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We, as a society, have decided to celebrate and embrace many nonsensical holidays. National Margarita Day (Feb. 22), National Donut Day (June 6), and—if you’re a skier—National Breckenridge Spring Cleanup Day. Okay, maybe it doesn’t have the same je ne sais quoi as some others on the calendar, but it’s certainly a day the SKI staff looks forward to every spring.
The concept is simple: Breck employees and volunteers set out to restore their hill by cleaning up around the lifts. While they find an unfortunate amount of garbage, they also come across plenty of dropped items. There’s no shortage of skis, poles, mittens, and passes—but every year, they also show off some of the more unusual finds.
Check out the most unusual items here:
This year, the bounty was as good—and wacky—as ever. Has anyone lost their restaurant-grade spatula? Or perhaps an iPod Nano? There’s even a matching pair of snowboard boots and a message in a bottle (further confirmation that this is, in fact, a treasure hunt).
More important than the treasures found are the strides made toward keeping the hill clean and getting the community involved. According to the resort, over 150 volunteers showed up to help clean up (and yes, search for unburied treasure), collecting around 780 pounds of trash. At the end of the day, the waste is sorted into items that can be donated, reused, recycled, or trashed. The sustainability teams then donate broken or well-used gear to charities like Colorado Ski Chair, Jones Boards, and Recircled.
Breck has been flaunting their trash pickup for over a decade, and every year brings something new. Some highlights from last year included a pineapple, a lost Invisalign retainer, and plenty of the things you’d expect: mittens, skis, poles, phones, and lots of vapes.
So, the next time you’re on a chairlift, just remember: whatever gets dropped might become next spring’s punchline.
