This month Canyon Blog stopped by the Utah Department of Transportation garage in Alta to catch up with Little Cottonwood’s avalanche supervisor Laurie D. Officially she has another title but that’s not how residents of the canyon think of her and avalanche supervisor is way cooler. If you transit from the mouth of the canyon to any point upslope, you owe your safety to her and her team of five professionals. A transplant from Colorado, she was introduced to the canyon while river guiding one summer. After a year as a Snowbird lifty she transitioned to ski patrol in 2007. Over the next half dozen seasons she found herself drawn more and more to the “snow” side of patrol. Canyon Blog: “That’s not exactly a straight line to highway safety.” Laurie: “Well, my predecessor Liam was beefing up staff and modifying protocols and I sort of slid in during the 13/14 season.” That turned into a rotational position in Big Cottonwood, Provo Canyon, and Sundance as a first step. Which, in turn, provided a landing pad when he left soon after. CB: “So you inherited LCC…” LD: “Kinda. This is my canyon. I couldn’t live in the valley and wouldn’t want to be in the others.” Your correspondent relates to that statement, as do you kind reader. Or so one imagines. What’s the best part of the job? LD: “The UDOT scope is broad and it allows you to do things you love like ski.” Ah yes, but then there must be a counterbalance. LD: “What’s unique is it can be very low activity when things are slow, but then it spikes to an incredible level and that can be very high stress.” No doubt, given that everyone down canyon wants up. Until they want down. Then they want down right now. Which leads to a final question: What happens during a crisis situation? LD: “We’re a hub for things. Organizing, info sharing, during a crisis we are a source for a lot of information. And it’s not just the highway, but the structures and town as well. It’s an unspoken responsibility.” And one we’re grateful for. Thank you, Laurie, and your team for keeping us safe. Canyon Blog won’t be taking you for granted. And neither should you dear reader.

One of the enjoyable aspects of life in Little Cottonwood Canyon is its history of female leaders. In your correspondent’s traipsings across the slopes many of his friendships and encounters bring him into contact with amazing individuals who make our canyon happen. With the untimely loss of Snowbird ski patrol director Tina Biddle last fall it got your writer thinking about the other great leaders here that just happen to be women. That makes this season the perfect time to start profiling some of these inspiring individuals. And there is no better place to begin than with another exceptional Snowbird leader, tram foreman Laura Kittilä, pronounced like tequila but transposing the “k” and “t”. Those crazy Finns and their umlauts. Laura has been a part of Snowbird for over 15 years and kindly agreed to chat with Canyon Blog on a slow day in early January. Like most good tales, it starts with a love story. Canyon Blog: “How’d you end up in the States and then at the Bird?” Laura Kittilä: “Well, I followed a guy to Utah from home. And originally, I worked at the planetarium in Salt Lake.” The boy soon dropped out of the picture, but as a Finn she was only too familiar with skiing and a number of her friends frequented the bird. CB: “So, how’d you land on the tram?” LK: “I saw an open house posting and applied. They called the next day, and I found myself as a lifty on Chickadee.” Of course there’s more to the story. After a year on lifts and another doing summer activities she got injured and found herself working the tram gate. Once she got in the cab and started driving the tram, however, she never looked back. Thirteen years later she finds herself running a crew of professionals and loves it. Well, most of it. LK: “Storm days can be a lot. But when it’s over and the sun’s out it makes it worth it to push through the storm cycles.” CB: “So, after all these years why stay here and not go back to Finland?” LK: “The people. The customers and my coworkers.” CB: “Sounds like a lot of people to me.” LK: “I love everyone but definitely need to recharge at the end of the day.” What’s changed across a decade and a half one wonders. “There are a lot more people now. But one thing that’s a big change is when I started on the tram there were only two females, and now half of my crew alone are women.” That is a very cool thing indeed. Not missing an opportunity to put interviewees on the spot, Canyon Blog commenced a new torture when featuring locals: describing themselves in five words or less. Despite the look she gives your correspondent Laura rapidly fires off four. “Friendly. Reliable. Stubborn. Hardworking.” Then, after a short pause, “Finnish.” Anything else she’d like to add? “I am lucky to be here.” Concisely stated, but you’re not as lucky as we are to have you. Kiitos Laura!

