Sanctuaries in the Snow

The Howie Mayer Bench (Aspen Mountain)

The Howie Mayer bench is located near the top of Aspen Mountain.  Carved into the back of the bench is:  "Howie Mayer, Aspen Mountain Ski Patrol from 1955-2002" and also "He was a lifer."  Also there is an image of a biplane carved into the back of the bench.  Howie built a bi-plane in the basement of his home.  It was a Steen Skybolt, and a wall had to be removed to get it out of his basement when it was finished. He later flew the plane in the Aspen area.  He also built a "Starduster Too" airplane in his basement, and for a great story about how Howie unwittingly caused a big stir in Aspen when he activated his ELT (emergency location transmitter) to test it, and then failed to turn it off, see Douglas N. Beck's book, "Growing Up in Aspen--Life After the Quiet Years, Volume 2" (http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Aspen-after-Quiet/dp/1453677240), page 149.

 
Many thanks to William Worden and Douglas Beck for their help with the information on this page.

Howie Mayer's nickname was "Uncle Wiggly/Wiggley."

Photos of the bench are below.

If you have any photos of or information about this item that you would like to share, please send to [email protected].

(Also see the page on this site for the "Uncle Wiggly's Tree Farm" sign, at http://aspensnowmassshrines.com/index.php?the-uncle-wiggly%E2%80%99s/wiggleys-tree-farm-aspen-mountain)  Also see this Facebook photo album (you do not need a Facebook account in order to view the album):  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.448435318561771.101174.100001859201674&type=1&l=cdcc6fdfd4


Click on images to enlarge.