Eighteen seniors in the community got the chance to check out the Mummery Glacier from the sky this past weekend, with a quick 15 helicopter trip from Alpine Helicopters.
The trip came together after Margaret Telford mentioned that it was on her bucket list to see the glacier, but that she was unable to hike there to see it.
Having lived in Golden since 1990, she had ventured out as far as Thompson Falls with her grandkids, but the nature-lover had never seen the glacier.
“It’s something I love, to see nature, and this is so close to my doorstep and I just wanted to see it,” she said.
“It’s really exciting, I’ve never been in a helicopter and I’m going to see the Mummery Glacier, I mean I live so close.”
Originally, the trips was going to cost between $100-$200 a senior, before Alpine stepped in and donated the time and the rides.
Telford says that the generosity of Alpine to allow the seniors to go on this adventure stood out to here, but that it’s in line with what she’s experience over the last 30 years living in Golden.
“Golden is just like that, we have so many amazing people here I’ve just got tears is in my eyes,” said Telford.
“Our community is very generous and I love it, my family appreciates it too because there’s few of them around here”
Pilot Mark Adams says that it was an easy decision to make to help the seniors check out the views.
“It’s the right thing to do, we’re a business within the community and we’ve always tried to be good stewards in the community, something like this is a pretty easy decision to make,” said Adams.
“It’s pretty special, you’ve got a group of people who have lived a large portion of their adult lives here and just want to see the glacier, it’s nice to see there’s a group of people who still want to go and have a look and enjoy the area that they grew up in.”
In the past, Alpine has donated certificates for tours in silent auctions to help community organizations such as Rotary and Little Mittens.
He added that the seniors were all appreciative and that he could tell that they were blown away by the views.
“It’s really cool because when you take off everyone is chatty but when you take off, you can tell when it’s a good ride and people are enjoying it because it becomes so silent an everybody is just taking it all in,” said Adams.
“It’s fun to just watch how people react to it and you try to answer questions but a lot of it is just letting them enjoy the ride.”
The seniors put together a basket of baked goods for Alpine to say thank you.
As for Telford, she’s still beaming over crossing a helicopter ride and the Mummery Glacier off her list.
“I can’t believe it happened, I really can’t, and I’m really happy for everyone who got to experience this,” said Telford.
