Sanctuaries in the Snow

The Good Friends Bench (Snowmass)

The "Good Friends" bench used to be located on the Snowmass Mall, right outside the entrance to Venga Venga.  It was there until sometime in 2016 when it was removed, and it has not been on display there, or anywhere else, since then (this written in 2021).  Photos of it when it was on display outside Venga Venga are below in the first two sections of photos.  The third section of photos are of just the seatback.  It was dedicated to deceased Snowmass ski instructors, and was put in by Henrik Brusletto (see https://www.aspentimes.com/obituaries/henrik-brusletto/)

 

Up until sometime in 2011, this was carved into the back of the bench:

Good Friends We Have...

and Good Friends We Have Lost

Doug Valley, Rudi Netzer, Chuck Montana, Eric Netzer, Eric Smith, Olav Haarklou, Eve Pruden, Dan Sweet, Fred Martinson,

2003--2004

Sometime in 2011 the entire back of the bench was removed and a new back was installed, with this carved into the back of the bench:

Good Friends We Have...

and Good Friends We Have Lost

Doug Valey (note his last name is misspelled, it should be "Valley") , Rudi Netzer, Chuck Montana, Eric Netzer, Eric Smith, Olav Haarklou, Dan Sweet, Eve Pruden, Fred Martinson, 2003--2004, Jim Alison, Ken Parks, Jim Lutz, Case Ronde, Erica Boyle, Christl and Robert Brambach, Willy Draper, Yvan Tache, 2007--2011

One of the people named here (Eric Smith) has a shrine on Snowmass. See this page on this web site:  https://aspensnowmassshrines.com/index.php?the-eric-smith-shrine-snowmass

One of the people named here (Doug Valley) has a shrine on Aspen Mountain.  See this page on this web site:  http://aspensnowmassshrines.com/index.php?the-doug-valley-shrine-aspen-mountain

Eve Pruden's name is on this bench; for more on her, see this page on this web site:  https://www.aspensnowmassshrines.com/index.php?the-eve-pruden-eves-rule-sign-snowmass

This is a Facebook photo album of the bench (you do not need to have a Facebook account in order to view the album):  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.728418300563470.1073741984.100001859201674&type=1&l=b1e9e8ab7e

If anyone has any information about the bench that they would like to share for use on this page, please contact the author at [email protected]


Click on images to enlarge.

The photos in this first section of photos are of the original bench.


The photos below were taken in February 2012 and show the new seatback that was installed sometime in 2011.

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The photos in this section were taken on February 5, 2021 and show the seatback of the bench, where it is now being stored in a garage on the lower level of the Venga Venga/Timbermill building, next door to the bowling alley.