Court Richards, Alpenbock Club Member, Obituary

COURT RICHARDS

AUGUST 21, 1944 – FEBRUARY 9, 2025

R. Courtney (“Court”) Richards didn’t care for the word “passed” but liked to joke about his “sell-by date,” which came on the 9th of February 2025, after a five-year adventure with liver cancer. He was 80 years old.

Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, he learned to ski and climb, imbuing him with an enduring love for the outdoors. During his early climbing days with The Alpenbock Climbing Club, he helped establish new routes in the Wasatch, Wind River, and Teton ranges while simultaneously developing a taste for dark beers and irreverent humor.  

From 1967 to 2002, he worked on the Alta Ski Patrol, after which he joined the Red Lodge Ski Patrol, where he worked until 2019. The patrol was his tribe, and the top shacks were his refuge from the politically correct world in which he had no interest or part. In Salt Lake City, Court taught gifted and talented students and was known for the impossible task of making learning math fun. Beyond the numbers he loved, he was a teacher of humility, wonder, gentleness, humor, and grace. 

Court loved to travel, lived abroad in Nigeria and Switzerland, often cried at the sight of untouched wilderness, the sound of classical music, and playful dogs, and was known to occasionally steal beer glasses that he liked. One of his greatest loves was bastardizing the English language and reciting limericks that could make hardened criminals blush. 

Court is survived by his wife, Kit, to whom he was married for 53 years of relentless, playful love. He was passionately proud of his two sons, David and Cory, and David’s wife Natalie. His most enduring legacy is the two words he said to everyone and is perhaps the most meaningful lesson he ever taught: Go Gently. 

Gifts in Court’s memory can be made to the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance and the Red Lodge Ski Patrol.