Meet the Skier Taking on 3 Million Vertical Feet - No Chairlifts Allowed

Join Noah Dines on his record attempt to ski 3 million vertical feet in 2024 – no chairlifts, just grit, joy and a relentless pursuit of adventure.

It’s 9 am in Chile when I catch up with Noah Dines over a video call. He’s casually perched at the base of El Colorado ski resort, looking relaxed and satisfied after knocking out a ski run earlier that morning. Noah only touched down in Chile three days ago, but he’s already settling into what will be his basecamp for the next three and a half months. Why Chile? Because since January 1, Noah has been on a wild mission: to ski 3 million vertical feet / 914,400 meters this year – all under his own steam. That’s right, no chairlifts allowed.

If Noah pulls off this audacious goal by the stroke of midnight on December 31, he’ll beat a record that’s been held since 2016 by Aaron Rice, who logged 2.5 million vertical feet / 762,000 m. To beat it, Noah needs to climb an average of 9,090 vertical feet / 2,770 meters every single day across the 330 days he’s slated for skiing this year. That leaves him just 35 days for rest and travel. As of now, he’s skiing a solid 10,000 vertical feet / 3,048 meters a day and hit the 2.3-million-foot / 701,040-meter milestone in mid-August. That’s the equivalent of climbing the Empire State Building 1,586 times. “I’ve been ahead of my goal since January 1st,” Noah beams.

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With more than two-thirds of the challenge behind him, Noah’s on track to make history – assuming everything keeps clicking. His excitement is palpable as he talks about the journey ahead, glancing around the snowy Andes where he’ll carve out his next tens of thousands of vertical feet. After Chile, he’s off to the western U.S. states, then it’s onward to Stowe, Vermont for his final laps. “My dad’s promised he’ll join me for a lap this year, even though he’s never skinned in his life,” the bubbly 30-year-old chuckles, grinning through his dusty blonde beard. The grand finale – and the much-anticipated celebration with friends and family – is set for Stowe, where Noah now calls home.

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“I only seriously started skiing after I moved to Stowe in 2019,” Noah confides. “I’ve been skiing a ton ever since.” The pandemic turned Stowe’s snowy peaks into his personal playground. He became such a fixture on the slopes that locals suggested he try to break Aaron’s record. At first, Noah laughed off the idea, but the seed had been planted. After some soul-searching, he made up his mind, and by February 2023, he was all in. Who better to turn to than the record-holder himself? “Aaron was the first person I went to after I made my decision. I asked him what he thought, and he said he’d be my biggest fan and supporter,” he recalls with a grin.

For most of us, just thinking about skiing 3 million vertical feet is enough to make our legs ache and our feet turn to blocks of ice. But for Noah, the sheer volume of skiing isn’t the hardest part. “The amount I have to do - or get to do - is very doable within the time I’ve set,” he explains. “Where I feel more pressure is making sure I have enough time to recover. I know I can ski 10,000 feet in a day. Sure, it might take forever on a tough day, but I know I can do it. The downside is that more time spent being slow on the slopes means less time for a full recovery.”

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Beyond the need for recovery, like any endurance athlete, Noah knows sacrifices must be made. “It’s an absolutely awesome way to live a year, but it’s a terrible way to live your life,” he admits. “It’s all you do. You miss weddings, you don’t spend time with family, you go out to eat but have to get home early enough to rest. It’s an awesome opportunity to push myself and do something hard that I’ve never done before, but there are also a lot of other things to do in life.”

In attempting something completely new, Noah is not only pushing his physical limits but also learning to master his mind. “A lot of it is me adjusting goals and making strategic decisions,” he says. “There was a day in France when it was pouring rain, and I knew the only way I could advance my goal was to stop for the day. It would have made the following day harder if I’d kept skiing that day.”

Noah has also developed a few mental tricks to keep himself going. “I also rank things in terms of hard things I’ve already done. I remind myself that other things are harder – like the time I ran rim to rim in the Grand Canyon in the summertime – this moment isn’t harder than that one. So I keep going and realize it’s not that hard today.”

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And when the going gets really tough, he’s not above playing a mental game with himself. “I tell myself to just go out and complete 5,000 feet /1,524 m. But once I’m out and have my boots and skis on and have already done 5,000 feet, what’s another 5,000? Allowing myself the possibility to quit takes a little weight off my shoulders and makes it easier to get out the door on those tough, ugly days.”

Even though it may sound easier to focus on the hardships, Noah’s positive attitude shines through, not allowing the tough times to dominate his thoughts or his experience. “I also focus on the joy of that moment. Rain brings rainbows and slush, which is fun to ski in.”

It’s precisely those tough moments that make the sweet ones sweeter, which Noah relishes sharing with fellow ski lovers: “One of the coolest moments was skiing with Steven Nyman. He’s a retired downhill skier and we had a blast skiing in Alta, Utah,” he reminisces, beaming. “Another awesome moment was when I skied off the summit of Mount Hood in Oregon with an all-star crew including Jeremy Jones and a lot of the Teton Gravity Research crew. We had an awesome time skiing off the summit of the volcano in the late afternoon.”

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As for what Noah hopes people take away from his story: “Anyone who likes sports can do something big – they don’t have to be a pro or have to have played in a varsity sport in college or be a division one athlete – it doesn’t mean you can’t do something really hard like this.”

Through the literal and metaphorical ups and downs of his record attempt, Noah hasn’t lost sight of what truly matters to him. “Just because something is hard doesn’t mean you need to suffer all the time. I’m having way more fun than I imagined. Skiing is fun and it should be fun. Sure, it’s hard sometimes, but it’s generally more fun than not.”

“Ultimately, I believe it’s great to go out into the world and be kind and meet new people. It’s a beautiful world and it would be a shame not to spend time in it.”