It’s starting to happen – segments of the skiing population having mild paroxysms, inching up on the edge of agitation, a clear, developing symptom of early panic. You’d think it had never happened before, according.
If you ask me, the world is held together by thread. Like the unraveling of a shirt or other garment, you pull one thread, it takes you to a new plateau you didn’t see before..
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Saddle Sore
The “Four Pass Loop” hadn’t yet become a legend, but this camping out business started early for me. My grandmother Nellie Sloss and her sister, Julia Stapleton, started taking me on camping trips when I was very young. Their favorite haunt was Lenado as both ladies had taught at various times in the one-room school house there. Last time I looked, the building was still standing.
We’d lie under the stars, no tent, after fixing supper around the small campfire, and catch the falling stars as stories of days gone by would be softly voiced, along with the cool breeze whispering through the pines. Bears, oh yes, bear stories, mainly ‘cause I’d ask for them, but they always seemed to be of the friendly sort. My older cousin, Don Stapleton, would go with us on occasion.
David E. Stapleton stands atop Aspen Mountain in 2019. (Courtesy photo)
As a native of Aspen and from a family whose ancestors were some of the first miners to come over Independence Pass, David E. Stapleton had a legacy to follow. He had no trouble doing that, and even elevated it for generations to come.
Stapleton died Thursday afternoon from complications due to COVID-19, his sons said. He was 86.
After decades of service to the Aspen community, the country with his time in the Army and for local and World Cup ski racers, Stapleton was honored through the years with inductions to halls of fame for his tireless work and the ways he helped shape Aspen and the international ski scene.