About Us

As the voice of Utah’s ski industry, Ski Utah is a 501(c)6 non-profit marketing and membership association representing Utah's ski and snowboard industry. The organization's primary activities revolve around marketing and promoting Utah's 15 ski and snowboard resorts and The Greatest Snow on Earth®. Ski Utah is comprised of four primary pillars: marketing, membership, community programs and government relations.

Marketing
Ski Utah works with its 15 resort partners to promote Utah as a ski destination. This includes online, television, out-of-home and traditional advertisements, as well as public relations and social media content creation. In addition, Ski Utah maintains an informative and interactive website to inspire users to ski in Utah. The website contains educational content about trip planning, ancillary activities, as well as one of the best snow reports in the business. It also houses member listings and serves as a vehicle for content distribution. Ski Utah can be found @SkiUtah on all social media platforms, which contain inspiring photo and video content and unique stories about resorts and members.

Membership
Ski Utah has over 250 non-resort members and facilitates various networking opportunities, events and speaker series for members to connect with one another throughout the year. Benefits to membership include: exclusive advertising opportunities, access to market research, industry networking and occasional chairlift meetings.

Community Engagement Programs
Strengthening the culture of skiing in the local community, Ski Utah is committed to fostering a love of skiing and snowboarding throughout the state. The Ski Utah Passport provides heavily discounted access to skiing and snowboarding for fourth, fifth and sixth graders along with its adult companion pass, the Yeti Pass. Ski Utah also operates an educational in-school program for fourth graders that culminates in a skiing field trip. In addition, Ski Utah runs a program aimed at building a community of ethnically diverse individuals on the slopes called Discover Winter. Ski Utah also runs The Interconnect Tour, which gives an advanced to expert skier the opportunity to ski up to six resorts in one day through backcountry terrain.

Government Relations
Ski Utah advocates on behalf of the ski industry and its membership to create and support policies and legislation that benefit the ski industry, Utah tourism and local residents.

Meet The Team

Nathan Rafferty
PRESIDENT | CEO
HOME STATE: UT
YEAR STARTED: 1994
More about Nathan

Raelene Davis
VP MARKETING & OPERATIONS
HOME STATE: UT
YEAR STARTED: 1985
More About Raelene

Alison Palmintere
DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS
HOME STATE: CA
YEAR STARTED: 2021
More About Alison

Hailey Klotz
CONTENT DIRECTOR
HOME STATE: ID
YEAR STARTED: 2013
More About Hailey

Keane Horner
PARTNERSHIPS MANAGER
HOME STATE: KS
YEAR STARTED: 2018
More About Keane

Connor Shanklin
SALES & MEMBERSHIP MANAGER
HOME STATE: TX
YEAR STARTED: 2022
More About Connor

Chris Pearson
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
HOME STATE: NY
YEAR STARTED: 2001
More About Chris

Martha Howe
CONTENT & SUSTAINABILITY MANAGER
HOME STATE: NH
YEAR STARTED: 2021
More About Martha

Ski Utah Yeti
TEAM MASCOT
VP MARKETING & OPERATIONS
HOME STATE: NEPAL
YEAR STARTED: 2007
More About The Yeti

Luke Ratto
DIGTIAL HORSEMAN | INTERCONNECT TOUR DIRECTOR
HOME STATE: CA
YEAR STARTED: 2006
More About Luke

General Questions

How is Ski Utah funded?

Ski Utah is privately funded through a combination of pass product sales, resort and membership dues, sponsorships, online advertising and sponsored content sales. Ski Utah applies for various grant and co-operative funding opportunities through the Utah Office of Tourism and other public and private entities.

Is Ski Utah a non-profit?

Ski Utah is a 501(c)6 trade organization. 501(c)(6)-l defines a business league as an association of persons having a common business interest, whose purpose is to promote the common business interest and not to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for profit. (Source: IRS.gov). In other words, A 501(c)(6) is a type of non-profit organization that is created to support the interests of businesses in a specific industry or profession. Instead of making a profit, we focus on helping our members succeed.

Who does Ski Utah report to?

Ski Utah is largely funded and governed by Utah’s 15 ski areas and reports to a 21-member elected board of directors that is made up of various tourism industry leaders (lodging, transportation, retail, etc.).

How many people work for Ski Utah?

Ski Utah currently employs 10 full time staff members and contracts with a small group of seasonal guides, athletes and content creators.

What does the sign on the Ski Utah office changing colors mean?

We're so glad you asked! Ski Utah's sign changes colors based on weather events. See here for more information.

Is Ski Utah affiliated with any of the multi-resort passes (Epic Pass, Ikon Pass, Indy Pass, Mountain Collective, etc.)

Ski Utah is only affiliated with its own multi-resort passes: the Ski Utah Gold Pass, the Yeti Pass and the Ski Utah Passport.

What does Ski Utah do for you as a Utah Resident?

Utah’s ski industry contributed $2.7 billion in nonresident visitor spending during the 2023–24 ski season, generating $197.9 million in state and local tax revenue. The industry directly supported 25,980 statewide jobs. Our robust visitor economy provides and sustains many of the amenities we love as locals in Utah.

Who are our sponsors and what does it mean to be a sponsor of Ski Utah?

Being a corporate sponsor of Ski Utah is the highest level of support and involvement that a company can have with Ski Utah, showing the highest level of support for our mission.