Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast

Don't you just love it when you have to pick up your phone to call your boss back home. 'Hey, really sorry, but we just got snowed in with 60 inches of new snow. We can't get back to the airport. We're stuck up this mountain canyon.' Now that's a great ski trip!For over a half century, Utah has been known to skiers and riders as the home of the Greatest Snow on Earth. But what's the science behind it? Do you know the three ingredients to creating great powder? And what role does Goldilocks play in all of this? Atmospheric science professor Jim Steenburgh is a good guy to know when you head to the mountains. He wrote the book: Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth. And he's ready to share some secrets with host Tom Kelly on Ski Utah'sLast Chair podcast.Growing up near upstate New York's Tug Hill plateau (think Lake Ontario lake effect snow), Steenburgh was no stranger to snow. In fact, he'll tell you about his powder skiing experiences at tiny Powder Ridge there. But once he sampled Utah powder on a college trip with his father, there was no turning back. Lo and behold, a job offer to teach at the University of Utah set him up. Today, he's the guy you want in your ski group to tell you where to find the snow.Water content, atmospheric flow, elevation, geography - it all plays a role in the Greatest Snow on Earth. Armed with extensive historical knowledge and real time meteorological data, Steenburgh's computer-like mind plots incoming storms to map out the best lines for the coming days.And he loves to share! Well, to a point. Join Last Chair host Tom Kelly as he and Steenburgh navigate through deep powder in a fascinating and informative episode of the Ski Utah podcast.TIPS ON THE GREATEST SNOW ON EARTHListen to the Last Chair podcast to learn the details.What advice do you give Utah visitors in planning?OpenSnow.com or UtahSkiWeather.com are good possibilities. Let the experts be the ones to guide you. Becoming an armchair forecaster, if you're not in Utah, can be challenging. It takes a while to get used to the meteorology around here. But looking at those forecasts is pretty important. If you're thinking about riding at a resort but going out of bounds, you know, you really want to be looking at what is happening with the snowpack and with avalanches on UtahAvalancheCenter.org. For me, it's one of those things where I try to look at it every day so I'm in tune with what's going on.So, what's the analysis? Does Utah have the Greatest Snow on earth?I often tell people there's not a scientific test for the Greatest Snow on Earth - it's in the eye of the beholder. I don't think there's any doubt, though, that that Utah has some of the Greatest Snow on Earth. There are really three kinds of key ingredients for great powder skiing or a great powder skiing climate. But Utah's climatology, especially in the Cottonwood Canyons, is really biased towards lots of pretty good powder days.Want to know the three secrets?Listen in to Ski Utah's Last Chair episode with Jim Steenburgh to learn more including:His favorite Utah ski run.How he became a ski racing fan.His secret Utah backcountry line (well, sort of).What tragedy was averted at the 2002 Olympic Closing Ceremony?The deepest powder day of his life.And why depth alone isn't necessarily an indicator of great powder skiing (think float).Tune in to Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast presented by High West Distillery and Saloon on your favorite podcast platform. Subscribe to get first access to every episode.SIDEBAR CONTENTUtah Powder Fun Facts (from Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth)State Record 24-hour Snowfall: Jan. 4-5, 1994, Alta, 55.5 inches of snow with water content of 5.7%105-mm howitzers are among the tools used by resorts and highway crews to mitigate huge dumps of snow.Avalanches were commonplace in the mining era of the 1880s, claiming many lives.Secrets of the Greatest Snow on EarthWeather, climate change, and finding deep powder in Utah's Wasatch Mountains and around the world.© 2014 by the University Press of ColoradoPublished by Utah State University PressYou'll want to grab a copy of the book before your next trip to Utah. You can pick it up off Amazon, or support a local Wasatch book store including Dolly's in Park City, as well as The King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City.Powder Skiing for College CreditOnly in Utah can you go to college to learn how to find the best powder skiing. Starting this spring, you can take ATOMS1000 at the University of Utah to learn the science behind the secrets. We suspect there will be field trips.

