Huntsville, Utah — When you look at the Ikon Pass leader board, one name stands out: Tom H. When I talked to Tom Hart last Wednesday, he was at 8,605,568 vertical feet, and 6333 lift rides for the 2024-25 season, which unofficially broke his tally from last season.
Last season, Tom Hart made headlines for surpassing 8 million vertical feet of downhill skiing. Vertical feet is defined as the drop in elevation between the top of the lift was ridden and base of the lift that the skier ended up at. His total was 8,513,340 feet, which set a Guinness World Record for the most vertical feet skied in a season. Guinness calculates that world record by calculating the season from November 30, 2023 to November 30, 2024. For the 2024-25 ski season, Tom Hart is going even bigger. He aims not only to surpass his total from last season, but also to reach 10 million vertical feet by May 31st.
Originally from Minnesota, Tom decided to move out to North Ogden, Utah to pursue the big vertical lines of Utah. He’s found a home at Snowbasin Resort for a couple of reasons. The huge vertical foot drop at Snowbasin, along with the fast and modern lifts there, have allowed Tom to amass lots of vertical feet per day.
Last week, I had the chance to chat with Tom Hart about his season so far, and what he’s planning to do in the next month to surpass 10 million vertical feet. Here’s a condensed version of our interview:
What do you do in the offseason to prepare to ski this much? I mountain bike almost every day. I go at least three days a week, but in an off week, it would be around three times. Usually, it’s three or four times a week that I mountain bike. One of my closest friends is not a skier, but he’s a heck of an athlete. He works in youth corrections, he looks like a professional wrestler, and he’s a big mountain biker. When you ride with him, there’s no talking, there’s no stopping, just ride as fast as you can until you reach the trailhead. I occasionally go to Snowbasin, but most of the time I go to North Fork Park, which is on the north end of the whole Ogden area. It’s technically on the Wasatch back, the trails are buffed out, and it’s fantastic.
What was your best day this ski season? Every day was the best day, and we had so much fun (my friends and I). It’s a fun time from the time I arrive there until I was told to go home. In terms of vertical, the biggest day was right around 75,000 feet. There were also a lot of days around 65,000 and 68,000 feet.
What’s your favorite trail and lift at Snowbasin? I love the entire mountain, so it just kind of depends. If it’s a big powder day, then John Paul Express and the No Name trail. If it’s a great groomer day, the Strawberry side is wide open. The runs are a little more than two miles long, so it’s hard to beat the long groomers. Then during a storm, I stay on Middle Bowl, and I can ski that lift in that hurricane practically, as it’s fairly well protected. It’s around a five-minute lift ride, just under 1200 vertical feet, and in a storm, I just love that. During a storm, there’s no one there, so it’s really nice to have the mountain to myself and my friends. There’s no line during a storm, and you slide right on, and about the time when you’re about to be freezing at the top, you get off.
What’s your ski quiver? I have 25 pairs, although for this season I’ve only worn seven. Four of them are GS skis, and the other three are 88 underfoot, 98 underfoot, and 108 underfoot. The 108 is the Blizzard Cochise, it’s an older pair, but it’s really stiff, which I like because it’s there when I need it. In the heavier, dense snow, the Cochise is the ski to be on.
The GS Skis have their own kind of niche. I have a longer pair of GS skis for big, high-speed groomers, and I have a pair of GS skis for early season when you can’t go too fast because it’s still really hard pack. And the other two are just very similar, kind of in-between GS.
The pair of skis I use a lot right now is the Peak 98. They were given to me by Bode Miller’s Peak Ski company as part of the vertical challenge last year. I use those a lot. If I know that it’s going to be stormy, or it starts being stormy during the day. I also love that ski during spring conditions, when the snow softens, it’s in that sweet spot for me. I ride that ski the most out of all of them.
Now that Snowbasin is closed for the season, what mountains are you skiing at to reach your ten million vertical foot goal? I’m going to Snowbird and skiing every day until they close for daily operations. When they start to go to weekends only, Brighton will be open, so I will be there on weekdays. After there’s no place open during the week in Utah, I’ll go to Mammoth or A-Basin. I’ll just have to see what the conditions are at each one and make a decision. I love both of these resorts, and neither one of those ones has announced an official closing date, so I’ll go to one or both of them after Snowbird closes.
What’s your plan for next season? Are you trying to go for this total again? I’m not sure. Last year, I said I wasn’t going to do this again, and then I came in hard. One item of note, at Snowbasin, I average 57,000 vertical feet a day, so I’m super happy with that. For my season, I’m at about 55,000. So I’m not sure, I will always be a big vertical skier, whether I’ll be trying to set another record or not, I’m not sure if I will be. But I will always be going for big vertical.
Image Credits: Tom Hart & Snowbasin Resort
