since backed off since moving to warmer climes. But, he visits every winter for weeks at a time, and don’t you know, that hen-scratching pen of his is still recording his every lap down Summit. I conned him out of a copy last week, a striking bit of numeric writing, if ever there was.
Going back to the winter of 1988-89, it’s remarkable to note he skied it well over 100 times in most of the seasons since, until 2022-23, the first winter he apparently wasn’t living here full-time.
Impressive? Hell, yes. He hasn’t told me his count for this winter, as he’s still going, but as of the end of last year, he had skied that monster, with love in his heart, 5,507 times. You’re the winner!
Snoopy may be gone, but somewhere we need to create the Bill Schaffer Summit Shrine. Doubtful anyone will ever top his record.
Tony Vagneur writes here on Saturdays and welcomes your comments at ajv@sopris.net.
Tony Vagneur writes here on Saturdays and welcomes your comments at ajv@sopris.net.
