A 63-Year-Old Utah Man Will Set World Record for Skiing the Most Vertical Feet In a Season
Tom Hart says he sat down and crunched some numbers last August and saw an opportunity. Nearly a decade ago, a 65-year-old retiree in Vermont decided to dedicate his newfound free time to skiing nonstop and over the course of one season he set a world record by covering 6,638,000 vertical feet in one year. Hart, who lives in Utah, felt like he could top that number, which he did, with room to spare weeks ago and has raised the bar even higher.
Hart’s official goal for this season is to make it an even seven-million vertical feet, which he was on pace to wrap up this weekend after skiing 147 of the past 148 days. The 63-year-old spent this winter arriving at Utah’s Snowbasin by 7:30 a.m. so he could get in line for first chair. Then he’d shut the place down at 4 p.m. Every single day. A typical day averages about 40 runs for Hart but he’s scratched off as many as 50 some days this season.
“So, I’ve skied down this hill over 23,000 times this year,” he told local KSL TV.
GOING FOR GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS!🏆⛷️
A Utah man, aka “Racer Tom,” is on his way to the title of skiing the MOST vertical feet in a single year.
He’s skied almost 7,000 miles this season!🤯
Taking you to the top of the mountain today on KSL-TV! @GWR @KSL5TV @SnowbasinResort pic.twitter.com/ofdCXJeA57
— Karah Brackin (@kbontv) April 25, 2024
The Minnesota transplant says he typically skied about 50 days per year before he was able to retire and move to Utah. Now, the guy everybody calls “Racer Tom” gets turns in every single day. When he set his sights on the record, he applied with Guinness with a plan to set the new world record by the time Snowbasin closes this season (April 28). Once Snowbasin’s lifts shut down he plans to add to the mark by skiing at other resorts.
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