Interviews Archives - Canyon Services

Alta’s Marshal Mike Morey
Alta’s Marshal Mike Morey

Alta’s Marshal Mike Morey

Our next installment in the Little Cottonwood leader series lands on one of your correspondent’s favorites anywhere in the canyon. Not the least of reasons is that he and his dedicated team can be found anywhere on Highway 210 from the mouth to the far end of Albion Basin precisely when you need them to be there. Mike Morey is Alta’s Marshal, a position he first occupied as a part-time deputy in 1988 but took over as full-time in 1990. He’s held the position ever since, working alongside his four deputies and the dispatchers who man Alta Central’s dispatch. A [...]

CanyonBlog2026-07-25T19:02:23+00:00Alta Utah, Interviews|

Alta Town Clerk Jen Clancy
Alta Town Clerk Jen Clancy

Alta Town Clerk Jen Clancy

Continuing this year’s interviews with leaders from within Little Cottonwood, your correspondent sat down with Jen Clancy, our town clerk. Well, it might be a mischaracterization. She suggested a walk and chat which turned into a two-hour tour of the entire Grizzly Gulch. And a bit of mountain goating… Canyon Blog, who’d already hiked up Peruvian Gulch for a ski run that morning, put on a brave face and did their best to take notes while walking and talking. Jen is a long-time member of the Alta community and it seems somehow fitting that as we approach the nation’s 250th [...]

CanyonBlog2026-06-24T23:39:48+00:00Alta Utah, Interviews|

Wasatch Adaptive Sports’ Executive Director Elizabeth Kimball
Wasatch Adaptive Sports’ Executive Director Elizabeth Kimball

Wasatch Adaptive Sports’ Executive Director Elizabeth Kimball

Once again drawing from the extensive list of leadership that inhabit our canyon, your correspondent chose Elizabeth Kimball as the next profile. Elizabeth has occupied one of the favorite person spots for this writer for many years. Wasatch Adaptive Sports (WAS) is Little Cottonwood’s own program to help individuals with adaptive needs increase their freedom through skiing and boarding at Snowbird and Alta. As their fearless leader, the Chicago native's identity growing up was, “to move my body, mostly through sports.” At UC Berkely she played lacrosse and was introduced to her first nonprofit organization and the power of seeing [...]

CanyonBlog2026-06-01T01:45:04+00:00Interviews, Questions Answered|

Blister Review Summit at Snowbird
Blister Review Summit at Snowbird

Blister Review Summit at Snowbird

Canyon Blog joined the Blister Review team on the Snowbird plaza for what proved to be the best gear demo your correspondent ever experienced. To get the inside scoop (and also try some new Faction and Solomon skis) he cornered Blister’s founder Jonathan Ellsworth. Canyon Blog: What is Blister exactly? Jonathan Ellsworth: Our goal is to provide the world’s best consumer products information for all this expensive outdoor equipment. CB: So, how does that work exactly? JE: We do extreme testing year-round, spending up to 30 days with products and then produce a 7-10,000 word summary. I should mention that [...]

CanyonBlog2026-04-17T03:07:55+00:00Interviews, Local Events, Snowbird Utah|

Keeping 210 Flowing
Keeping 210 Flowing

Keeping 210 Flowing

This month Canyon Blog stopped by the Utah Department of Transportation garage in Alta to catch up with Little Cottonwood’s avalanche supervisor Laurie D. Officially she has another title but that’s not how residents of the canyon think of her and avalanche supervisor is way cooler. If you transit from the mouth of the canyon to any point upslope, you owe your safety to her and her team of five professionals. A transplant from Colorado, she was introduced to the canyon while river guiding one summer. After a year as a Snowbird lifty she transitioned to ski patrol in 2007. [...]

