Keree Smith started her Utah life as a ski bum working as a hostess and dishwasher at Snowbird’s Steak Pit. Now, she returns to the state each year to deliver wild-caught Alaskan Sockeye Salmon to the community she came to love, through her business, Salty Debby’s. I’ve been a customer for years now and always look forward to the fish delivery each fall. Although I was born and raised in the Wasatch, and I’m sure Keree and I nearly crossed paths many times over the years, it wasn’t until a trip to Ísafjörður, Iceland that we first met. At a small coffee shop in the quaint coastal town, Keree sat leaning over her laptop, wearing tattered ski pants featuring a smattering of duct tape patches. I was in Iceland for a backcountry ski trip and we struck up conversation, discussing where we’d found the best snow and eventually discovering we had several mutual friends back in the states.
In the coming weeks we would ski together multiple times, the first of which Keree used her entire body weight to wrestle her skins apart, describing how she had sprinkled them with black pepper and then stuck them in the freezer to mollify their extra-tacky glue. At the top of the run, Keree dropped into huge, sweeping GS turns above the turquoise blue fjord, whooshing through corn before executing short, concise hop turns through a rocky choke. Another day, she huffed her ski-flying wing to the summit and sailed into the air, meeting us back down near the lapping waves of the North Atlantic. I had a feeling that now that our paths had crossed, our lives would continue twining together.
Keree grew up in a log cabin that her parents built in the small community of Government Camp on Mount Hood, Oregon. The town is home to less than 200 people, and with avid skiers as parents (her dad a patroller and her mom a ski instructor), Keree was on skis as soon as she could walk. After ski racing through high school, Keree decided to forgo college in favor of ski bumming for a few years in Salt Lake City. “Everybody thought I was really good because I straightlined everything, but really, I couldn’t turn because my skis were too long,” she laughs. Her Utah friends soon inspired her to connect with a guide company in Iceland looking for assistants. From there, she went on to travel the globe with her skis, guiding and skiing in exotic places like Iceland, Svalbard (think polar bears!), Japan, Nepal, and Europe. Eventually, she landed in Alaska.
Originally, a friend suggested she try commercial fishing in the wild waters of the 49th state. Keree had zero ocean experience, but learned quickly, and soon decided she wanted to run her own fishing boat one day. “I got to see the whole state from the water,” she recalls from that first summer. Keree knew she wanted Alaska’s oceans and mountains to be part of her future. “I loved how wild and remote and lawless the whole place was,” she says. She took her entire summer earnings and invested in a piece of property outside of Valdez.
For the next few years, Keree chipped away at her goals, saving money from winter guiding and summer fishing, building a log cabin on her land, using the same bark stripper her parents had on theirs. After crewing on other boats for 5 years, she purchased a permit and boat, the FV Deborah, and became a skipper in Bristol Bay, home to the world’s largest wild sockeye salmon run. Think the Serengeti, but instead, the Great Migration for fish. Every summer, these fish migrate from the ocean back to the rivers and lakes where they were born to lay eggs in a life cycle unique to wild salmon.
“It’s hard to explain the beauty and awe that comes from watching tens of thousands, even millions, of salmon push in at the top of the high tide,” she says. Originally, the strenuous summer work of commercial fishing allowed her freedom in the winters. Now, the two have melded into a cohesive unity. Out on the water, life swings with the rise and fall of the tides and the surges of salmon. “It’s a special experience to touch the tune of a different rhythm, one where the clock merely functions as time keeper to the true cycle of life. I know we’re in peak fishing when I can’t remember if I need to set my alarm for AM or PM! Instead, it’s like the entire fishery enters a flow state where it becomes impossible to determine morning from evening, sunrise from sunset.”
For 6 weeks in June and July, Keree and her crew live by the wane and wail of the winds and the sighs of the sea. Daily life aboard the boat is a dance between exhaustion and exhilaration. They’re out there rain or shine, sometimes getting doused by overhead waves, sometimes enjoying mirror-calm seas. In a day, the 200 fathom (1200 ft) long net can run off and on the hydraulic reel anywhere from 8 to 70 times, bringing in anywhere from a few fish to upwards of 12,000 pounds of wild salmon in a single haul.
These salmon are harvested with care, hand bled, refrigerated and processed in a commercial facility where they are pin-boned, flash frozen (sushi grade!) and vacuum sealed. “I am proud to call myself a first generation fisherm*n, and to be a part of the world’s largest, most pristine and most carefully managed Wild Sockeye Salmon run,” Keree declares. In Bristol Bay, fisheries biologists count the number of salmon moving upstream to protected spawning beds and closely monitor the amount of salmon being harvested to ensure sustainable fishing practices. Every summer, when she’s up on the fly bridge and running on just a few hours of sleep, it seems like it will never end. “But when I’m back on land, I truly miss it. I’m so grateful for all the friends I get to work with in such a magical place,” she adds.
Every fall, Keree brings the highest quality fillets and portions from the fishing co-op to her communities in the lower 48. Purchasing a box of premium sockeye from small-scale operations like Salty Debby’s directly supports the livelihood of each and every fisherman. Keree found her own migration: summers are spent on the water captaining her fishing boat and winters are spent in the mountains, guiding for a Heli-ski company in Valdez. “I find a lot of satisfaction in working with something that’s bigger than me,” she says. “Figuring out the elements; water, air, and wind, with the mountains and changing conditions.”
“After living a nomadic lifestyle out of a backpack for most of my adult life, I feel like my community isn’t just in one place, but in many. For me, Salty Debby’s is more than just a business, it’s a vehicle to keep in touch with friends and family.” Keree says. “Delivering my harvest allows me to share and educate others on the best, most sustainable seafood in the world. It’s so important to me as I build Salty Debby’s from the ground up that I keep true to my values of collaborating with and uplifting other small local businesses, artists and individuals. Rather than pursuing growth solely for capital gains, Salty Debby’s will continue to operate with generosity, to share and to give back to the communities that shaped me.”
Keree and Salty Debby’s will be stopping in Salt Lake City on November 5th 2026. Find her at The Neighborhood Hive from 5pm to 7pm. Help Keree with logistics by pre-ordering online at: www.saltydebby.com to guarantee availability.
Feature Image by Florence Gross.
