The Madsen Family is a legend in Aspen. Four kids born in Aspen around 1960 give or take… who all grew up in the Madsen Chalet on Hopkins Street at the base of Aspen Mountain. Today in 2022, it exists essentially as it always has, and their matriarch Martha (aka “Mutti”) - who was on one of the earliest teams of the famed “Mother Puckers” womens hockey team in Aspen - still lives there and manages rental units there. After their amazing adventures, all of 4 kids returned to the valley to raise their families and live their lives. Cindy, the eldest, led the family; Tim is an engineer and mountaineer who was, among other things, in the famed “huddle” with then girlfriend Charlotte Fox on Mount Everest in 1996, which was chronicled in Jon Krakauer’s harrowing book on the event “Into Thin Air;” Beth was the first US Finisher in Alpine Skiing in the 1988 Olympics in Calgary; and the youngest, Billy, a good friend of mine, went to elementary school with my cousin Amy and we reconnected with him when Amy returned to Aspen in 1985. Billy was also a ski racer who worked in the ski industry his entire career and is now the Mayor of Snowmass, where he raised his family with his wife Deb. I’m grateful to be friends with Billy and Beth, and grateful to them for sharing their homes with me and also two friend’s homes in the special valley that is their home.