Aspen Author Debuting Ski Patrol Dog Story at Fire Station

Aspen —The siren wails, cutting through the crisp November air as a young boy climbs into the cab of a red engine. It’s 2 p.m. on a Thursday, and inside the Aspen Fire Station, the smell of diesel and old leather mingles with the scent of freshly printed paper. This is where Jill Sheeley takes her latest creation to the people who live in the shadows of the peaks she writes about.

Sheeley, who has called Aspen home for more than 55 years, is debuting “Adventures of Fraser, the Yellow Dog, Rescue on Aspen Highlands.” The book follows Fraser, a yellow dog training to be a ski patrol dog, as he responds to a boy who has flown off the catwalk at Highland Bowl. It’s a story of mountain safety wrapped in a children’s adventure, and it’s the kind of thing that makes sense to put in front of the kids who spend their winters on the slopes. For many locals, the Highlands aren't just a backdrop; they're the daily commute, the weekend ritual, and the place where a split-second distraction can change everything.

Max Farrell, 7, of Aspen Elementary School, gets it. “I think it’s really good because it has a happy ending,” he said. That resonates because the story is grounded in a real incident — a 12-year-old skier who went off the catwalk years ago, before cell phones were common, and bushwacked his way down to safety. Sheeley spoke with the skier’s father at length before turning the account into fiction, and the result is a tale that feels both personal and universal.

Sam Rose, an Aspen city council member and volunteer firefighter, sees the bigger picture. “Jill is so engaging and so is the dog, and it’s also about safety and public safety, so you wrap all those things into one, and it becomes the perfect event,” he said. And he’s right. When you combine a live dog, local firefighters, and a story about knowing what to do when things go wrong, you’ve got something special. The kids really enjoy it, and Sheeley does an amazing job.

The safety message is especially important for Aspen’s active kids. “It’s all about being prepared and knowing what to do,” Sheeley said. And that matters because the mountains don’t care if you’re prepared. They just wait.

Back in the fire station, the flashing lights still spin. A child peeks out from behind the steering wheel, eyes wide. Outside, the snow begins to fall again, soft and silent. The story is over, but the mountain remains.