Have you been skiing or riding this year? If so, you've experienced a new sensation - standing atop a snow-covered ridgeline, soaking in the alpine peaks and feeling a freedom from the COVID-19 restrictions that have ruled your life for eight months. Utah's resorts have been busy since last March, innovating ways to get open, stay open and provide a safe and meaningful experience for guests. In this episode of Last Chair, we visited some of Utah's iconic resorts to learn how they were managing?It's pretty clear that the minds have been spinning. It's a new look at resorts from parking to passes to lunch. But what all resorts share in common is a passion for providing an opportunity for all of us to ski and ride - and to do it safely.When you're driving up Little Cottonwood daydreaming about that ride up the tram and dropping your tips into the Cirque, the last thing you want to be thinking about is where you're going to park. Amidst the challenges of reduced capacity during COVID, Snowbird has a solution with app-based reserved parking. The Bird's Sara Sherman talks us through the simplicity of reserving your own spot. With no parking stress on your mind, you'll have more time to daydream about that first glory fun of the morning.If you wanna ski, you gotta eat. Ski area parking lots are seeing a lot more tailgaters this year. Alta Ski Area has you covered with innovative new food trucks in both the Wildcat and Albion parking lots. Alta's Brandon Ott gave us the food truck tour with Last Chair checking out Base Camp Kitchenin the Wildcat lot. Wow, those were good burritos. Just grab one, stuff it into your pocket and dine on the Collins lift on your way up to Ballroom.Snowbasin Resort is a big mountain, with a ton of terrain. While lodges are open to provide restrooms and food, skiers and riders need a little warmth after a couple hours of top-of-mountain runs. Taking some tips it learned from Southern Hemisphere resorts, Snowbasin has added a Yurt Village at the base of the Middle Bowl lift to provide skier's with a heated haven to warm up before heading back out for more. Snowbasin GM Davy Ratchford gave us an insider's tour as the Yurt Village was finished up in time for the holidays.It's an innovative time for resorts. What we found was that resorts and guests are all assuming their respective COVID responsibilities and providing a truly liberating experience.Check out this special episode of Ski Utah's Last Chair to learn more.What app do I download to reserve a free parking spot at Snowbird?What's the best burrito to tuck into your parka pocket at Alta's Base Camp Kitchen?Where can you dine in a snow globe?What's the best new spot to stay warm at Snowbasin Resort?Tune in to Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast presented by High West Distillery and Saloon on your favorite podcast platform. Subscribe to get first access to every episode.

Imagine feeding thousands of skiers at a dozen locations across five mountains every day? That's the life of Jodie Rogers. An Australian skier who found Utah over 20 years ago, Rogers brings a jovial spirit to her role as director of food and beverage for Deer Valley Resort - staying on top of food trends, and making sure there's enough turkey chili at every lodge.As skiers, it's easy to take lunch for granted. But at a resort that has historically been acclaimed as a leader in food and hospitality, Rogers leads a team that innovates how to bring culinary art to the slopes every day - breakfast, lunch and dinner.From morning oatmeal and coffee at the Deer Valley Grocery ~ Café to the taco station at Silver Lake Lodge, gooey chocolate chip cookies, and melting Swiss raclette cheese in a stone fireplace at Fireside Dining, Rogers is at the epicenter of on-mountain cuisine.How did she get from Australia to Deer Valley? What does it take to transform snow-covered, on-mountain lodges two or three times a day? Listen to Jodie Rogers as she takes you inside food and beverage on the mountain at Deer Valley Resort.CHATTING WITH JODIE ROGERSChildhood memory of skiing?We drove six hours to the ski resort. I think I was seven years old at the time. We got in the back of this truck. So two families, about ten people. We put all the mattresses in the back with all the ski gear, everything we possibly could. Pillows, blankets, heaters, dogs, I think we had in there as well. And we drove the six hours to Perrisher in New South Wales. And that was my first