Half a Million in Half a Year

I started this ski season, in earnest, on November 20, 2019. Six months ago. Half a year ago. I don’t think it is over.

Yours truly. Westside of the Tetons. Mark Smiley photo.

Lots of things drive us to the mountains. To do lots of things in the mountains, you need a broad and deep well of motivation. “Chasing the numbers” isn’t the sexiest or most profound of motivations, but sometimes it is just what the doctor ordered.

There’s a vibe, a murmur of disapproval, just beneath the surface of our mountain community. Certain reasons to go to the mountains are “acceptable” and others are weird, at best. I find that perplexing. Why does it matter why we go? Because, the thing is, I haven’t yet found a reason to go the mountains that doesn’t get me to go the mountains.

In the last half a year I skied half a million human-powered vertical feet. That isn’t a “world record”, but it is definitely my biggest. It isn’t easy, but I was able to work full-time (except for the worst of the “stay at home” weeks), lay low for a week through the flu, take a non-skiing vacation, and log a couple dozen ski resort days in there. I also hiked, ran, and lifted weights to keep fitness more well-rounded.

What does half a mil in half a year look like? Mainly, it looks like spectacular mountain movement, engagement, and scenery. It looks like great partners and deep solo time. Rosie might tell you it looks like a gazillion dark alarm clocks, hours at Caltopo, and a week in bed once the goal has been met.

It also looks like some bulleted numbers:

511,600 feet of human-powered skiing, to be exact.
(Plus 12,300 feet of non-skiing human powered vert)
101 days of backcountry skiing.
25 of those days involved at least one new-to-me ski line
1 of those days I logged 20000 ft
1 of those days I logged 17500 ft.
13 more days were something over 10000 ft.
13 more were over 6000 feet.
That’s just over half the total vertical in about 1/3rd of the days. The remaining half of the vertical filled 2/3rds of the days.
14 days BC skiing with friends
10 days BC skiing with Rosie
28 days BC skiing solo
49 days of guiding
5 days, for a total of 8400 vertical feet, were “in bounds” during operating/groomed season. The remainder of the skiing was wild, ungroomed, uncontrolled snow of one sort or another.
All of the skiing was within 50 straight-line miles of home.
- 1 tour in the Big Hole Mountains
- 3 days at Snow King
- 3 days in the Palisades
- 7 days at Togwotee Pass
- 18 days on the Teton West Slope. Beard Mountain to Moose Creek
- 29 days on Teton Pass
- 40 days in Grand Teton National Park
Some of the vertical was under a “stay at home order”. My rate of skiing slowed considerably through that time. Nonetheless, I logged 92,900 of these feet during the order. The letter of that law allowed for outdoor recreation. Grand Teton National Park closed to me and everyone else on March 24. My own interpretation of the “spirit of the law” further limited me to an even smaller radius than the rest of the season and a significantly lower risk exposure.