Team AVSC News

AVSC honors longtime ASK program chaperone Jim Shaw with Bob Beattie Award

August 4, 2025
On Sunday, August 3, 2025, Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club staff, friends, and family gathered to honor Jim Shaw, this year’s recipient of the Bob Beattie Award. Named after one of AVSC’s original founders and local legend, Bob Beattie, this award honors someone who has shown outstanding dedication to the Aspen Supports Kids Program over the span of several years and has helped fulfill Bob’s vision of enabling thousands of children in the Roaring Fork Valley to know the joys of skiing and snowboarding. This award has traditionally gone to a ski school professional, but for the first time ever it honors a transportation program chaperone. 

“There are so many important players within the Aspen Supports Kids program, and I could not think of a more deserving person to honor and say thank you to than Jim Shaw,” said Meredith Elwell, Director of the AVSC Aspen Supports Kids recreational program. “Jim is reliable, trustworthy and kind to everyone he interacts with. For years he has faced the controlled chaos of transporting 40-50 kids and all of their gear to the mountain each weekend with grace and humor. Without his support it would not have been easy to share the love of the mountains with so many kids.”

For 18 years, Shaw has served as a chaperone for the ASK program. ASK chaperones fulfill a critical role for our program. They ensure kids riding the free AVSC buses get to their destinations, have a lift buddy if needed, and return home safe again at the end of the day. They are the welcome and familiar faces who greet our participants each week, and they add such a special warmth and human touch on busy ski lesson days.

At the mid-valley award celebration, friends, family and colleagues shared stories about Jim’s time as a chaperone at AVSC, and there was plenty of talk about lost mittens, slope shenanigans, and how Jim always knew the best stashes to ski on Aspen Snowmass. More than one guest commented on how Jim had taught them about skiing and life through his contagious love of the mountains.

Shaw, who moved to the area in the 1980s, first came to Aspen as a sales rep for Wills Wing hang gliders. He fell in love with the Aspen vibe, worked as a charter pilot here, and ran the flight school. Many locals got their small aircraft pilot's license with him as their teacher. After a first bout with cancer, he hung up his pilot license but not his zest for life. A longtime skier, surfer and hang glider, Shaw began volunteering for AVSC around 2007 and is a much-beloved and appreciated member of the AVSC ASK team. 

Thank you, Jim, for your smile, your generosity, and your many years of service to AVSC and the Aspen Supports Kids program.