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A recent annual cleanup at a Colorado ski resort turned into something of a treasure hunt – as staff uncovered everything from outdated technology to a hamburger flipper.
Earlier this summer, Breckenridge Ski Resort in Breckenridge, Colorado, announced that its staffers had teamed up to remove a whopping 780 pounds of trash.
Much of the garbage came from patrons who accidentally dropped things off the ski lift. The resort said the effort required 150 employees — and yielded some unusual finds.
The oddest find was a message in a bottle, prompting some speculation about what it might contain.
A spokesperson for Breckenridge Ski Resort told KDVR that it wasn’t a romantic love letter from decades past, however. It was actually just an old COVID-19 vaccination card.
Breckenridge Ski Resort staff removed 780 pounds of trash, and some foreign currency, during a large-scale summer cleanup event. (Sarah McLear, Breckenridge Ski Resort)
Staff members also spotted a cracked iPhone and an iPod Nano, along with a $2 Canadian coin.
Other strange finds?
Plenty of vape cartridges, along with an inexplicable hamburger flipper.
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As expected, the cleanup also turned up lots of empty bottles and general trash.
The resort’s senior communications manager Max Winter told Fox News Digital in late July that – surprisingly – the staff’s favorite find didn’t make the video of the efforts.
The message in a bottle that was found, at left, contained a COVID-19 vaccination card, not the love letter some people expected. (Sarah McLear, Breckenridge Ski Resort)
“[It was] actually, believe it or not, a family of moose!” Winter said.
“A couple of our employees stumbled across the family while searching for lost and discarded items.”
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“While our team kept their distance and didn’t take any photos, their encounter serves as a great reminder that our natural spaces are a shared home, and it is up to each of us to do our part to take care of them,” he added.
Other finds from the resort cleanup included boots, vape cartridges and an iPod Nano. (Sarah McLear, Breckenridge Ski Resort)
Though many of the items were trash, Winter noted that most of the 780-pound weight was made up of larger items that were recycled or upcycled.
“In some very rare cases, we’ve even been able to reunite items with their previous owners,” he recalled.
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“For example, a few years ago at our sister resort, Keystone, our teams were able to match an engraved engagement ring with a guest months after [the person’s] visit.”
The spokesperson added that the effort, called Mountain Clean Up Day, is one of the staff’s favorite annual events.
A cracked iPhone was found during the cleanup, which is part of a broader initiative to care for the mountain during the off-season. (Sarah McLear, Breckenridge Ski Resort)
“It gives us a chance to give some love back to the mountains we call home,” Winter said.
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“In addition to being the right thing to do for our mountain, it’s also a fun paid event to connect with our teammates, see what wacky items may have been lost in the season’s powder days, and, of course, enjoy a free lunch on the mountain.”