Industry News
We took a couple runs down KT-22 with our Palisades Tahoe App leader in vertical feet skied this season, Kent Bishop! Kent was skiing for his 140th full day this season; his 50th season here at Palisades Tahoe. pic.twitter.com/xnhV81BN1u
— Palisades Tahoe (@palisadestahoe) May 15, 2023
Kent Bishop is retired from his professional life but he’s taken a full-time job skiing KT-22 at Palisades Tahoe. Bishop, who goes by “Kenting” on the Palisades Tahoe App because when he’s skiing he’s an “action verb” he says, is on his 50th season at Palisades Tahoe. He’s currently holding the first place position on the Palisades Tahoe App leaderboard for most vertical feet skied this season, with over 3.25 million feet skied.
Palisades Tahoe conducted a chairlift interview with Bishop, who said he was on his 140th ski day of the season.
“Probably 95 percent of the time I’m on KT-22, and 85% of the time [on KT-22] I’m on West Face or Chute 75. On a good day I could do West Face about 40 times, nonstop, chair-to-chair.”
That’s dedication.
Palisades Tahoe has announced that it will stay open until July 4th this year. With still almost two months of the season left to go, how many vertical feet will Kent “Kenting” Bishop have skied when it’s all said and done?
“I was born in the Northern Tip of Maine, Presque Isle. The ‘Star City of the Northeast’, the town of 12,000 people had a community ski slope called “Quoggy Joe”. It had a rope tow that took a minute to get to the top and it was all ice skiing down. At 16 years old, I joined the Jr. National Ski Patrol. At 19, I was in the Army stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco. I found out that the San Francisco National Ski Patrol, an organization of volunteer patrollers, was the organized volunteer patrol at Squ*w Valley. I joined and volunteered from 1973 -1980. In 1981, I purchased a season pass and a locker in the Members Locker room skiing weekends and holidays from San Francisco. I am retired now, with a goal of skiing as much as I want to. This year I am celebrating my 50th Season skiing at Palisades Tahoe!
One of the things that motivates me to ski day in and day out is the quantitative information that the Palisades Tahoe app gives me. When I have a memorable ski day I like to take a picture of the app and relive that special moment until the next season, or to compare past seasons. Other times, I might be on a ski run and think to myself, ‘Gee, that speed felt fast’. I check my app, and sure enough I went 1 mph faster than my past speed! I love meeting new people who are also on the app. By watching the leaderboard you can see how people are skiing and what their favorite runs are. When you meet them on the lift, you already know something about them and cheer them on.
What makes KT-22 the greatest chairlift in the world is the variety of challenging long expert runs with great steeps, great pitch, great fall lines, great scenery, and long continuous runs right back to the lift. The ski patrol does a fantastic job at avalanche control and safety and the groomers do such a great job making runs accessible. The lift maintenance crew, lift operators and ticket checkers on KT are the best!”
-Kent
