3.5 Million Feet and Just One Blister

You've probably heard the term "earn your turns" whereby crazy humans actually skip the chairlift and hike up the mountain with skins on their skis to then turn around at the top and ski back down in a fraction of the time. We've done this just a couple times and it only bolstered our love for high-speed chairs and comfy gondolas where we can pretend we're still in the office by never missing an e-mail. There's a very special crazy human named Noah Dines who took this concept to the unimaginable: Over the course of an entire year, Noah shuffled up-hill and skied back down for a total of 3,590,097 vertical fee (over 6,000 miles), shattering the previous record of 2.5 million vertical feet set by another, somewhat less-crazy human, Aaron Rice. That's the equivalent of climbing Mount Everest 120 times.

Noah started his world record quest at Stowe Mountain Resort on January 1, 2024 at 12:00 AM while most folks were popping champaign for the New Year. Alone and with a headlamp to shine the way, Noah climbed quietly into the darkness to the top of Mount Mansfield, skied back down and repeated several times. He went on to average 9,800 vertical feet per day for the following 364. It was also at Stowe Mountain resort at the end of the year on December 1st that Noah had his biggest vertical - an astounding 17,336 feet. His other daily averages included 6 hours of hike-skiing, 15.6 miles and nearly 2 bags of candy. Fortunately, he didn't have to survive on candy alone, often finding food left in his unlocked truck by the legions of followers of his cult-like status.

In between the Stowe segments, Noah travelled the US, Europe and Chile, chasing snow where conditions allowed for every part of the year, only missing days along the way for travel between locations. This allowed Noah to top the existing 2.5 million feet record on September 2nd, giving him ample time to stack more gravy on that trophy - he was determined to go big with the win. His only difficult location was France. Go figure, we love the French - they gave us Après-ski after all, perhaps the greatest invention in skiing - but hey, they can be difficult, and that's where Noah found his only real adversity. His backpack was stolen, losing his credit card, drivers license and the climbing skins so critical to his uphill hiking. In addition to that frustrating logistical setback, Noah had debilitating insomnia for several days and suffered his only injury of the year-long ski trip: a blister. His only one. That in itself should be a world record. We get blisters just thinking about skinning uphill. Just as astonishing, Noah suffered no major equipment failures aside from the occasional worn out skins and boots.

For his efforts, Noah was recently awarded the First Tracks Award at the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum (https://www.vtssm.org/Vermont), an incredible institution for Vermont's iconic skiing history located in the heart of Noah's hometown of Stowe, and where this author proudly serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors. Noah shared an amazing film that chronicles his trailblazing journey and spoke to the packed room about the trials, tribulations and triumphs of his odyssey on snow. While Get On Snow does not have any award categories, we'll have to come up with something for Noah, like The Get On Snow Baddest Ass On Snow Award. Noah Dines didn’t just break a record - he redefined what’s possible in human‑powered skiing, sustaining daily high‑volume ascents and descents for an entire year. Bravo Noah, but as much as we want to ski with you amidst your greatness, can we ride the gondola with you instead?