VAIL Like nothing on earth.™

Vail Mountain Cleanup 2014

It’s probably happened to all of us at some point: that moment when you watch your ski pole/glove/car keys/ski pass/cell phone/credit card drop headlong into a snow bank as you ride up the chairlift, never to be seen again.

…or will it? 

Each summer, Vail puts out the call to the local community and employees to help pick up lost items and litter on Vail Cleanup Day. Most of the stuff we find is not glamorous: water bottles, glove warmers, soda cans, chapstick; and we likely only find a fraction of what’s out there. Keep that in mind next time you’re on the mountain and do your best to “pack it in, pack it out!” Between your individual efforts and Vail’s environmental initiatives, we can all do our part to keep the mountain clean year round.

This year’s Vail Mountain Cleanup Day on June 17, 2014, brought out 371 community volunteers and 263 employee volunteers. We were able to collect:

– 2 trash cans full of scrap metal

– 3 95 gallon toters full of recyclable plastic, aluminum, and glass

– Over 50 ski poles, 9 skis (don’t worry – we will try to match newer ones with lost and found records! The older ones will be recycled by VRR)

While the purpose of the Vail Mountain Cleanup is just that, to clean the mountain, it also brings up some pretty strange and hilarious finds. Here are some of our favorites collected on the mountain yesterday:

If you have any idea why someone needed to bring a laminated photo from the Wonder Years on the mountain, please let us know in the comment section below!

Vail Mountain Cleanup Day in photos: