Ski in-Sell Out!

Nathan Rafferty has seen a lot of the world. He’s raced motorcycles across deserts, traveled extensively, spent decades inside Utah’s ski industry and built a life in Park City. And after all of it? Utah is pretty damn good. Nathan started at Ski Utah as an unpaid intern, worked the front desk, moved into PR and eventually became President and CEO. We talk about that unlikely path, how Utah skiing has changed, raising kids with a little discomfort, the value of travel, racing the Dakar Rally, pl

Being local isn't about how long you've been somewhere. It's about what you do once you're there. Andy Beerman came to Park City in 1995 without much of a plan beyond finding a way to stay in the mountains. Before that there was Ohio, NOLS, Alaska, mountaineering, a climbing accident and a Salt Lake climbing gym. Then came White Pine Touring, couch surfing in Park City, buying a house he could barely afford, meeting Thea because she bought skis and decided he looked hungry, and eventually taking

What does a county clerk do when she’s not being a county clerk? In Melina Stevens’ case, quite a bit. This week, Max and Lauren sit down with Melina to talk about the road from California’s Central Valley to Summit County, with stops at BYU, a semester studying in China, and nine years working as a victim advocate with the Park City Police Department. A move to Florida that never happened somehow turned into a life in Park City. As these things tend to do. We get into the work of showing up for

Aldy Milliken’s path to Park City makes almost no sense until you hear the whole thing. He started college studying economics, found photography, chased the art world to New York, drove a baby-blue Volvo into the Utah desert to see four giant concrete tubes, bought a one-way ticket to Southeast Asia, became an elementary school teacher, opened a gallery in Stockholm, reconnected with his future wife through a postcard, spent nearly two decades abroad, landed in Louisville and eventually found h

Bob Peek came to Park City in 1981 for what was supposed to be a semester off. Then he got a job parking cars and shoveling sidewalks during Deer Valley's first season, started painting houses with his brother, made about $20,000 a year, skied roughly 50 days and figured he had things pretty well dialed. His dad wasn't so sure. Nearly 40 years later, that painting company is still here. Except Bob doesn't own it anymore. His son Jonas does. The funny part is Jonas wasn't waiting around for it. H

Chris Conabee’s résumé makes almost no sense until you hear him tell the story. He grew up in Newark, landed at Brighton High School with a Jersey accent, went back east to work on Wall Street, earned his MBA at Columbia, left it all to care for his mom, came back west, worked Sundance, guided the Grand Canyon and eventually found his way into development and building in Utah. Chris describes life as a tree: you eventually end up on a leaf you never could have picked from the ground, but when yo