Daily Jewish prayer service held mid-mountain at Canyons Village

A Jewish prayer service occurs daily near Red Pine Lodge at Park City Mountain Resort. Photo: Courtesy of Jeff Steir

PARK CITY, Utah — Just outside the Red Pine Lodge at Canyons Village, skiers pause each afternoon for something rarely seen on a ski slope: a brief Jewish prayer service held mid-mountain.

Coordinated by the Park City Jewish Collective, the six-minute gathering takes place daily Sunday through Thursday. Organizers believe this service makes Park City Mountain Resort the only ski resort in North America to host daily Jewish prayer services at a mid-mountain location.

The service began this winter after part-time Park City resident Jeff Stier lost his father, who died in November at age 83. In Jewish tradition, mourners recite the Kaddish prayer for 11 months following the death of a parent — a commitment Stier says has become both a personal healing experience and an unexpected way to build community.

“It is beautiful to see locals and visitors from a wide range of Jewish backgrounds come together in prayer on the mountain,” said Rabbi Meir Jacobs. “This started as a way to get a minyan, a quorum, so Jeff could say Kaddish, a prayer for mourners — making it a very meaningful way for the community to come together to honor his father’s memory.”

The prayer must be recited in the presence of a minyan, a quorum of at least 10 adult Jewish men. While that requirement is easily met in large Jewish communities, Stier said it can be challenging in a smaller town like Park City, especially on a daily basis.

With help from Rabbi Jacobs, Stier began organizing the brief service on the mountain, choosing Red Pine Lodge as a central and visible gathering place.
When Stier spoke with the lodge manager about the idea, he was encouraged by the manager’s response. “He thought it was wonderful, and he was so accommodating to us,” said Stier. “Now, when the manager sees me, he’ll check in — ‘Is everything going okay? Do you have what you need?’”

The brief service is held outdoors near the Sunrise Gondola.

“We start by gathering for the prayer,” he said. “And then after the prayer, we go skiing together and connect with each other.”

While the prayer fulfills Stier’s personal obligation to honor his father, it has quickly grown into something larger. Stier said the daily gathering has helped build community in an unexpected way, including for visitors who are in town briefly but want to connect with others.

“It makes this a more appealing destination to know that there’s a community,” he said.

After the service, many participants ski together, ride lifts together, and connect — sometimes discovering shared hometowns, relatives, or friends through what Stier jokingly calls “Jewish geography.”

Stier’s father, who lived in New Jersey and was deeply involved in his local Jewish community, never skied in Park City. But Stier says honoring him here feels fitting.

Although the daily prayers will move back east with Stier when ski season ends, he hopes the idea continues next season for afternoon prayer services. “It’s just something that people are appreciating that we’re doing,” he said.

For now, the sight of skiers stopping to pray mid-run has become a small but meaningful reminder of faith and remembrance for the Jewish community.