Lost Valley Staff Patch, Auburn, Maine — c. 1970s

A vintage Lost Valley staff patch from Auburn, Maine, estimated to date from the 1970s, arched-top with a blue merrowed border on a pale blue ground — LOST VALLEY arched in black across the top, STAFF in black at the bottom, and in the middle a cartoon skier in an orange striped sweater standing on an outline of the state of Maine, a small yellow sun beside his head. That word at the bottom means it was never sold to anybody. It came with the job.

That word means this was never sold to anybody. It came with the job.

Lost Valley is a small hill in Auburn with lights for night skiing, and working there in the seventies meant some combination of running the lift, teaching the lesson, fixing the rope tow, selling the tickets and shovelling the ramp — frequently all five in one shift, frequently for not much money.

Staff patches get worn hard and then kept forever, because the people who had them tend to have strong feelings about that winter. It was a first job for a lot of teenagers, and the ones who stayed in skiing usually trace it back to a season exactly like this.

Somebody earned this on a hill in Auburn, Maine, in the cold, after school.

Staff patches also tend to be in worse condition than anything else, and the reason is flattering to them. Resort patches sat in drawers. This one was worn every day for a season by somebody working outdoors in Maine in the winter, and it looks like it.

Embroidered on twill, merrowed edge. Photos are the condition report.