In this day and age, fewer and fewer employees are working at a company for more than two decades. While there are exceptions, members of the American workforce typically change jobs every 4.2 years on average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Breckenridge Ski Resort employees were recently recognized for bucking this growing trend, reaching career milestones ranging from five to 50 years of service.

Last month’s event featured 13 people who were recognized for 25 years of service and three employees who have worked at Breckenridge for the last 50 years.

The employees who have worked with Breckenridge for the past 50 years include ski patroller Kevin Ahern and Doug Hamilton, who works in building maintenance. The third employee chose not be named.

Ahern and Hamilton each started working at Breckenridge in the middle of the 1970s. Ahern started at the resort in 1973 as part of the resort’s trail crew, and Hamilton began his career as a lift operator in 1974.

After only working at the resort part time during the summer break away from school, Ahern was officially named to the resort’s ski patrol team in 1976.

Unlike Ahern, Hamilton stayed in the same line of work at the resort through much of his career, working with lift operations, maintenance and management for 42 years.

During that time, Hamilton has had plenty of work to do, helping complete major lift upgrades and projects.

“We did a lot of lift replacements,” Hamilton said. “From 1978-84 we tore out one lift and built a new lift about once a year. I did a lot of lift construction, lift maintenance and lift operations.”

Starting in 2016, Hamilton began working with building maintenance, which regularly monitors and maintains all of the buildings at the resort.

Since starting at the resort over 50 years ago, Ahern and Hamilton have seen the resort change — but also stay the same in many ways. .

The biggest thing that has changed is “the growth that has taken place over the years as the ski area has matured and the town has matured, turning the town and the county into a year-round destination,” said Ahern, who began at the resort as a high schooler.

With a vast amount of knowledge surrounding lifts, Hamilton is astonished at how much lift infrastructure and technology has changed within the ski industry over the past five decades. Hamilton says the biggest change he has seen is implementation of detachable lifts.

“You could run the lifts at a much higher speed,” Hamilton said. “The increased capacity really put the ski industry on the map. We had the very first detachable quad in the world, that we built, in 1981. From that time forward, all the other detachables around the state started going to quads. That renovation was a major change in the industry.”

Despite Summit County and the resort slowly changing over the years, Ahern and Hamilton both agree that the stoke for skiing at Breckenridge remains unchanged.

“The thing that has stayed the same is the constant of the great skiing that is available,” Hamilton said. “Those things have always been right at the forefront of everybody’s mind. Skiing has been a staple. It has gotten better as we opened up more terrain and advanced, but that’s the one thing that is consistent and the same.”

“It’s skiing, and skiing has changed a tremendous amount, but the people that are passionate about skiing stay the same,” Ahern said. “I see a lot of the same locals that I saw 40 years ago out skiing all the time. I think that the heart and soul of skiing is still there.”

Beyond being a workplace that has allowed Ahern and Hamilton to grow, Breckenridge has also created lifelong memories for both men. Ahern now works alongside his two sons on ski patrol, something he does not take for granted and cherishes every day.

“I met my wife in 1976, and we started building ourselves together,” Ahern said. “That was the core of why we stayed. … I love this job, and it has been something I have been able to make a living doing. To see (his kids) become successful on patrol in their own roles has been pretty rewarding.”

To this day, Hamilton’s favorite memory is the joy people have when visiting Breckenridge.

Whether a Summit local or a first-time skier, the enthusiastic grins across the mountain always stand out to Hamilton as he goes about his work day.

“As a manager, a lot of the things I am responsible for is to help other people accomplish their goals,” Hamilton said. “Those accomplishments and setting people up for success is one of my calling cards.”

From helping a skier who is injured or taking pride in the resort’s lifts and buildings, Ahern and Hamilton have each shaped the ski and ride experience at Breckenridge in their own way.

“I find it very rewarding that people are having fun and are willing to return,” Hamilton said. “It is OK in a maintenance function that you are not noted or seen. It means that you are doing your job and people are not dissatisfied.”