experience of skiing in Australia.COVIDNone of us have lived this, so it's still so real to me. Everything about this is surreal, but it is also exciting. This team here has done the safest thing in educating themselves and setting up the protocols. The ultimate goal is to get everyone back in the healthy, fresh, crisp air that we have. We have been creative and we've had to really change everything in food and beverage.What made the difference for you coming to Deer Valley?My love of culinary and teaching, is what it came to when I walked into the kitchen here. I felt very much at home here. Deer Valley employees that have been here a long time - it's home, it's their family. That just always resonated with me. I loved to cook. I love to teach cooking. There were plenty of people here that wanted to learn and I felt respected and loved.What inspires you about hospitality?Food just tells a story. You can get so creative with it. It just excites me in a way that I can look and feel what that particular product wants to be. And then I can also take what I learned from the people around me.Listen in to Ski Utah's Last Chair episode with Jodie Rogers to learn more:Suggestions on the best grab-and-go items to tuck into your pocket for a chairlift picnic.Her favorite ski run at Deer Valley.Why St. Provo Girl is her favorite Utah craft beer.And how many gallons of turkey chili Deer Valley produces every day!Her COVID-management tips for visitors to Utah.Tune in to Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast presented by High West Distillery on your favorite podcast platform. Subscribe to get first access to every episode.

Like many of us, Chris Waddell loves the feeling of being atop Bald Mountain at Deer Valley Resort. The distant peaks of the snow capped High Uintas are off to the right. To the left is the panoramic ridgeline of Park City. Below him is a pristine piste that is ready to be carved.But instead of standing on two skis to admire the view, he sits in a fiberglass monocoque called a monoski. As the term implies, below him is a single ski, firmly attached to his plastic cockpit. With a push, he's off, wind in his face, his upper body maneuvering the monoski as he puts down some of the prettiest turns in the mountain as skiers stand transfixed by the scene.Lifelong skier and collegiate racer Chris Waddell was at the peak of his career when a skiing accident took away functionality of the lower half of his body. Just 362 days later, he was back on snow - this time in a monoski. One of the most decorated Paralympic athletes, Waddell today is an inspiration - like the rest of us, still aspiring for those deep powder Utah days near his adopted home!Chris Waddell's story is not one of great tragedy at the age of 20, but more the inspiration he has brought as one of the world's great athletes.A Massachusetts native, Waddell moved to Utah full time in 1999 to train for the 2002 Olympics and, like many others, to ski the greatest snow on earth. Last Chair caught up with him in his temporary Bear Lake house, still pensively waiting for renovations to his ski town home in Park City. WITH CHRIS WADDELLChris how did you find your way into skiing?I grew up in a town called Granby, Massachusetts, which was probably about 5,000 people in western Mass. We were the in-between of the Berkshires. Mount Tom was about ten minutes away - 680 feet of vertical, about half the height of the Empire State Building. And I saw the kids racing. I was six years old or something and I said, 'I want to do that.What was your pathway as a ski racer?I didn't go to a ski academy, I went to a prep school, which meant that we might get to train for an hour a day or something like that. And it was a much shorter season. And I felt like I'd never given myself the chance to see how good I could be as a ski racer. So going to Middlebury, in a lot of ways for me, was going to be my Olympics. It was going to be how I proved how good I could possibly be. And so I spent the whole fall really trying to somehow write a new narrative. And and so my goal every day was to push myself in dry land training to the point where I wanted to quit. Because if I quit and then moved a little bit beyond that, then it was new territory.But that suddenly changed in an instant!The first day of Christmas vacation, I went home. My brother and I went to Berkshire East and met up with a bunch of the buddies. We all skied with a group. It was a warm, sunny