At the risk of being presumptuous, Noah Dines’ 2024 resolution is probably harder than yours. The outdoor athlete set himself a lofty goal for this year: breaking the world record for vertical feet skied in 12 months. While the previous world record-holder for uphill skiing managed 2.5 million feet in a year, Dines aims for 3 million.
And after just a few weeks, he’s already broken the monthly record.
Dines climbed 378,024 vertical feet in January, breaking the previous record from Greg Hill, who managed 328,614 feet. In practical terms, this means Dines is spending many hours a day slogging up snow slopes on skins, as only vertical feet count for the record — not any of the time spent skiing downhill.
For someone who just uphill skied the equivalent of 13 Mount Everests, Dines sounds stoked to carry on toward the world record for uphill skiing.
“January was a pretty wild month of skiing for me,” Dines said in a press release. “I knew I was going to ski a lot, but had no idea I was capable of this much. It really is all-encompassing. I ski, I eat and I rest. That’s it. Physically, I feel great and I still go to sleep excited to ski!”
Noah Dines: Climbing to a World Record
A native of Stowe, Vt., Dines will need to continue skiing uphill 7,000 to 9,000 feet in elevation every single day for the rest of the year to meet his goal of 3 million in total. So far, Dines has been spending all his ski time in North America. But to find powder throughout the year, he’ll need a change of venue.
Dines will soon continue his yearlong marathon by skiing in Utah and the Pacific Northwest. Eventually, he’ll travel to Europe or South America. There he’ll tackle some other mountain ranges and keep trudging forward on his snowy path.
“I’ve never skied outside North America so settling [into] a new scene will be a challenge that I can’t wait to tackle,” he said. “I think once I get my feet under me I will be able to ski a ton of vert in gorgeous places and get on some exciting terrain as well!”
With a sponsorship from Fischer Skis, Dines is primarily using Transalp 86 CTI Pro skis and Travers CS boots, according to a company spokesperson. He also splits time between the One Way Carbon Vario and TR Carbon Race poles.
Dines tracks his daily activity by recording it on Strava through a smartwatch. He’s already reached out to former record holder Aaron Rice (about 2.5 million vertical feet in 2016) and the original record holder, Greg Hill (2 million feet in 2010), The Bedford Citizen reported. Mostly, Dines follows the rules of Fastest Known Time, the go-to online database for running and hiking records.
After logging 1 million vertical feet last year in several sports, including skiing, biking, and running, Dines decided he was ready to take on this larger challenge.
If you’re interested in helping Dines reach his goal, he’s set up a GoFundMe page to take donations. After all, he’ll have to ski the equivalent of 987 more Mount Everests to reach his goal. He’s going to need all the help he can get.
