
This wooden plaque is located near the bottom of the Shadow Mountain (1A) lift and it reads as follows:
"In Memory of Mark W.R. Walton
1A Lift Operator 2001/2002
A good Kiwi man, loved and missed by many
Kia Kaha"
The plaque used to be located on the back of a bench there. But the bench started to rot away, so the plaque was moved to a new location above the doorway to the 1A lift shack.
Photos of the bench are below, and also photos of the plaque after it was moved.
Mark Walton died on February 20, 2002 when his life support was turned off.
Thank you to Janine Nixon, one of Mark's friends, for her help with the information on this page.
If you have any photos of or information about this item that you would like to share for use on this page, please send to the author at AspenShrines@aol.com.
Set out below in full is an article from the Aspen Daily News of February 13, 2002 with the story of Mark's fall from the Maroon Creek Bridge. A more recent article ("Aldrich family sues CDOT after son’s deadly fall," by Chad Abraham, Aspen Daily News Staff Writer, Tuesday, November 29, 2011) also mentioned Mark's name: "The filing doesn't mention another deadly accident on the old bridge. In February 2002, Mark Walton, 24, of New Zealand, died several days after apparently jumping off the north side of the old bridge to avoid late-night traffic." See: http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/150406
******************************************************************************************************************
Click on images to enlarge.