day. It was like a spring day, 20th of December, slushy snow, which was completely unheard of. And we took a couple of runs, as the coach said, and I was testing a new pair of skis - hadn't been on them yet. And we were going to run slalom and we came down and went back to the race track and he wasn't there. So we decided we'd take one more run. And it was just kind of a strange thing. You're trying to find that sense of harmony, I think, in your skiing. Right, because you hadn't really been on snow that long and just trying to find that right feeling. And that's what I was doing and came over a little little knoll and then made a turn and my ski popped off in the middle of a turn. And all I remember is my ski popping off.How did your friends respond?I was in shock. But my friend, a guy named Jim Schaefer who actually now owns Berkshire East, was the first one to me. My brother was there soon afterwards and I was just kind of lying on the ground and they were doing their best. It was obvious to them that I'd hurt myself pretty badly. So they were trying to keep me from moving and everything until the ski patrol could come up. I fell in the middle of the trail and didn't hit anything but the ground. It was just one of those weird falls. I probably had taken what I thought were much worse falls and had no problem. But this time, whatever I did, I did it in exactly the right or the wrong way, however you want to look at that.What was the outcome of your accident?I broke thoracic 10 and 11. So there are 12 thoracic bones, there are seven cervical bones. And for me, I broke and really pulverized those two vertebrae. The doctor said it looked like a bad car accident. I was probably going 20 to 30 miles an hour, which doesn't seem fast when you're skiing, but when you fall, it can be fast. So that's what I broke. It corresponds to about belly button (level) as far as sensation. And I have the muscles just below the sternum and sort of corresponding back muscles. So when I started skiing in a monoski, I was in the most disabled of the three classes because I didn't have the ability to lean over onto my legs, like I'm sitting in my wheelchair to lean on to my legs and then sit back up. I don't have the muscles to do that. So once I'm leaning on my thighs, then I really that's where I am until I push myself up with my arms.Despite your prognosis, how did you retain your passion for skiing?I was back on snow within the year, 362 days after the accident. I thought about skiing. I did a fair amount of mental imagery when I was training for skiing. And there was nothing I could do while I was lying in the hospital bed. And I thought over and over about skiing. I thought, OK, I'll get back. I won't be healthy for the season, but maybe I'll be able to ski like maybe forerun the Middlebury Carnival, which was always the last race of the year. That's what I initially thought. Nobody told me that I was paralyzed.What was the catalyst to get you back on skis?I did believe that I, as an athlete, would be able to create a miracle and recover completely. But at the same time a friend of mine asked me if I would be willing to be in a movie about adaptive skiing, a documentary movie about adaptive skiing. And he asked me about this while I was in the hospital. I said, yes, sure, I will do that. A friend of his was making that movie. And so that to me was the plan.Had you had any contact with adaptive skiers in the past?Tom, you knew (Olympic disabled champion) Diana Golden, right? Diana was an amazing person. I saw her at a giant slalom at Burke Mountain the year before my accident. I saw Diana at this race and my first thought was: really? There's a woman with one leg who's coming to this race. But then I watched her ski. To me, she captured what it meant to be an athlete. As ski racers, it's really easy to have all of your excuses before you go through the starting gate. She was somebody who just said, 'look, I'm not going to make any excuses. I don't have time for excuses.' She laid herself bare effectively and just said, 'I'm going to fall down, but I'm going to get back up.' In watching her, I thought, that's the best encapsulation of what it means to be an athlete. I remember thinking, I want to be like Diana, I want to do what she did.Your pathway to success was very quick.I actually graduated on skis from Middlebury -- full cap and gown procession. Then I hopped on a plane and flew to Durango for my first first re...

Imagine boots on snow for 12 months a year? From the towering peaks of Denali and Rainier, to the powder-filled backcountry of Utah's Wasatch Range, that's the life of Nikki Champion. It's a long way from the young girl who was chasing gates as a ski racer in Michigan. Today, she's a vital link in helping keep Utah's backcountry safe as a forecaster with the Utah Avalanche Center.As her name implies, Nikki truly championed her own path - moving from Michigan to Colorado to attend college and quickly discovering her passion for snow. She learned about snow science, taking her zest of knowledge to Montana. Seeking mentors for her burgeoning career, she headed for Alaska. Today she summers in Alaska and Washington state as a mountain climbing guide but spends winters here in Utah where she's up and at work by 3:00-4:00 a.m. on every forecast shift.RESOURCESUtah Avalanche Centerutahavalanchecenter.orgKnow Before You Go Online Educationkbyg.orgUtah Avalanche Awareness Week - Dec. 6-12Watch for daily on-snow and online classes.utahavalanchecenter.org/education/uac-kbyg-classesCHATTING WITH NIKKI CHAMPIONNikki, you returned to Utah in October and quickly found people heading to the backcountry. Is it looking like a busy season?It sure seems like it. I've been out three days so far this year, and almost every single day the outer parking lot looks like the lifts are running. And we had a record showing at USAW (Utah Snow and Avalanche Workshop) - close to a thousand people for each open night which is awesome.Before we get to skiing, how did you find your way into mountain guiding?I'm going on my sixth season with RMI. I used to work up in Alaska as a guide up there doing some ice climbing, glacier travel, things like that. And seven years ago I came down to the lower 48 and I climbed Mount Rainier for the first time. And while I was there, I saw all the guides climbing and I was like, 'that looks pretty fun, I think I could do that.' So the next season, I applied and I got the gig. I've entered the rotation in which I spend every May through October climbing primarily in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. So our normal rotation looks like a May on Rainier, a June on Denali, July and August back on Rainier and in the North Cascades and then off in September doing a lot of North Cascades work until I wrap up and head back to Utah.In Nikki Champion's year, how many months are you touching snow?Oh, gosh, probably 12 months a year. Sometimes I try to take October off and warm up. Previously I would try to kind of take some time off and go somewhere tropical and only wear sandals for a month or so, give my feet a break from the ski boots and the mountaineering boots. But somehow snow still seems to sneak into every month of my life.Was the summer climbing impacted by COVID?Yeah, the guiding industry seemed to be hit pretty hard by COVID this year. The whole climbing season got canceled on Denali for guide services as well as public climbers. So we were unable to do a season up there and I was actually unable to climb on Rainier until September this year. So a much different summer for me.As a young girl, how did your life on snow begin?I was pretty fortunate. I was actually born in Colorado, in between Denver and Steamboat. My parents got me on the skis when I was about like one and a half or two. They had me skiing with like a hula hoop out front of them so I could hold onto it. So I started skiing really young, which I thank my parents for. We moved to Michigan when I was about four, so pretty young. I began alpine racing really young as well, which took me all over the state of Michigan and out west as well to train. So it kind of came as no surprise to anyone that when I started looking at colleges when I was 18, I was looking for something out west, ideally Colorado or Montana - somewhere that had the mountains.You learned snow science during college in Colorado and Montana, what led you to Alaska?I kind of finally stumbled into finding out how that snow science was what I wanted to pursue. I started teaching avalanche classes in Montana. I began doing my own research outside of just helping field assistants. And I started working in the Sub-Zero Science and Engineering Lab in Bozeman, which is like a cold lab where you get to create snow. After I actually graduated, I wanted to start exploring more options for forecasting and even more seeking out new mentorship opportunities. The Chugach was a really unique situation in which it had three female forecasters, it was the only forecast center in the country that had that. So I wanted to go up to the Chugach. I was fortunate enough to land the internship up there.Did that experience introduce you to new things that you hadn't encountered down in the