It's a ski town. Face the fact that while Alta boasts some of the best powder in the nation, it's not exactly the type of place to spawn nationally acclaimed financial advisers. Not usually, anyway.

But, though they've long since moved from the cramped office in the ski lodge's basement to their Sugar House office, John Bird and Toby Levitt, co-founders of Albion Financial Group, still call Alta home.

"There is a place in my heart from there," Bird said. "We took our name from there. The culture of our company has a lot to do with our roots being from that mountain town and the people of that mountain town."

Since their first days, handing out advice while dressed in shorts and flip-flops up the canyon, Bird has been named one of the nation's top 100 financial advisers by Worth magazine for the past three consecutive years. And Bird and Levitt's wealth-management firm has received awards from some of the nation's top financial publications.

Albion, which began with one client and $250,000, has grown significantly over the past 23 years to accommodate 200 clients and roughly $420 million.

"Pretty good for a couple of guys hanging out in a ski lodge," said Bird, who still regularly dresses down in a polo shirt.

He said sometimes he still cracks up thinking about the firm's infancy and how things have evolved since then.

But, despite the firm's casual atmosphere, Bird stressed that its progress hasn't been a cake walk for its founders. Success has grown slowly as he and Levitt have put their clients' interests first. It has required hard work and perseverance.

"It comes back to having a passion for what they do and having integrity," said Debbie Knotts, vice president and a financial adviser who has worked at Albion for 18 years. "That's built their business and put them where they are."

Though both Bird and Levitt are avid skiers, the partners only became friends at Alta after discovering they both shared a zeal for investments and financial matters. Bird had come to Alta, fresh out of college to ski and climb while he searched for something he could feel passionate spending his life doing.

"I grew up in the home of a Boston banker and I knew the idea of putting on a suit and taking a train into the city was not for me," Bird said.

But though he could ski powder all day, he said he soon became bored not having anything to engage his mind.

At that time, Levitt, who was in his late 20s, managed the finances for his father's ski lodge. He'd spent his growing-up years bouncing back and forth between New York and Alta, reading the Wall Street Journal while other kids were playing football, he said.

And though he'd dropped out of college earlier, business and finance weren't a new scene for him. He'd been fascinated by both since he was a boy. He'd started a business of his own in high school and had been investing money for his family and friends as a hobby for years.