CanyonBlog2026-03-22T16:13:04+00:00Interviews, Questions Answered|

Little Cottonwood’s Newest Master Gunner
Little Cottonwood’s Newest Master Gunner

Little Cottonwood’s Newest Master Gunner

Canyon Blog sat down (well stood around some field artillery actually) with the canyon’s newest master gunner, Margie V. Master gunners are responsible for overseeing the 105mm howitzers in the canyon that mitigate avalanche risk, and you owe them more than you might realize because that’s what allows Highway 210 to open when you want it to most. As part of your correspondent’s continued feature of canyon leaders who happen to be female, there are few that are more respected. So, how’s one become a master gunner then? Read on. Canyon Blog: Is this something you planned on doing when [...]

CanyonBlog2026-03-01T02:03:29+00:00Interviews, Snowbird Utah, Winter|

Our Favorite Finn
Our Favorite Finn

Our Favorite Finn

One of the enjoyable aspects of life in Little Cottonwood Canyon is its history of female leaders. In your correspondent’s traipsings across the slopes many of his friendships and encounters bring him into contact with amazing individuals who make our canyon happen. With the untimely loss of Snowbird ski patrol director Tina Biddle last fall it got your writer thinking about the other great leaders here that just happen to be women. That makes this season the perfect time to start profiling some of these inspiring individuals. And there is no better place to begin than with another exceptional Snowbird [...]

CanyonBlog2026-01-13T18:16:35+00:00Interviews, Outdoors, Snowbird Utah, Winter|

An Interview with Miner Dick Fleue
An Interview with Miner Dick Fleue

An Interview with Miner Dick Fleue

Canyon Blog sat down with a Little Cottonwood Canyon icon this month to learn a bit about the canyon’s history. Many don’t understand that for the first century of its occupation by the largely European stock who entered Utah in the 19th century LCC was primarily a mining endeavor. Dick Fleue is the last surviving miner to have actively worked in some legendary workings in the canyon including the Flagstaff, Columbus Rexall, Columbus Consolidated, and Wasatch Drain Tunnel. For a time in the late 1950s and early 60s as a teenager and twenty something he explored many others including some [...]

CanyonBlog2023-11-25T19:04:37+00:00Interviews, Local Flavor|

Heli-skiing with Powderbird’s 50th Year
Heli-skiing with Powderbird’s 50th Year

Heli-skiing with Powderbird’s 50th Year

Followers of Canyon Blog will undoubtedly be aware of the helicopters that often nest just off the bypass road between Snowbird and Alta. And that they support Little Cottonwood Canyon’s heli-skiing. What you will not likely understand though is how heli-skiing works or even how to go about dipping a ski into the aviation facilitated snow pond. Despite 30 years of helicopter work in his military career your correspondent has to sheepishly admit that they’d never considered heli-skiing and assumed (incorrectly) that it was somehow out of his reach. To rectify this terrible oversight, he sat down with VP of [...]

CanyonBlog2023-02-17T18:57:05+00:00Interviews, Local Flavor, Outdoors, Winter|

The Power of Awareness
The Power of Awareness

The Power of Awareness

It’s time again for your faithful correspondent Canyon Blog to reveal his secret identity as New York Times bestselling author Dan Schilling. My new book is in stores now and I hope you’ll take a look. The Power of Awareness is a guide on how to avoid becoming the victim of crime as you travel across town or the globe. So read on and enjoy! A spy is suddenly aware she’s being stalked through the streets of an exotic city. A special ops soldier intuitively recognizes something’s “off” during a high-risk mission. In these life-threatening situations experts know exactly how [...]

Brittany Patraw2021-09-29T16:47:33+00:00Interviews|