lower 48?It was new opportunities. I hadn't worked directly with the Forest Service on the forecasting side of things before. I had worked primarily as an avalanche educator with the Forest Service Avalanche Center as well. It was a new type of snow pack. So the Chugach, up in Alaska, is in Girdwood, an hour outside of Anchorage. It's a really unique snow climate in which it can represent all three of what we've identified as snow climates: the inner mountain, which is what we are here in Utah, Continental, which is more of what you think of Colorado, and then a coastal snow climate, which is traditionally Washington. The Chugach, year-to-year, has represented all three. So I was able to see a lot more rain than I'd ever seen before down in Montana and or in Utah or Colorado, as well as different problems like glide avalanches, and also just not seeing as much sun - that plays an impact on the snow.What is snow science?Snow science is a really fickle science, and something we're continuing to learn about every single day. The basics of what builds an avalanche, though, is you have a slab or a really strong layer over a weak layer on a bed surface that it can slide on. And then you need a slope steeper than 30 degrees.What's the difference between skiing in a resort and the backcountry?Ski resorts do an awesome job at mitigating the risk. What they do is they more or less create their own snow pack. So these layers that I just talked about, that slab and that weak layer, they use explosives, they use ski cutting, they use a multitude of different techniques to really destroy or test those weak layers and they create an artificial snow pack. They make sure that that weak layer or that whole setup doesn't exist within their ski resort. Now, as soon as you step outside a gate, you enter the backcountry from a trailhead. It's all the same. It's a natural snow pack. And at that point, there's none of that control. There's no explosive work testing the snow. There's no explosive work destroying that. We claim it's all just a natural raw snow pack. And you more than likely do have that make up of a slab and a weak layer.As soon as you leave the gate, you are no longer in the ski resort and you need to think of it as the backcountry. There's not really anything known as the side country. As soon as you leave the gate,...

Few would argue that one of the most challenging aspects of a ski vacation can be renting the gear. Bryn Carey, a Sugarloaf, Maine transplant to Utah, has been changing that through his innovative approach to rental equipment delivery at Ski Butlers, a Park City-based company he founded in 2004. Today, Ski Butlers is in two-dozen locations in six states and four countries.Carey grew up in the quintessential skiing family. His father, Chip, was marketing director at Sugarloaf. Skiing was a way of life for the outdoor adventuring family who lived in the remote outreaches of Maine. Then a warm, spring trip to Snowbird changed it all. With his older siblings off to college and dad weighing an opportunity to take over marketing at what would become Canyons in Park City, the family put the decision to Chip, then a young teen. It was a no brainer! They were Utah-bound.Bryn Carey's interview on Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast is a story of passion for winter sport combined with business principles based on values. Sixteen years ago, Carey's fledgling business was one of many experimenting with rental equipment delivery. Over time, Ski Butlers stood out based on its quality of service that is a direct testament to Carey's leadership style, deep love for the sport and an innate sense of stewardship for the environment around him.Carey's business success in the sport he loves stems from the basics of entrepreneurship he learned from his family, going all the way back to his days as a young boy brewing root beer and selling it to friends.Over his two decades in Utah, Carey has very much become a part of the fabric of Ski Utah and life in the Wasatch Mountains. He could have taken the Ski Butlers headquarters anywhere, but his love for the Utah outdoors made it an easy call. He's channeled his passion into leadership roles within the region to protect the future of the Wasatch. His strong feelings about protecting the environment found him in France with his kids for the signing of the Paris Accord in 2015 and an active role in Al Gore's Climate Reality Project.Most of all, though, he just loves being a part of Utah's active outdoor lifestyle. He recalls his youth in Maine fondly, and wants to recreate that for his own family in the Wasatch Mountains.Here's just a small sampling of what you'll find in episode 2 of Last Chair presented by High West. Take a listen, there's a lot more to learn.

