Pat Putt started as a ski tuner at White Pine Touring in November, a job he had waited for 65 years to get.
He retired as the Summit County community development director in August 2024. It didn’t take him long to follow his true calling as a magician of community happiness, he said.
“This is where the magic happens,” he said, gesturing to the Nordic center’s ski tuning hut. “Think of this space as a surgical suite where we heal the souls of abused and often downtrodden ski bases back to life. Kind of like physicians and healers, we make people happy.”
He’s hardly alone in his feelings for the Park City institution. The employees behind the grooming, tuning and teaching that makes it all run smoothly have a combined 300 years of Nordic experience.
This is more than just a Nordic center, said Director Richard Hodges. As one of the last standing locally owned, old school businesses in Park City, White Pine Touring is a hub for community gathering, adventure and connection.
The center works hard to foster that sense of community spirit, the two said.
“What’s been an institution for over 50 years and growing is White Pine Touring. If you really want to know what the legacy of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games is, it’s the youth,” said Putt. “The programs that were created then, as we have here, we pump out Olympians in Park City like bakers make cookies.”
“That’s part of how we’re able to do what we do, because I’ve got people that have been teaching here for 20 years,” said Hodges. “And still, we have people who have been teaching here for three months, but we always have this kind of family, community thing. My feeling is that if people are willing to come back for a decade or more in a row, it’s a pretty great place to be.”
Todd Henneman worked for White Pine Touring for 20 years, starting in 1989, before he left to start his own bike company, Storm Cycles. Having retired from his business two years ago, Henneman returned to his roots at White Pine as a groomer twice a week.
“I’ve loved the sport since I moved here in 1989, and it’s always been a passion. It’s been really fun to come back and just a part of the community, and see the changes since I left 10 years ago,” said Henneman. “The growth over the last five to 10 years is just phenomenal. I see the amount of people skiing, the programs, the kids. Sometimes you come out on an afternoon and there’s 100 kids learning how to ski with us.”
Hodges pioneered the use of their spaces as outlets for outdoor recreation for people who otherwise might not be able to get outside. White Pine Touring offers community outreach programs from kids’ programs to training opportunities for people with disabilities to activities with the senior center.
The center brings out groups of Hispanic families to learn to ski together, where kids in the ski program help coach their parents.
“We’re using our resources to provide stuff for people that may not have those resources,” said Hodges. “We are providing the opportunity and the equipment for them to come out and recreate with their kids. It’s a blast. And it is so funny watching a 6-year-old teaching their parent how to ski.”
As a for-profit business, the Nordic center does not qualify for grants or subsidies to help with the costs of offering these programs. Everything the business does to reduce costs is self funded.
“That’s what we do and it’s part of being part of the community. It’s just the right thing to do,” said Hodges.
“Truthfully, I don’t know how Richard does it. He does it all. I’ll get here sometimes around 6:30 a.m. to get grooming, and he’s already in the office straightening things out. He’s incredibly dedicated,” said Henneman.
As the center guides skiers, snowshoers and other recreators through their equipment and checkout desks, customers are led to the entrance to over 20 kilometers of trail right outside. Before they leave the center, customers are given their final step to success on a sign above the door, “Get outside and play,” followed only by “Return your gear.”
Anne Briscoe came through the center on Monday to get her poles fixed. Briscoe had worked for White Pine over two decades ago, though she’s been skiing at the center for longer than that. She said she is impressed with how far the sport and the Nordic center have come since her time here.
“The sport has picked up incredibly, we have more trails, more grooming. It’s great to have new people,” said Briscoe. “Even bringing my poles in today — 20 years ago we wouldn’t have had those parts. There’s just so much more here as a resource today. It’s nice to see White Pine successful and growing.”
White Pine Touring is unique in its ability to accommodate so many needs all in one place, said Hodges. With retail, service, lessons, tours and trails all readily available every day for folks to participate in, the range of White Pine is a rarity in North America.
“My whole philosophy here is that if you’re not having fun, we’re doing something wrong,” said Hodges. “We send people out to play in the snow. Literally, that’s what we do. We’re not solving the world’s problems or curing cancer or anything like that, but we are providing an outlet for people, and they go outside and they come back smiling.”
Hannah Housman grew up in Park City and skiing at White Pine before she went on to compete in the sport in college. Housman was in town for the holiday weekend from California. Her and her mom, Tracy, knew they had to spend a day together at the Nordic center and get on snow before Hannah returned to the Golden State.
“If I’m going skiing, this is where I’ll go. Just don’t tell our dogs we’re here,” said Tracy. “I’ve been coming here about 13 years. It’s a great community and a great place. We always see everyone we know, so I’m not sure how much skiing we do because we get too busy socializing with everyone around.”
“And then when we forget something, it’s great because it’s an excuse to buy something new. They have all the gear we could want here,” added Hannah.
White Pine Touring has partnered with Park City, where the space operates as the Park City golf course in the summer for 48 years. This relationship is essential to the center’s operations, and it means a lot of effort to maintain the grass beneath the snow in the face of challenging weather conditions.
The center has been open every day since Dec. 2 this season, save two days of closure in early Feb due to warm temperatures and rain that melted the tracks down to the point of risking the golf course beneath.
Kevin Hoyt is a sit skier who has been fueling his passion for Nordic skiing at White Pine for more than five years. He and his wife, Geneawe, came to the center on Monday checking out some new skis.
“I love the Nordic community. I alpine ski as well, but skiing at White Pine, it’s very different in culture and Nordic is very much an inviting, welcoming community,” said Kevin. “White Pine has really the best trails around, and the fact that it’s been such a challenging winter, they are holding up beautifully. There aren’t any other places that can compete and are convenient to get to.”
“We come out and practice every chance we get,” said Geneawe. “Kevin’s really the skier here. I’m just the loving wife who shadows him. It’s a new learning experience for me, but he really just loves it here.”
“Part of it is, we work really hard, and I’ve got a talented group of groomers, an enthusiastic group of shovelers and community volunteers that come out and help shovel snow onto the track when the weather gets tough,” said Hodges. “It’s about patience. You wait until there’s enough snow and then you go create a zen garden snow carpet of magic.”
For Hodges and his team, White Pine Touring is not just about skiing — it’s about creating a space for community, adventure and play. Despite financial challenges and sometimes herculean effort behind the scenes, the center remains committed to its mission: Getting people outside, making them smile, and continuing a legacy of outdoor recreation in Park City.
“I don’t really care where people come from. I care that they’re here, and I care that they want to go out and play, and I love that because people don’t play enough,” said Hodges.
