I hope you all had a great “Pie-n-Beer” day, or Pioneer Day as it’s known in the rest of Utah. The holiday, which is completely ignored in Park City, commemorates the arrival of Brigham Young and the first party of Mormon pioneers in the part of Mexico known as the Salt Lake Valley. 

Yes, it was part of Mexico, which was the plan all along. They had been “encouraged” to leave the United States at the point of guns, and decided to go to Mexico, where they thought they would be left alone. Simultaneously, the Mexican War was going on, and petty quickly upended that plan. 

The local festivities were last Saturday, when Deer Valley hosted an event to watch the lift towers get flown into position on the new gondola running from Keetley to Park Peak, and one other lift. 

It was a perfect event. Fun exposure for the expansion, and just a good time. Thanks to Todd Bennett and the Deer Valley team for putting it on. I went up with a group of friends, thinking that a half hour would be plenty. 

We watched, and had all kind of agreed to hit the trail, then another tower came over the horizon, dangling from the bottom of a Chinook helicopter. 

“One more pole,” we all agreed, over and over again, and finally spent nearly three hours watching it. The only reason we left was there wasn’t a place to pee at the viewing area.

The process is completely insane, and whoever first proposed it was probably fired.  They pick up the lift towers, which are huge and heavy, with a helicopter. Then, with it dangling from a cable and blowing around in the wind, they fly up the mountain. The helicopter hoovers over the tower foundation, which was already in place, and lowers the swinging tower on to the bolts sticking up from the concrete. 

If you’ve ever tried to wrestle a tire on to the lug nuts sticking out of the wheel of a car, you get the idea of what’s involved. Imagine doing it with the precise fittings blowing in the wind and a wrong move will kill you.

Oh, and the prop wash from the helicopter churns up a violent dust storm while the people on the ground are trying to get the bolts lined up with the holes and the nuts screwed on. They might as well be in a tornado. I don’t know how anybody sees what they are doing. As far as I know, no fingers were lost in the process, which seems miraculous. 

With the tower kind of bolted in place, they climb up the tower to receive the cross arm. On the gondola, the cross arms and crow’s nest things on top of the towers are huge. 

Unlike being on the ground, with the option of jumping out of the way if things go wrong, the people clinging to the tower ladder have no place to go. There’s less dust, but no room for error when the helicopter drops a studio apartment on top of the tower. 

While they are bolting the cross arm assembly into place, the shive trains — the row of pulleys the cable rides on — come up and get bolted into place by a guy hanging over the edge of the cross arm assembly. The whole thing moves with precision at a very rapid pace.         

There was no formal presentation or explanation. Deer Valley and Alterra had several employees in the crowd to answer questions. They mingled with the watchers and answered questions, sharing in the amazement. 

I wondered what it all cost, and the answer was that nobody has the tariffs figured out. What’s 30% among friends? There was no turning back — the gondola cabins need to get shipped or the rest of the investment is useless.

The crowd was largely locals curious to see it all happen. There were some celebrities there, too. I got a chance to talk with “Maine’s Finest Athlete,” also known as Donny Pelletier, who does satirical YouTube bits about the ski industry and other outdoor sports in his trademark red buffalo plaid flannel shirt with orange suspenders. His pieces are silly and playful. 

I recognized him immediately. I’m not sure anybody else did. It didn’t look like a YouTube crowd. I got the impression Deer Valley had invited him, probably paid his way, to get some internet buzz about the expansion that wasn’t your typical corporate press release. Of course I got the selfie with him and am looking forward to seeing what he produces. 

We ended up with a late lunch on the lawn at Silver Lake. I got back into Kamas in time for the wind up of the classic car show in the park. I couldn’t find any place to buy a ticket to the lawn mower racing event that evening, but by all accounts, it was as exciting as motor sports get.

It was a perfect day. Good friends, interesting stuff to watch, and a sense of playfulness about it all — lawnmower racing! — that has kind of gone missing lately. We need more of that.  

Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column since 1986.