Ever wonder what happened to the 'E' in POWDR, the owner of Woodward Park City and nearly a dozen resorts nationwide? You'll learn about that in the season two debut of Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast. POWDRresort company owner John Cumming still has fond memories as a young boy of his father, Ian, scooping him up out of his bed late at night to head to their condo in Snowbird for a long weekend of family skiing. That passion he gained for the outdoors as a child formed his pathway for life as the owner of POWDR, a thriving family-owned resort company competing head-to-head with the likes of Vail Resorts and Alterra.Today, Cumming owns Snowbird along with 10 other resorts across the country from Killington to Copper Mountain to Mt. Bachelor. His innovative Woodward Park City, a new gem amongst a host of national action sports centers under the Woodward brand, offers youth and adults alike with unparalleled action on snow.In a rare interview to kick off Ski Utah's Last Chair podcast, Cumming talks in great detail about his childhood, his growth as a young entrepreneur, his feelings for his resort communities and the challenges brought on by the pandemic. He leaves no stone unturned, addressing the loss of Park City Mountain Resort as well as his own success in managing his life with multiple sclerosis.His intense passion for the outdoors blends with the business acumen he learned from his father and from his own experience as one of the founders of Mountain Hardwear, a leading outdoor clothing and equipment company. His wisdom of resort operations comes from hands-on experience working at Park City Mountain Resort. As chairman of POWDR, he oversees a unique outdoor company that is finding its way through the coronavirus pandemic with both skillful business direction and a high sense of compassion for both its employees and guests.Want to learn more about John Cumming? Best ski run? Most challenging climbing route? Personal hobby? Favorite musician? Take a listen to season 2 - episode 1 of Last Chair: The Ski Utah Podcast.

Without doubt, the 2019-20 ski and snowboard season was one for the record books - great snow, guests from around the world enjoying the Greatest Snow on Earth, restaurants and bars serving up the Ski Utah lifestyle. Then, it all came to a sudden pause on March 14.The pandemic pause caused an unprecedented halt to a great season. How did it all come down? How have the resorts managed it with guests and employees? What does the future hold? Last Chair wraps up the 2019-20 season - including some great powder day stories - with leaders of the sport. Join Last Chair for a conversation with Ski Utah’s Nathan Rafferty, Davy Ratchford from Snowbasin and Dave Fields of Snowbird to get the inside story.

The affable Mike Caldwell bursts into his office, a welcoming smile on his face. Wearing a Salomon vest, he looks a lot different than the portraits of a century of mayors on the wall of his Ogden City office, embodying the active, outdoor lifestyle that has become the trademark of Utah’s second largest city.Eight years in, the third-term mayor has built a strong city by focusing on Utah’s geographical location. A century ago, Ogden’s forefathers capitalized on the Junction City’s location as a railway crossroads. Today, Caldwell has seized on its proximity to the mountains and outdoor recreation. From the 40+ outdoor brand logos with a corporate footprint in Ogden to the thousands of skiers reveling on 25th Street, Ogden truly has become one of America’s great outdoor recreation towns.On any given day, he’ll be riding his road bike to work, taking the mountain bike up onto nearby singletrack, slipping into a climbing harness, clicking into alpine touring gear for a backcountry outing or sliding onto a chairlift for an day at nearby Snowbasin, Nordic Valley or Powder Mountain.This week Last Chair brings you to the top floor of the elegant art deco Ogden Municipal Building, overlooking towering Mount Ogden, for a conversation with Mike Caldwell - a mayor who has eight bikes and five pairs of skis hanging in the garage. He’ll explore Ogden’s rich history and entice you up with a look at the hidden gem among Utah’s ski towns.

Randy Doyle is that guy who always has a happy smile on his face - a fixture on the Ski Utah scene for decades. He literally grew up on the slopes of Brighton and has carried on the tradition of one of Utah’s most family-friendly resorts.Across the Wasatch, there are few views that can match the alpine peaks of the Cottonwoods from the top of the Great Western chairlift down the ridgeline to Snake Creek Pass. Utah’s oldest resort, Brighton Resort, got its start in 1936 as a place for families to ski. Randy’s father, Zane, discovered skiing there and eventually bought the fledging tow rope and creating a Mecca for Salt Lake City families to learn how to ski. This week Last Chair takes us up to the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon as Randy Doyle reminisces on the origins of the resort and how it’s kept its family-friendly culture for nearly a century. We’ll explore the evolution of the sport that has played out on the slopes of Brighton for 84 years and learn about live growing up in the mountains from one of Ski Utah’s favorite leaders.