Ski Bum Stories – When Love Leads to Love
Ski Bum Stories – A Love of Skiing + A Burning Bus = A true story with a lovely ending
By Kimberly Nicoletti
“Get back!” the police officer shouted as 19-year-old Andrew Fox ran to the back of his 1967 VW microbus, trying to salvage skis and other belongings as the bus blazed up in flames. “What’s more important — that car or your life?”
“That car is my life,” Fox replied, knowing it contained all of his and his friend’s, Dylan Nicoletti, ski gear, rent money and winter clothing.
Two months prior, Fox and Nicoletti left their construction jobs in Southern California and drove to Squaw Valley, hoping to find a place to rent for the ski season, but they couldn’t swing $625 for a studio. Fox wanted to compete in freestyle skiing more seriously, and Squaw had a renowned freestyle team.
“Why don’t you try Breckenridge,” a friend at Squaw said. “It’s less expensive, and they have a good team too.”
Nicoletti loved skiing, but didn’t have enough money to join the team, so he just followed Fox’s lead.
“Let’s go to Breck,” Fox said the next morning. But first, they washed their clothes in the Truckee River, because, why pay for a Laundromat when a little hand soap and cold water did the trick — that is, until Fox accidentally let loose his underwear and had to run down the river to fetch it.
In route to Breckenridge, they spent a couple days in Aspen riding their bikes up Independence Pass. The first night, they slept in a legit campground on the pass, but the next night they pulled into an Aspen church parking lot to sleep. At 1 a.m., they awoke to a pounding knock on the door and an intrusive flashlight.
“There’s no sleeping in cars in the town of Aspen!” but then he continues, “if you go outside the town limits, you can sleep in your car,” the Aspen police officer said. That, of course, was in 1988, when town officials tolerated the freeloading that goes hand in hand with ski bumming.
The next day, Nicoletti and Fox arrived in Breckenridge and liked what they saw. Since they didn’t even have enough cash for a security deposit and a month’s rent, sleeping at a hotel was out of the question. That night, they pulled into a condominium parking lot smack in the middle of town. In the morning, a 22-year-old stranger knocked on the bus door, not to kick them out, but to invite them up to his unit to take a shower. That’s when they knew Breck was a cool place. After cleaning up, they stopped at a property management company and found a two bedroom condo overlooking Lake Dillon. They gave the manager a $200 deposit and said they’d return in the beginning of November.
When they went back to California, they worked construction jobs to earn enough money for first month’s rent and security.
On Nov. 3, Nicoletti followed Fox’s microbus in an El Camino. The El Camino carried two beds, a dresser and a stereo, while the bus contained five pairs of skis, ski boots, two bicycles and all of their clothes.
They topped off the tank in Mesquite, Nevada, and 2 miles outside of town, Nicoletti saw a flash of flames spark out of the back of Fox’s bus. Fox immediately pulled over, and Nicoletti followed. Fox ran and opened up the rear compartment door to the engine, in hopes of saving the bus; he grabbed the can of Mountain Dew Nicoletti had in his hand, trying to extinguish the flames, but the extra oxygen when he opened the door fueled the fire. Within 30 seconds, a police officer ran across the field with a fire extinguisher. Hope and relief rushed through the two teenagers, only to discover that when the police officer pulled the pin and squeezed the trigger, it had no charge. When Fox ran toward the burning bus to salvage items, that’s when the police officer demanded, “Get back.”
The three watched the bus burn for 20 minutes until a fire engine arrived and extinguished the fire.
Before Fox turned over the pink slip because he hadn’t budgeted a $180 towing bill — and the bus was destroyed — the two friends rummaged through their charred belongings. They walked away with one pair of undamaged boots, one pair of discolored skis, a pair of bindings in which the din setting numbers were mostly unreadable, and a favorite philosophy book that, though scorched around the edges, happened to safely contain all the rent money.
Filthy dirty from digging through the car, Nicoletti called deer hunting acquaintances he knew in Beaver, Utah and asked if they could take a shower. Little did they know the woman had a roommate, whose husband just got locked up in the state penitentiary for seven years. She brought out a big box of clothes and said, “You’re welcome to any of these.” Fox and Nicoletti took a couple sweaters and a couple flannels.
On top of everything else, the El Camino had mechanical problems when they left, so they could only drive an average of 35 mph across Utah and into Colorado.
At 8 a.m., after driving all night, they finally arrived in Frisco and waited for the management company to open. When the property manager pulled up, he said, “I’ve got some bad news for you.”
Before the manager even had a chance to tell them the bad news, they relayed their horror story. Turns out the manager’s bad news measured zero on the Richter scale, comparatively: The owners of the condo they rented had placed it on the market, but the manager predicted it wouldn’t sell for several months.
Once they moved in, they had $190 to their names, so they bought two pairs of Sorrels at City Market at $70 a piece, and all the pasta, beans, potatoes and top ramen they could afford.
Then Fox decided to stop at a second-hand store to ask for sponsorship. Fox and Nicoletti told Phil Turner, owner of Second Hand Sports, the sob story. Turner didn’t know whether to believe them or not, but once Nicoletti showed him the partially melted bindings and discolored skis, Turner took pity on them and mounted the skis, gave Fox a pair of skis at cost and told the boys to pay him when they got the money.
They both found jobs at City Market, and Nicoletti ended up working at Second Hand Sports part time. Fox joined the Breckenridge Freestyle Team, made it to nationals, but left three years later to become a mechanic and get married. Nicoletti met a girl who, after two years of dating said, “I’m going to school in Boulder; are you coming or not?” and, so, he earned his degree in education.
He ended up marrying the girl (Fox was the best man) and since then, Nicoletti has taught math at Summit High School. All through the years, Nicoletti skied with Turner until he passed away in 2018, and Nicoletti skis like a 19-year-old when Fox visits Summit County.
The Nicoletti’s almost bought a 1972 VW bus when they left Summit County to spend a season teaching at Mammoth in 2000, but upon deeper reflection, they decided to keep their Jeep Grand Cherokee and return to Summit. To this day, they still dream about fixing up an old VW bus, but in reality, they hope they’ll end up with an Artic Fox and travel to ski areas in style — and warmth.
Have a Great Season Everyone!
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