NEDERLAND — Wednesday morning was almost normal at the ski area where general manager Brian Mahon had been killed 24 hours before.
Dozens of families skiied or snowboarded at Eldora Mountain Resort, aware of what had happened but enjoying the bright sun and well-groomed slopes.
As the families skied, Krista Crabtree, who runs the resort’s women’s program, embraced marketing director Rob Linde, tears running down her cheeks.
“Brian had so much to do with Eldora’s success,” Crabtree said. “People don’t realize how much of a hand he had in everything.”
Crabtree and her fellow employees said Mahon, 49, was respected because he respected the 600 people employed at the resort.
He would say things like “I am proud of you” to the employees and ask that everyone smile so the thousands of skiers would feel welcome.
“The parking lot is full and that is a testament to Brian,” Crabtree said.
She said the ski area reopened the day after the fatal shooting as an employees’ tribute to Mahon.
“That’s what Brian would have wanted,” she said. “He wouldn’t have wanted it to close down.”
Matthew Wells, a snowboarder on vacation from Minneapolis, said he had planned to snowboard Tuesday but the shooting closed the area.
He said that a shooting in such a setting was hard to fathom.
“It’s surprising — the fact that someone would bring a pistol out here on the slopes,” Wells said. “It is an isolated incident. A lot of people here have the attitude of you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do and go forward.”
One person going forward was skier Tim Ackerman, accompanied by his three sons, Cooper, 5, Jackson and Zachary, both 4.
The Niwot residents were not about to be deterred by the tragedy.
“There was no way I wasn’t going to bring these guys (his sons) here,” said the 43-year-old Ackerman, a restaurant owner.
One of Mahon’s closest friends was David Hunter, the resort’s mountain operations manager. Both arrived at the resort very early each day and left late.
“He had a way of running the resort and not being flashy about it,” Hunter said. “He had drive and passion. If he was here now he’d be out skiing and talking to the people on the slopes. He’d find out where they were from, why they were here and ask them to come back.
“I considered him a friend and a great leader.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
