Vermont skier shatters world record: 2.5 million vertical feet and climbing

Noah Dines stands atop Mount Mansfield, his home mountain. Dines broke the world record for human powered vertical feet skied in a year on September 2, 2024. Photo: Carter Clark

Noah Dines is making a name for himself in the ski world attempting to ski 3 million vertical feet in a year. He logged a few thousand feet in Utah this spring

PARK CITY, Utah – Two and a half million vertical feet ago, Noah Dines was a relative unknown in the world of skiing. But on September second the 30 year old from Stowe made his mark among mountain lovers by breaking a world record for most human-powered vertical feet skied in one year at El Colorado—a Chilean ski resort—surpassing the previous record-holder and fellow Vermonter, Aaron Rice.

That record, to be precise was set at 2,506,500 – lest we lose track of 6,500 vertical feet, which equals slightly less than an average day of vertical gain for Dines.

He’s earned every foot with his skis and skins by climbing uphill and, to date, he’s climbed the equivalent vertical feet of Mt. Everest over 80 times. For Park City locals, that’s the equivalent of skinning Homerun at Park City Resort about 2,089 times.

While the record marks a crazy milestone, Dines is not done yet. His goal at the outset was to reach 3,000,000 vertical feet in a calendar year and the wild-haired skier is well on his way. A text from Dines on Wednesday read “Hey! Body feels great! No aches or pain to report.”

Of course, there are other things besides a physical battering that could come in the way of Dines reaching his lofty goal. Back near the end of July, for example, Dines was stuck at the Portland airport for days following the cyber attack that affected air travel worldwide – suffice it to say he was stressed about losing what he estimated to be about 60,000 vertical feet.

“It sucks. I’d rather lose it because I needed a break, or because the weather was bad, or because, any of those things,” Dines said as he waited for news that his flight would actually depart the US headed to Chile.

So far, Dines has followed snow around the globe from Stowe to Colorado, Austria, Utah, Oregon and South America. As winter winds down in the southern hemisphere he plans to log the rest of his runs back home in Stowe where he wants to celebrate with friends and family by his side, making his final run of the year at Stowe on Dec. 31. Though he says he will try to reach the three million milestone as soon as possible, Dines admits doing it in Stowe would hold great meaning.

Back at the end of May, Dines spent a little over two weeks logging vert at Alta (by contrast, Rice skied most of his vertical feet in Utah) and it was at this point in the trip where people were beginning to catch on to what the relative newcomer was up to. People had started to follow him on Strava, where he is keeping tally, a few news outlets has written stories and his Instagram following steadily rose – though surprisingly he still only had about eight thousand followers.

“There was nowhere where I was more recognized than the Gold Miners Daughter parking lot at Alta,” Dines said. “It got to the point where people would just start talking to me about what I was doing without even asking. People were just like, ‘oh, you’re him doing that.'”

And it was in Little Cottonwood where he said he had a lot of company on laps up to the top of Collins – friends, Dines said and friends of friend’s sisters even.

In addition to that it’s where he said the phenomenon of “truck treats” really took hold. After the Stowe Reporter published a story about Dines, his friends, supporters and even strangers started leaving him treats like homemade snacks and meals – even fresh eggs on in his truck, a 2003 Toyota Tacoma that also serves as his home on the road. Even now in Chile where he has spent the last 7 weeks people hand him food out on the hill.

One of the local legends that joined Dines for a lap of uphill at Alta was fellow Fischer athlete and former U.S. Ski Team downhiller Steven Nyman. Though Nyman at 6’4″, 220 is better known for his downhill speed and prowess on legendary tracks like Bormio and Val Gardena, classic stops on the Alpine World Cup circuit, Nyman held his own with Dines.

“He seemed really excited to ski with me. But little did he know I was super excited to ski with him,” Nyman said in a recent interview.

Nyman described Dines as a minimalist and a Vermonter to the bone. Although Dines was living in his truck at the time, after meeting him, Nyman invited Dines to live with him at his home in Park City while he was here in Utah.

“He eats simple – lots of sugar and carbs, executes his mission and sleeps hard,” Nyman said.

Nyman first got to know Dines last fall on a Fischer athlete team call. A few months prior to the call Dines became a sponsored Fischer athlete after connecting though a friend of a friend at a Noah Kahan concert back east.

“We went around the call and everyone stated their goals for the season. It was Noah’s turn and he casually says ‘Oh, want to break the vert record in one year.’ It caught my ear so I started following him,” Nyman said.

Before the two met up at Alta, Nyman offered some beta on places where Dines might ski in Europe and he also helped him make a few connections in Chile.

“He’s not afraid to be himself and talk with others. He enjoys peoples company and if anyone wants to ski with him he will accept it. I think he can generate bigger support if he tries, but he is simply enjoying his efforts and I enjoy the rawness of them. It’s pure, simple, true to him and he is truly happy doing it,” Nyman said.

How it all began

Dines started skiing uphill, in earnest, he would say, during the pandemic. Though he officially began after college with a $100 telemark setup at the Camden Snowbowl in Maine, the days of lockdown and social distancing gave Dines more time to skin up Mount Mansfield.

“Instead of doing one lap, I was like, well, I have time. I can do three or four. Oh and I guess I’ll do that again tomorrow. I feel great. Why not?”

Then suffice it to say, Dines had the bug. With no varsity athletics in his background in high school or college he is a self-proclaimed “late bloomer.” He kept climbing and climbing and over the next few year events in his life led him to what felt like a natural and gripping idea to go for Rice’s record. It came to him on the drive back to Stowe from Burlington after a bad date.

“It was one of those…when you have the idea and it sits on your shoulders, it doesn’t just go away. I knew that night it was happening,” Dines said.

That was February of 2023. Once the decision was made, Dines said things started to fall into place as he started planning aiming to start on January 1, 2024.

“I’m having way more fun than I thought I would. I expected there to be more suffering, but I’ve had so many more days without any suffering. You know, it’s not like things aren’t hard and some laps are harder, right? But I get to go skiing every day, all day,” Dines said.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Noah Dines (@noah.dines)